Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies in line for windfall

Thousands of London cabbies are in line for windfalls worth nearly £5,000 after Radio Taxis set out on the road to demutualisation.

Each of the company's 2,500 black cab drivers will receive a payout of £1,100 plus 1,000 shares if they back a deal to change the status of Radio Taxis to a private company.

The conversion involves US entrepreneur Brian McBride taking a 26% stake in the business, with the remaining shares spread between drivers and staff. Chairman Geoffrey Riesel said an internal market will be set up for share trading to prevent the company attracting outside takeover offers.

Radio Taxis, which was established more than 50 years ago, is the second largest taxi operator in London behind ComCab, which also includes DataCab and Call-a-Cab.

The deal will raise more than £10 million to enable it to expand beyond black cabs into other forms of personal transport such as chauffeur driven cars, couriers and shuttle buses. Managers are also planning to improve key technology that supports internal billing and management information systems.

For the change of status to take place, at least 75% of drivers must offer their support in a ballot at the first of two extraordinary general meetings planned for May 16. Mr McBride, head of the Yellow Cab Company in the US city of Cleveland, will invest £2 million in equity and £1.5 million in loan reserves under the terms of the deal.

He said: "I have always been particularly impressed with the commitment of the management team, the technology employed by the business and the sheer quality of the drivers."

If they offer me enough money then I would love to work for them.

Ollie

Good luck to them, and I hope they sell out.

Mutual firms should be a good idea, but in the taxi trade, drivers should drive, and business men should run the firms.

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IDFIMH

Hope in hell!

There is no way those guys will give it up for that money if they have any sense.

The yank must think they are daft as well as ignorant.

Reisling (ain't that a grape?) won't get 10% surely.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

I think the thing is Tom, if Riesel doesn't think he could get it through, then he wouldn't have proposed it.

Cos if they vote it out, then he, and the board, are the next to go.

Interesting though that they want to invest in the PH market. Clearly they now know what is good for them, or for their customers.

Merc or old banger, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

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IDFIMH

Well Rice and co got DAC to vote and lost, but is still there.

Riesel is obliged to put to his members any offer.

Radio Taxis launched a executive Mercedes service over a year ago. Don't know how it is doing.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Just another little link,
http://www.thisislondon.com/news/busine ... timid76917

Sussex
you arrogant so and so!

I dont know how you have the cheek!

Mr Yorkie, do you really think the London PH trade would be so successful, and so big, if the London Cab firms had proper business leadership?

Do you think that a business man would have stood idly by, why others chipped away at their puckers accounts?

Com-cab now have different sub-companies, for different sectors of the trade. They are highly flexible, and highly successful. Why, because they are owned by people who know how to run a large multi-national transport business.

It would appear that at least one of the other two London firms, has taken note.

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IDFIMH

They have only used licensed black cab drivers, thus they are still miles dearer than us.

Ollie

Quotes from the FT. He seems quite happy to sell.

Geoffrey Riesel, group chairman, said the £10.5m "war chest" generated by the deal would allow the company to expand into new areas including chauffeur-driven cars, couriers and shuttle buses.

"The mutual system has served us well for 50 years but now it is stopping us from becoming the one-stop transport shop that consumers are demanding."

Mr Riesel, who is elected by the members of the mutual society, said the plans would be of huge benefit to the drivers.

"The deal means they will now be able to build up a valuable nest egg as a result of their shareholding.

"After 35 years' work, a retired driver only gets to take home the £10 share he paid when he joined. Under the new scheme they will be transformed from members of a club into stakeholders in the company," he said. "It's like Asda, which only used to sell milk when it was just Associated Dairies. Now it sells just as much milk as well as everything else."

In other words, bring on those wonderful PH boys and girls.

So much easier to control, and far more responsive to customer needs, than the black cab trade. [/b]

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IDFIMH

no they havnt, like all mutuals that go down this road they (the management) are gready, selfish, grabbing its tantamount to theft.

no way is in the interests of drivers to sell out.

Geoff

Well Riesel shows much ignorance about ASDA as well.

so before ASDA they used to sell only milk eh?
no cheese, orange juice, cream, butter, youghurt,
reisel knows nothing about Asda, its fair to presume he known nothing about taxis either.

Geoff

I also thing that the last time any of Radio taxis board drove a cab, it was being pulled by a horse.