Sharp rise in profits for leading taxi firm Boro CarsTHE Teesside taxi firm which became embroiled in a bitter row with Middlesbrough Council has unveiled a sharp rise in profits.
Middlesbrough’s biggest taxi operator Boro Cars has been involved in a long-running dispute with the local authority over the council’s control of the town’s taxi operations.
However the disagreement appears to have had little effect on its finances.
In its latest set of accounts, for the year to this January, the firm’s parent group Middlesbrough Borough Cars announced pre-tax profits of £223,072, up from just £460 a year earlier.
The surplus follows a 26% leap in annual income from £1.95m to £2.46m.
In a statement, the firm, which is also known as Boro Taxis and claims to be the biggest operator in the North-east, said: “The company has expanded during the year with the number of vehicles rising to enable the company to increase its market share.
The firm’s bosses added that they were “satisfied” with the results despite the effect of a “difficult economy”.
They added: “Management look to the future with cautious optimism and consider that the company is in a strong position to capitalise on the investment in staff and infrastructure made in recent years, as the economy stabilises.”
Boro Cars’ disagreement with the council came after the prosecution of one of its private hire drivers for stopping in a bay reserved for Hackney carriages in March 2010.
The escalation of the row led to street protests by the firm’s drivers and a high-profile falling out between Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon and the company’s owner Mohammed Bashir.
Mr Bashir leaked tapes of private converations between himself and Mr Mallon, in which Mr Mallon was heard making an inappropriate sexual comment against a council officer, for which he later apologised.
Mr Bashir was paid a dividend of £28,600 following the firm’s successful year, the results revealed.
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