Cabbies may get £9,000 windfalls

Nearly 2,000 taxi drivers could collect windfalls worth thousands from a mystery company trying to buy control of the Dial-a-Cab radio taxi agency.

The longest-serving cabbies in the drivers' co-operative are set to pick up £9,250 each. Even those who have been with the firm less than a year will be paid £1,500 if they accept the offer.

The 1,800 driver-shareholders are now deciding whether to take negotiations further with the unnamed bidder, who is offering £12.5 million for an 85 per cent stake.

Dial-a-Cab started in 1953 when six drivers clubbed together to create a system where the public could order taxis by telephone. It cost £10 to join, in return for which members received one share in the business and were hooked up to the system. Nowadays, it costs £50 to become a membershareholder-For the past five years the company has made profits of about £1.3 million.

The firm's Hoxton base uses satellite technology to locate drivers. Chairman Brian Rice said that if a takeover did happen fares would not rise. "Our tariffs are all set by the Mayor's Transport for London. The final decision has to be with the shareholders - it's their business." Dial-a-Cab drivers are said to be evenly split.

One said: "We have no idea who's made the bid, only that it is a company with no previous involvement with the industry. That is slightly worrying."