PROPOSALS to increase taxi fees by 3.5 per cent will be decided by councillors in Burnley tomorrow.

Objections to the increase have been registered by the 408-strong Burnley Private Hire Association.

The Hackney Carriage Association has told the council they agree to the increase.

Private hire bosses have accused the council of empire-building after the authority decided to employ an extra taxi enforcement officer.

The Association voted unanimously to reject the council move after hearing the cost of the new post would have to be met out of higher licence fees.

They have called for a freeze on the post until a full review of taxi matters in Burnley is carried out in the wake of the decision to place a seven-year age restriction on cabs.

Association secretary Duncan Allan said: "The urgency shown by the council to employ more staff at this time appears to have little to do with passenger safety and everything to do with local government empire building."

The council has said extra staff are needed to ensure safety enforcement is fully carried out.

The licensing sub-committee will decide tomorrow on the level of private hire and hackney fees to be introduced from Sunday.

In a separate item on the agenda members will be told that of 49 private hire vehicles over six years old tested, 38 of them -- 78 per cent -- failed through serious defects such as steering, suspension, brakes, tyres and seat belts.

In November the committee called for reports on the monthly failure rate for private hire vehicle over six years old.

In November the failure rate for serious defects was 81 per cent, December 80 per cent and January 76 per cent.

The recommendation is that in future the sub-committee receives information sub-divided into vehicles aged from one year annually up to eight years and to "note" the current report.