Taxi drivers in Coventry have gone on strike over the number of black cabs operating in the city.

They say there are too few ranks and too many cabs for a city the size of Coventry.

And they called a strike today calling for the city council, which is responsible for issuing licences, to take action.

Around 90 drives took action at Coventry railway station. Other drivers in the city centre went on working, but pledged their support.

There are spaces for 16 taxis at the station, but more than 180 cabbies have a permit to work from there.

There are more than 330 licences to operate in the city as a whole.

Drivers held the action to protest that they were constantly getting parking tickets because they could not park at official ranks.

But in June the city council agreed to raise the cost of a night-time fare because there were too few drivers operating in the city in the evening.

At the time, Roy Dewis of the Coventry Taxi Association said drivers were reluctant to work nights because of the risk of violence to a cab.

He said more drivers were only working during the day, and this was adding to pressure on ranks in the city centre.

Cllr Eric Linton, chair of the council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee said:

“The city council in agreement with the Taxi association has commissioned a report by an independent consultant to look into the number of taxi ranks in relationship to the number of taxis working within the city.

“A survey is currently underway and a draft report is due to be reported back early in September.”