Lextox Celebrates 10 Years

Lextox celebrates 10 years of delivering improved drug, alcohol and DNA testing services

• Reduced hair analysis turnaround times from an industry average of 14 working days to five (Nov 2011)
• Working with 14,000 family law solicitors and local authorities across England and Wales
• Over 61,000 results delivered in 10 years
• First independent UK-owned laboratory at the time to attain ISO 17025 UKAS accreditation for hair alcohol testing and maintained year-on-year

Lextox, the Cardiff-based specialist laboratory company, is celebrating a major milestone in 2021 as it marks its 10^th year of delivering drug, alcohol and DNA testing services.

Since the business was founded in 2011, it has achieved significant growth and today is recognised as one of the leading providers of specialist hair, drug and alcohol testing services in the UK, employing one of the largest teams of reporting scientists in its industry and working with more than 14,000 family law solicitors and local authorities across England and Wales.

Lextox Managing Director Paul James said: “I am delighted with the progress we have made as a business over the last 10 years and that we have firmly established a field-leading reputation for providing responsive and reliable results to a fast-growing portfolio of clients across England and Wales.

“We remain committed to adding even more value to our clients over the coming years through continuing to improve our existing services and enhancing our testing portfolio.”

Over the past decade, the company has grown its original workforce of three to 140 and delivered more than 61,000 test results.  In November 2011, Lextox reduced turnaround times for hair analysis results and Expert Reports from what was the industry average of 14 working days, to just five working days.

James says that a great deal of the company’s success has been down to establishing strong relationships with family law practices and the investment it has made in driving education and awareness around the role of hair testing in family law cases.

He added: “From day one, a key strategy of ours has been to become a trusted provider for family law solicitors and local authorities, and we have been successful in forging solid working partnerships with more than 14,000 family law solicitors and local authorities across the UK.  As our client base has grown, so too has our investment in the team and facilities to ensure we continue to provide superior levels of service.

“A 100 per cent focus on family law has seen the business deliver more than 200 free CPD seminars to educate teams, while developing key links with barristers’ chambers to increase awareness around the role of hair testing in family law cases.”

Lextox has achieved a raft of impressive accomplishments over the past decade, including being (at the time) the first independent UK-owned laboratory to attain ISO 17025 UKAS accreditation (No. 7516) for hair alcohol marker testing, which it has maintained year-on-year.

Founder Liam Feasey, who holds the position of Quality and Business Services Manager, concluded: “Our vision has always been to offer a responsive client-centric service which provides reliable results for vital family law cases and childcare proceedings. We are immensely proud of the success we have already achieved and are looking to further our journey of growth. When we established the company, we never imagined that within a decade we would be leading a 140-strong team.”

Lextox became part of the SYNLAB Group, the leading medical diagnostic services provider in Europe, in 2017.