I did a lot of research on the Popham flying group before deciding to keep a safe distance.
It was formed in 1992 when the CAA decided to enforce the law on ownership which group owned aircraft were falling foul of. Before they brought in the 5% rule all group owned aircraft should have operated on a public certificate. After it's introduction groups were exempt public certification as long as the complied with the 5% rule.
The Popham flying group had 3 aircraft and had to re arrange themselves to get around the 5% rule and still allow people to have access to all 3 aircraft
They did this by having secondary shares that members bought to become temporary co-owners and the temporary members would be registered with the CAA as co-owners and all would look legal and above board.
The rules given to the members claimed that each member owns 5% of the aircraft they have joined - the CAA are told a different story depending on how many are in the group at the time (the CAA are told this is an equal share so ten in the group would 10%)
Draw you own conclusions on the legality of this
The last poster was right all the fees charged at the same and this pays for everything so there is cross subsidy taking place.
Mr shortleg may be enjoying his cheap flying with them but the poor guys in the G-ARHN group paid £1500 in 2 an1/2 years and got not one hour of flying!