THE cash trade in hackney carriage plates in Winchester appears to have slackened.

Earlier this year the Daily Echo revealed that some drivers were paying up to £18,000 in cash to existing licence holders.

Southampton-based drivers are keen to operate in Winchester and have been offering the five-figure sums for saloon cars with the hackney plates that allow them to pick up passengers anywhere.

Licensing officer Fred Masters said the trade, which is legal, has eased off in recent months.

He said some 20 out of 46 saloon hackney licences are now owned by Southampton-based drivers.

Mr Masters said: "The past 12 months it has slowed down. The brakes have gone on the exorbitant amounts."

The Inland Revenue was believed to have taken an interest in the hitherto little-publicised cash trade.

An Inland Revenue spokesman said there was no specific project in the Winchester and South-ampton compliance teams to look at taxi drivers.

Meanwhile a new taxi firm has started in the city. Millennium Cars is based in Stanmore and follows Worthy Cars in Stockbridge Road which began this year.

The new firms are a spin-off from the amalgamation of the long-established Wintax with Wessex Cars in March.