A pair of lawyers quit the City to launch their low-carbon taxi company, Green Tomato Cars. And now they're driving ahead with plans for more eco-friendly businesses

Jonny Goldstone We were both lawyers in the City and for different reasons both left the law. Tom wanted to look into environmental businesses and I decided that although I'd always thought I wanted to be a lawyer when I was growing up, the reality wasn't what I thought it would be, so I decided to change my direction.

Tom Pakenham When my mum suggested the idea of a low-carbon taxi company to me, I left my job, did some research into the taxi business and the environmental sector in general, and when I was absolutely sure that I wanted to give it a go I dropped Jonny a line. He came on board and we took it from there.

JG While the taxi sector has improved a lot in recent years under the licensing regime, it is to a large extent an industry that is not run very well as a customer-service industry. We felt that with our experience from law firms, and our personalities and life experience, we could bring some good quality to the sector.

TP I wanted to set up a business that brought an environmentally friendly product or service into the mainstream. I thought the best way to do that was to offer something that was low carbon but not more expensive than a conventional product and the same or better quality than a conventional equivalent. [We wanted] something that wasn't politically tainted, so people wouldn't find that their political views would have an impact on whether they chose to use the service.

JG It would be foolish to say that it is harmony 100 per cent of the time. It is quite like a marriage, except we probably spend more hours together than a married couple. The trust and the respect for each other's skills mean that we are able to be frank with each other if we disagree about something, and that has been there from the beginning.

TP Setting up the business was a mad time, but it was just about putting the business plan into place and obviously that threw up challenges and administrative issues. Our timetable slipped by only three weeks and we worked very hard. We lived in a flat just up the road from the business and we were running the business 20 hours a day.

JG As part of our preparation we both drove for taxi companies to get experience of what it was like to be a driver and to get under the skin of the sector. It was great to understand what it was like to be a driver and what it was like for the customer, and to try to get an understanding of the culture of the industry.

TP Jonny has a great sense of humour and we trust each other so working together is a lot of fun most of the time. He is very competent so when I say trust I mean I trust him to make good decisions—he trusts me to do the same and we communicate well.

JG Tom is dynamic and passionate about what we are doing and about life generally. I find him an inspirational person to work with. I think he has brought a lot more out of me than being a lawyer would have done.

TP Although business is important and you want it to work, in my opinion there is nothing much more important in life than friends and family so you want to make sure that you don't walk away from a business endeavour with one friend less. There are plenty of examples of people who fall out when they do business, but it doesn't have to happen.

JG Our working styles took some getting used to and those differences are still there now, but we are much more in tune with each other's way of working so the things I would do that would annoy Tom I hopefully do less of. Tom is much more immune to them and vice versa. Your understanding of each other grows and your tolerance for differences you might initially have found difficult to get along with grows as well.

TP Jonny's focus is primarily on the car company now while mine is on building new Green Tomato businesses. We recently set up Green Tomato Energy in which we do small-scale renewable systems as well as low-carbon buildings and consultancy.

JG We do feel that there is something integral in the DNA of Green Tomato Cars that will hopefully always put us ahead of the competition in terms of how we deal and interact with the people who matter to the business: the customers, the drivers, the staff as well as shareholders and the wider public.