FURIOUS taxi drivers claim Basildon Council has ignored pleas to safeguard their jobs.

Cabbies reacted angrily after the council rejected calls for a survey looking into whether there were too many drivers in the district.

They believe there is no longer sufficient trade for individual drivers to make a living and some are having to quit.

Drivers want a limit on the number of cabbies to be reinstated, after the council lifted the restriction on Government guidelines in 2005.

Councillors at the latest licensing meeting heard from drivers who wanted the survey to take place.

Alan Isley, of the Basildon Taxi Proprietors Association, said since the limit was lifted, the number of Hackney carriages had more than doubled, from 106, in 2005, to 250, in 2010.

He told the meeting: “The public are well satisfied with our service, but we are really concerned how bad it is getting out there.”

But David Abrahall, chairman of the licensing committee, said full scrutiny of the policy for taxi drivers was needed.

Councillors approved his motion for a review by a task group and the survey was put on hold.

Ben Williams, Lib Dem member for Nethermayne, opposed the review. Speaking after the meeting, he said changes were needed more quickly.

He added: “Some drivers are working more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, just to pay their costs and keep a roof over their heads.

“That doesn’t make for a safe trade, but they have no choice as the business simply isn’t there.

“Taxi drivers and the public need real action now, not a group of councillors wringing their hands for months.”

Mr Williams went on to claim some drivers were not making minimum wages.

Cabbie Ralph Morgan, a member of the Unite union, said: “How can you carry out a review without evidence? If they had ordered a survey, they would have some evidence.”