THE decision by Southampton taxi drivers to pull back from any threat to disrupt the city as part of their dispute with the local authority is to be welcomed.

Southampton City Council appears to have agreed to the drivers’ demands that the contribution towards the costs of placing cameras in cabs be continued.

The council has also agreed to continue with arrangements that permit cabbies to keep their cars on the roads for nine years, even though city business leaders had complained such a move risked damaging the impression given to those visiting Southampton.

Threats to blockade the city and bring roads to standstill were made, but have now vanished.

Victory for the cabbies? It would seem so.

But it is to be hoped, indeed expected, that city law makers were not cowed by the threats but agreed that the taxi drivers’ demands were acceptable.

A city as great as Southampton cannot be seen to be held to ransom by anyone threatening to use the public as pawns in a battle with democratically elected decision makers.

For now, however, we can be content that everyone appears to be happy with the outcome of this heated debate.