Cabbies set for mutual windfall

The 1,500 owners of London's second-biggest black cab network have voted to convert the 51-year old mutual society into a publicly listed company.

The owner-members of Radio Taxis, which has some 2,500 drivers, get a £1,100 windfall and 1,000 shares each. A 26% stake will go to Brian McBride, owner of the Yellow Cab Company in the US city of Cleveland.

The deal will generate £10.5m, helping Radio Taxis to expand into shuttle buses, courier and chauffeur services.

Chairman Geoffrey Riesel said the group would turn itself into a "one-stop shop" for personal transport.

The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of demutualisation with 82% of members approving the deal, comfortably above the 75% hurdle set by the mutual society's constitution.

It took the society nearly three years to agree the terms for the deal, a period during which it refused to take on new members, to avoid carpet-bagging.

The shares of the new company will be traded on an internal market.

Their value was not disclosed, but is believed to be between £3 and £3.50.