Taxi drivers are threatening to boycott Maldon if councillors vote to increase their licence fees.

Angry cabbies are campaigning to reduce the licence fees for hackney carriages and private hire operators after Maldon District Council proposed to increase the charge in February.

The proposed fee for a hackney carriage is £267 and £265 for a private hire operator for 2014/2015 - an increase of £13 since 2013/14.

Campaigner Colin Parker, 40, a driver for Banyards Taxis in Maldon’s High Street, drew up a petition urging councillors to rethink the rise.

He said: “We are just frustrated by it all.

“When you speak to all the other drivers in Maldon, we are just fed up because we are paying too much money and getting nothing for it.

“It’s a joke."

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