THE RAC has insisted that the increasingly bitter dispute between its board of management and former chairman Jeffrey Rose will not affect the delivery of its services to customers. Rose was ousted as chairman of the RAC after issuing an unofficial communique to the 12,000 full members of the RAC Club in Pall Mall urging them to back plans for a demutualisation of the organisation, followed by a stock market flotation.

A spokesman for the RAC said: 'As far as the RAC is concerned it's business as usual on the operational side, and we are working on the best proposal to bring to members at the AGM on May 20.' Demutualisation has regularly been on the agenda for the RAC, but it is currently in the middle of an ambitious five year plan and the timing of Rose's letter was extremely inopportune.

His promise of a building society-style £20,000 windfall to club members has been condemned by the RAC, but has prompted the organisation to broach the subject of demutualisation openly through a questionnaire sent to members. A stock market flotation of the RAC would require major changes to its constitution, and would be unlikely to bring any windfall to either the RAC's staff or customers, potentially threatening its business.