Taxi drivers in Bradford are using 'spy in the cab' mini cameras to protect them from violent passengers.

Cabbies' leaders are planning talks with Bradford Council licensing bosses to try and get the cameras fitted in all taxis.

And the Council is keen to have owners fit CCTV cameras to vehicles before granting licences.

Already one Hackney Carriage driver has had the device fitted in his cab, while a private hire firm in Bingley has several cars equipped with the cameras.

This week a passenger was jailed for four years after he held a knife to the throat of Bradford taxi driver Balbir Singh and robbed him of £80. Mr Singh needed hospital treatment for cuts to his neck, chin and hands, and was too scared to work for several months. Robber Gary Breakwell, 35, of Greaves Street, Little Horton, was caught after the attack was captured on street CCTV cameras.

Now Amjad Ali, chairman of the Bradford Hackney Carriage Association, representing cab drivers, has revealed that some taxis in the city have high-tech mini-cameras fitted to their windscreens.

He said the system used infra red technology to take snapshots of the passenger. Photos from the camera, which is usually fitted behind the car mirror, are stored on a computer chip and can be printed later.

Mr Ali said: "It activates when the door opens. I know of at least one hackney carriage driver who has had the system put in his car and a Bingley private hire company has several cars which have it."

The system costs between £500 and £600.

Mr Ali said: "Any drivers who have the cameras have prominent stickers in the cabs to tell passengers they are there.

"We are planning meetings with the Council to discuss it and hopefully bring it in across the district."

A spokesman for Bingley Taxis confirmed they had the cameras fitted in a number of their cars.

A Bradford Council Hackney Carriage spokesman said: "We would like to see more CCTV cameras fitted to hackney and private hire vehicles.

"The Council is looking at the possibility of making it a condition of holding a licence that CCTV is fitted to vehicles, however this would have to be based on the costs being met by owners."

In Keighley the town's anti-crime partnership has spent £4,500 to buy up to ten cameras to be installed in cars.

If they are a success, other taxi firms and drivers will be encouraged to buy them at a subsidised cost.