ANGRY Southampton private-hire and taxi drivers are set to cause mayhem in the city on Saturday when they blockade the WestQuay centre.

Drivers are protesting at new rules introduced by the city council governing their trade - and they are willing to bring the city to a standstill to convince the council to change its mind.

At a mass meeting held in the docks, some 100 members of the Southampton Taxi and Private-Hire Association voted for direct action in a last-ditch effort to stop the new regulations, known as The Package, being implemented.

They are angry that the city council voted at the last minute to allow private-hire operators to carry advertising all over their cars, as taxis do at the moment, and they claim the public will not know the difference between taxis and private-hire vehicles.

Members voted to:

Blockade WestQuay on Saturday.

Leave the streets on Saturday at 11pm for a token stoppage.

Blockade the Civic Offices on November 15.

Take their grievances to the city council meeting on November 15.

Reject The Package.

It is illegal for the drivers to block the road, so they plan to enter the WestQuay Podium car park in a continuous procession.

"There will be queues back to Redbridge before you know it - and Saints are at home on Saturday so the whole place will be blocked up," said one cabbie.

Association chairman Clive Johnson said: "We worked with the council for two and a half years trying to sort out The Package. We wanted a coalition with the council but all that has gone now." But Dusty Miller, who runs the Phipps Group of companies, has backed the council's stance and is opposed to the action.

"The private-hire trade is being offered parity. By taking this action they are scaremongering the public," he said.