Easy rider needed for street battle

The company embroiled in a legal dispute over its London "taxi-bike" service is looking for a lawyer with transport litigation experience.

Mini-cab and courier firm Addison Lee is appealing against a magistrates' court conviction and £500 fine for using the term "taxi" to describe its service.

It was prosecuted privately by the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, which argued that the use of the word breached the 1968 Cab Act.

Addison Lee chair John Griffin said he wanted a lawyer to present an appeal at Knightsbridge Crown Court in what he thought could be a celebrated test case.

"I am confident we will be successful. We are not trying to mislead people by calling it a 'taxi service' any more than McVities is misleading people with its Taxi biscuit," he said.

The fleet was launched two-and-a-half years ago for people needing to travel quickly through London's busy streets.

Clients include politicians like Lord Tebbit, businessmen such as Richard Branson, and lawyers like Clifford Chance partner Garth Pollard.

Pollard, who is learning to ride a motorcycle since using taxi bikes, said: "It has the advantage of being quicker on busy roads."