TAXI chiefs want 'ripped-off' Ilkley customers to help put rogue drivers out of business.

Officials at City Hall's Hackney Carriage Office have vowed to come down hard on any taxi drivers who overcharge the public and give honest drivers a bad name.

One angry taxi customer from Addingham has accused drivers of charging different prices for the same journey. And Barbara Goodwin was annoyed at cabs charging double fare early on New Year's Eve instead of later at night.

Mrs Goodwin said: "Why can they just charge so many different fares? Same journey, never the same price.

"Not only me, but talking to neighbours and friends, they said they experienced the same thing."

She added: "I was really cross when one said at 7.30pm that it was double fare of £12 New Year's Eve. If it had been late at night I could understand double, but I needed a taxi. I had had a long journey with luggage.

"It is not the first time, just because they have the monopoly of the town. Surely there should be a fixed charge?"

Mrs Goodwin said that two taxis called to take people to the railway station in Ilkley from her home in Wharfe Park had charged different prices, one customer had to pay £5 while the other had to pay £8.

Mrs Goodwin said that her experience had been with hackney carriages which regularly parked on Brook Street.

A spokesman for Bradford Council's Hackney Carriage Office said that complaints had been received about three or four taxi drivers in Ilkley.

He said: "We have had complaints before and we will prosecute if people are prepared to make a statement and are willing to go to court as witnesses."

The spokesman said passengers needed to note down the plate number of the taxi and the time and location of their journey. If they were willing to give evidence Bradford Council would prosecute, which could lead to the drivers losing their licences.

In the past, said the spokesman, passengers had complained but when they were asked to write a statement which would be used in court they had declined to take the matter further.

The spokesman said that the three or four drivers they suspected of fiddling customers had been charging the wrong meter tariff for the journey or were not putting their meters on at all.

Nazir Ahmed, manager of private hire firm Ilkley Taxis, based at the Old Drill Hall, said passengers often confused his company with the fleet of hackney carriages operating in the town.

He said that journeys completed by his firm were charged on a fixed basis and all the drivers charged the same price.

Hackney carriages charged by the meter but Mr Ahmed said they should also be consistent.

However, Mr Ahmed said that at New Year's Eve, the company's double fare came into operation at 6pm, the same as the hackney carriages.

"We have done that for the last ten years and our customers know about it, but you can't please everyone," said Mr Ahmed.

He added that because of the bad weather in Leeds and elsewhere, some vehicles were not able to pick up their fares.

He said: "We were really disappointed because our taxis got stuck. The only thing we could do was apologise and refund customers' money.

"It was just this particular New Year's Eve. Due to the weather we really struggled. Taxis were taking twice as long to get there."

Hackney Carriages are more strictly controlled by local authorities and are authorised to pick people up who hail them in the street.

However, the metering system of charging should be consistent and all journeys should of the same distance should be the same price, no matter how many passengers. For most journeys, the meter should be set to Tariff One, not Tariff Two