TAXI drivers in a Teesside town are to receive a financial boost.
Stockton Borough Council will reduce vehicle renewal fees for both Hackney and private taxi drivers by £30.
It currently costs taxi drivers £365 a year to register their vehicles and the reduction is an eight per cent drop.
The council, which must maintain a separate taxi licensing account by law, has been running at a surplus.
The reduction will be introduced in January and reviewed after three years.
Tahir Ali, secretary of the Stockton Hackney Carriage Drivers' Association, said: "We very much welcome the decision by Stockton Borough Council as this will benefit members of the taxi trade.
"It is something we had suggested so it is great to see Stockton Borough Council listening to the trade and us working together."
Mohammed Zaroof, operator of Tees Valley Cabs said: "We had expressed our concerns to the council for some time about the accumulating surplus on the taxi licensing fees account, which has been built up over several years.”