CABBIES in Rossendale have called off their planned strike action this week following a ‘positive’ meeting with council bosses.

More than 150 taxi drivers held a peaceful protest outside Bacup council offices over the licensing changes and said if they didn’t get answers they would go on strike.

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Within a few minutes Rossendale Borough Council arranged for the cabbies to meet with the council leader on Monday.

David Lawrie, chair of Rossendale Taxi Association, said it was a ‘positive and eventful’ meeting and they have agreed to attend a number of workshops with council officers to address the licensing issues which have been put out to consultation.

The drivers are particularly concerned about new wording which says that if the council ‘presume’ the taxi driver isn’t working in Rossendale their licence can be revoked.

They also want to discuss plans for an undisclosed fee for recovery of a suspended taxi.

The council has extended the initial consultation period, which was due to end on June 30, until the end of the summer.

Council leader, Cllr Alyson Barnes, said: “I am clear we need to listen to concerns and issues in a positive fashion and see how we can address them.

“We do need to revise our current policies but we have agreed to extend the consultation to give everyone more time to have their say and discuss the draft proposals in detail and make them better as a result.”

Cabbies called a crisis meeting in Stacksteads last week where the drivers voted to strike if the consultation went ahead.

In 2010 most of Rossendale’s 320 Hackney Carriage taxi drivers went on strike for four days, now there are more than 2,628 licensed drivers from as far afield as Manchester to Birmingham.

The Taxi Association say the changes being consulted on are being brought in to reduce numbers of taxi licences as the council doesn’t currently cap them.