I WOULD like to comment on the article on taxis (LT, September 3).

Blackburn with Darwen Council holds a monopoly on the licensing/MOT of the public and private hire vehicles in the borough.

It can call its own shots and name its own prices.

For too long there has been a mood of “negative competition” in Blackburn in the taxi trade.

Competition is good for the consumer. This is without doubt true, but at what cost to the competitor?

With record highs of recent fuel prices, would you have liked to see the drivers in Blackburn with Darwen simply quit as many would have been better off financially to join the dole queue?

Please do not forget we absorbed six years of price hikes and simply worked more hours to meet our own commitments.

This became more evident when a number of drivers informed their employers of their imminent resignations.

A taxi business without taxi drivers is just an empty premises.

Unlike the bus companies, which get paid millions of pounds from the government to run empty buses, we cannot do that.

Please get in touch with the Private Hire Association for some facts and figures about the cost of taxi fares in the country.

You can then realise that Blackburn is still in the top 10 cheapest league of taxi fares.

This collective action by the employers was not price fixing in any way.

It was the only way for them not to lose their businesses and stop the dole queues bolstering and preserving a service for our town which cannot be fulfilled if lost.

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