Cab maker Manganese in the mire

Black cabs fell into black holes yesterday as Manganese Bronze – maker of the well-known London taxi – said it had found accounting errors going back more than two years.

Days after the Spice Girls wowed the Olympic closing ceremony audience from the top of multi-coloured London cabs, the firm also warned that first-half losses will be "substantially higher" than last year's.

Manganese shares crashed by a third, falling 8p to 16.5p – their lowest for more than decade.

The company said the accounting errors meant it had overstated its profits by £3.9m.

It said the errors happened when it introduced a new IT system in August 2010 and transfers from the old system overstated some stocks and understated some liabilities.