Queensbury residents are being urged to boycott a 24-hour mini-cab firm in Bradford before the company has even started trading.

Ward Councillor Andrew Smith (Con, Queensbury) has joined forces with local families in protest after planning permission was granted for the private hire booking office in Brighouse Road.

Officers had recommended the application be turned down as it would disturb residents but councillors approved temporary planning permission - to be reviewed in a year.

This week petitions went up in shops in the parade where the company will be based, collecting signatures in support of a boycott.

Coun Smith said: "I promised that I would urge a boycott if this application was granted.

"The councillors on the committee granted planning permission even though it was against officers' recommendations and residents' wishes.

"This is the wrong place for this firm. It will just cause too much disturbance for the residents and there's no way the Council can control the number of taxis using it. Why didn't the firm base itself in the Black Dyke Mills which is a much more suitable site?"

The firm's owner, Rizwam Khan, 27, said he tried the mills but the lease was too expensive. He said: "We can't stop the councillor telling people to boycott the business. It's up to him. But we've put a lot of time and money into setting this firm up and we're not going to back down now. We just want to earn an honest living and don't want to cause anyone any hassle.

"We'll only have four cars working during the day and one after midnight, which will be parked outside the front of the office. The business just wouldn't pay if we only operated 12 hours a day.''

Susan Ashton, who is heading the residents' protest, said none of the nearby residents wanted the office and once signatures had been collected the petition would be handed into Bradford Council.

Councillor Sydney Collard, chairman of Bradford Area Planning Committee, said: "We decided to grant permission for 12 months to see how it goes.''

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.