AS a publican in this town for many years now I have finally had enough of the so called prompt reliable service that is advertised by several taxi firms and the amount of drivers allegedly on their books.

Whilst I can understand that due to religious times of Ramadan and Eid that there is need for time off. But to bring the town to a virtual standstill for a month is surely some sort breach of the operators' licence.

As a publican I have a duty of care to look after my customers to keep them safe and have an enjoyable evening and this includes making sure they leave the premises at the appropriate time. How can I fulfill my obligation when I cannot arrange transport because taxi firms either refuse to answer the phone or will not take any bookings because of lack of drivers? This leaves me with irate customers some of whom are elderly and need to get home for a set time.

This last month has probably been the worst in recent memory for this to happen and even though last week was the end of Ramadan/Eid it was still virtually impossible to get a taxi around midnight on Saturday, July 25 and I tried four different firms in the hope of arranging customer transport.

It is about time the council licensing committee looked into this practice because enough is enough.

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