ANGRY cabbies are threatening strike action over an inflation-busting licence hike.

Kirklees Council decided this week to increase the annual taxi driver licence renewal by 62% from £37 to £60.

Licences for Hackney carriage cars will rise from £106 to £135 and for private hire cabs from £125 to £135.

Amjad Nadeem, secretary of Kirklees Hackney Carriage Association, said yesterday: “These increases are far too much. We’re talking to the private hire drivers about the possibility of a demonstration or a strike against this.”

Mr Nadeem said takings were down because of the recession. He said: “Our trade has been in the firing line from day one of the economic crisis.

“Last year, a Hackney driver could expect to take £120 during an eight-hour shift on a Saturday night. Now it’s down to £80. For a day shift during the week, we used to take about £50, now it’s down to £30.”

The council’s cabinet justified this week’s price hike by saying it brought Kirklees into line with the rest of West Yorkshire.

But Makhan Singh, who drives a Hackney cab in Huddersfield town centre, believes the comparison is unfair. He said: “Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford are cities, they have more trade than we do.”

Mr Singh added that other councils in West Yorkshire protected legitimate drivers by clamping down on illegal taxis.

He said: “The enforcement team in Kirklees doesn’t seem to be doing its job properly to stop illegal plying for trade, unlike the rest of West Yorkshire. In a six-week period earlier this year, I reported 62 incidents of illegal pick-ups in Huddersfield and the council has done nothing about it.”

Private hire companies are also angry that the council has put up their operator’s licence from £53 a year to £380.

Donald Horsfall, who owns Mount Taxis, said: “A rise of £327 is excessive. Things are bad enough during this economic crisis – petrol and diesel went up on April 1.

“We try to have a reasonable price structure but this is bound to have a knock-on effect.”

Mr Horsfall also rubbished claims by the council’s cabinet member for regeneration Clr David Sheard that taxi phone operators needed criminal background checks.

He said: “I’ve worked in the trade 50 years, and I’ve never heard of anyone being burgled because they told a taxi phone operator that they were going on holiday.”

But Clr Sheard stood by the claim yesterday. He said: “It’s a national problem and it’s only common sense that we look into it.”

Clr Sheard also defended the price rises. The Heckmondwike Labour man said: “You should take the numbers and divide them by 52 to see how much a taxi operator needs to pay each week. Then think about what he takes in, it puts it in perspective.

“They come out with this every time the fees go up. We haven’t got a shortage of people wanting to be taxi drivers.”

Clr Sheard also denied that Kirklees was not dealing with illegal drivers. He said: “I don’t know what they’re talking about, we do protect them.

“All the fees we take are spent on enforcement. They can’t have more enforcement and less fees.”

The figures:

Driver renewal: £37 to £60

Private hire cab: £125 to £135

Hackney cab: £106 to £135

Operator’s licence (more than three vehicles): from £53 to £380