A GLASGOW chauffeur firm is marking a milestone by decorating its rides in true Scottish style - with tonnes of tartan.

Southside business Little's is spinning a yarn to celebrate its 40th birthday.

The firm has created its own official tartan, which will be used in the interiors of all its cars, as part of a new range of gifts.

And the tartan could even be used in the drivers' uniforms - if they have the legs for a kilt.

The idea came from Heather Matthews, daughter of the firm's founder, George Wills, and Emma Nicholsby, general manager of Geoffrey (Tailor) Kiltmakers.

Heather said: "I met Emma through family business events and we came up with the idea of doing a tartan.

"I chose the colours and we went through 20 designs until we found the right one.

"The colours are burgundy to represent the colour of our cars, dark grey for the chauffeurs' uniforms, a heather colour for me and a light grey to brighten the whole design.

"It's been registered as an official Scottish tartan and we're making it into scarves for gifts, blankets for the cars and a special kilt for my father."

The Glasgow-based firm was founded in 1966 with three taxis by Mr Wills, now 62.

It has grown into Europe's biggest family-owned chauffeur drive business, with a fleet of 50 luxury cars and up to 80 full and part-time staff.

And despite the shortbread tin connotations of tartan, the new look and the celebration marks a new stage for the firm, which plans to expand its client base.

Rather than concentrating on just weddings and whisky tours, it aims to crack the lucrative financial services sector, ferrying the clients of blue-chip institutions.

Heather, a co-founder of the Scottish Family Business Association, said: "The business we run now is very different from 10 to 15 years ago.

"We need to make sure we're always looking ahead in the world of chauffeur-driven cars.

"We want to stay ahead of the pack and continue to grow the business as much as we can."

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