A LEADING New Forest taxi operator has slammed the district council over an "insulting" proposal for fare increases and then a decision not to allow any increase at all.

"It was quite obvious from the observations they made at their meeting that they don't know the first thing about running taxis," said Lymington Taxis' proprietor Mike Morgan.

He was speaking after the district general purposes and licensing committee had looked at an option for a proposed increase of 10p per journey, but decided against it.

Mr Morgan told the committee in writing: "To offer the trade 10p only on each journey is totally insulting after two years and two months since the last increase."

He said later that changing the meters to bring in the increase would have cost £21 per meter and would have meant that a taxi had to be taken off the road at a certain time on a certain day while it was being changed. But the council has been insulting its taxi drivers for a long time."

Mrs Sue Wellborn of Marchwood Motorways told the committee that her firm, which operates mainly in the Totton and Waterside areas, faced particularly strong competition from Southampton-based taxi drivers and any increase in fares was likely to discourage customers.

A report to the committee said that just over half of the Forest's hackney carriage owners responded to a survey. Of those, the report added, 35 per cent thought fares should remain unchanged while the other 65 per cent indicated they wanted some increase.

A survey of the main towns and cities from Portsmouth to Poole revealed that the New Forest was 40 per cent lower than the dearest for a two-mile journey and 40 per cent higher than the national average. Fares in the surveyed towns ranged from £3.90 at Fareham to £4.60 at Poole.