A RESIDENT of Andover's Artists Way says she is so fed up with the way some taxi drivers have treated her that she says she doesn't want to use them any more.

Tearful Mrs Beryl Duke, aged 68, who used to clean at Harrow Way School, said some drivers have even told her they refuse to take pensioners who have trolley-style shopping bags which need to be lifted into the taxi's boot.

"Last time I used the taxis the driver just moaned and groaned about the trolley and I was told that they were thinking of banning people who had them and refusing to carry the trolleys," she said.

Mrs Duke said she, and other elderly people, need to use the trolley to get food and other goods back home.

She used the taxis because the return journey is uphill.

Now she intends to see whether Dial-a-Ride can help someone in her circumstances, whose mobility is impeded through a chronic medical condition affecting her spine.

Test Valley Borough Council licenses taxis in this area.

Under the terms of the licence the driver of a licensed vehicle so constructed as to carry luggage shall, when requested by any person hiring the vehicle, convey a reasonable quantity of luggage and render reasonable assistance in loading and unloading of luggage.

"If the individual wants to take up this matter further then we would need to have details in writing of what happened," said a spokeswoman for the council.

No one was available for comment from Test Valley Taxi Association.