Cabbies paid to market products to customers

London taxi drivers are being recruited by advertising companies to promote their clients' products to passengers.

Cabbies, famous for their gift of the gab, are seen as the ideal people to spread "word of mouth" marketing to thousands of potential customers.

Firms desperate to find new ways to get their message across have been quick to see the potential of the new approach.

In one example, a company which pays to advertise on the outside of a black cab can also brief the driver so he can be an "ambassador" for their brand, talking enthusiastically about their products.

Drivers have also been given free holidays in the hope they will rave about the destinations.

Driver Adrian Torlini, 41, from Aylesbury, was signed up as an ambassador for Taxi Promotions UK. He was given a five-day trip to Bangkok paid for by the tourism authority of Thailand.

But Mr Torlini said: "I suppose that's payment of a sort, but I have never seen it as a job. No one said I had to talk about it. They just know that if you send someone somewhere and they like it they will talk about it, and if they are a cab driver they will talk to lots of people about it." He believes he has helped many of his fares see Thailand in a new light, just as he has persuaded others of the charms of Melbourne, where he and his wife spent 10 days on another free holiday.

Asher Moses, managing director of Taxi Promotions UK, believes all kinds of products could eventually be promoted by his drivers, from airlines to online poker websites.