A TAXI chief is appealing to MP Alan Milburn to intervene in the crisis over the shortage of cabbies in the town.

John Singh, proprietor of Abbacab Taxis, has written to the Darlington MP telling him there has never been such an acute shortage of drivers.

"Unless you intervene directly to address this problem, fewer and fewer drivers will renew their licence and fewer unemployed people will come forward as new drivers," he said.

Taxi drivers say Darlington Borough Council is to blame for the shortage because of its new mandatory taxi driving test and increased licence fees.

"We have had to take 50 per cent of our taxis off the road due to shortages," said Mr Singh.

A spokeswoman for Mr Milburn said he was aware of the problem but would not be stepping in at this stage.

"We understand that steps are being taken by various bodies to remedy this," she said.

A council spokesman said: "We are the people who have got to look at what we can do about it and we are in discussions with drivers and the police."

Meanwhile, taxi drivers in Wear Valley say they are far worse off than cabbies in Darlington, after their licence fee was increased by more than 32 per cent.

The fees for Hackney carriage and private hire drivers' licences will go up from £64 to £85 next month.

Simon Ellis, chairman of Wear Valley Taxi Drivers' Association, said: "One hundred per cent of the taxi drivers think it is excessive and unfair. We have been denied a taxi tariff increase this year after we asked for it at a committee meeting. But the council keep putting these punitive charges on us."

His comments come a week after Darlington cabbies were told their drivers' licence fee would increase by nine per cent to £60.

Tom Carver, head of public protection at Wear Valley District Council, acknowledged that the 32 per cent increase was "quite large".

He said the figure included the police check fee, which other authorities charged separately, adding: "Even with the increase, out of the other authorities in the county we still only come fifth in terms of actual cost."

He said cabbies had been asked to make a written request for a tariff increase