Vole lays on London taxis for the indolent

A bold and no doubt expensive scheme that makes you wonder about Vole's apprehension to ferry hacks around in business class.

Commuters will be able to catch any cabs for free that are labelled with the Microsoft Office logo between 7.30 and 9.30 in the morning. The whole deal has been running since the 10th but Microsoft declined to telll us about it before yesterday. It will last for four weeks since then. Whenever that is.

Unfortunately for party-goers and The Interesting Among Us, the cabs are morning-only, so no free rides after your inevitable late night drunken stumbling. Darren Strange, presumably one of the quirky characters behind the promotion, spoke thus: "As the weather gets hotter and the tube more bearable, we're helping London's workers have a better day by laying on free cabs to keep them fresh in body and mind." The tube more bearable, mister Strange? In the summer? You must be bonkers.

"Office 2007 is all about helping workers do their job better and by allowing them to get a free taxi to work, we hope this will help them too," Strange said. This London worker could really do with a grand or so, marketing execs take note. µ