A taxi driver in Marlborough has said he wants to ‘bury his head in the sand’ at the thought of rising fuel costs.

The taxi business has been facing the issue of rocketing fuel prices in the area- and Ian Dinmamode who runs Amber Cars in the town is one of the businesses feeling the pressure.

“I’ve been burying my head in the sand at the thought of it”, Ian said.

“We’ve had to use our meters to price up journeys and make sure customers are aware of the price before setting off. But a journey that should have cost someone £15 can now be £18.”

Council officials are currently investigating complaints that some Wiltshire drivers have broken the rules by overcharging customers and shouldn’t be ‘making up prices.’

Wiltshire Council has just completed a consultation with all hackney carriage licence holders in the county on proposals to increase the tariff 1 fare rate, from 6am to 10.30pm, by 10%.

All other tariffs would remain as they are under these proposals, according to the council.

Ian also explained that working out prices can prove to be challenging, as the cost can be affected by whether or not passengers are going outside of the county.

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport said; “When a taxi journey crosses out of Wiltshire and into a neighbouring licensing area there are two options for charging depending upon whether the journey is prebooked i.e. Private Hire or if the customer is picked up from a taxi rank or the street i.e. Hackney Carriage.  

“If a Hackney Carriage journey ends outside of the licensing area the driver can either use the meter and charge the metered rate for the whole journey or agree on a fare upfront with the customer.

"A taxi driver can only agree on a fare above the metered Hackney Carriage rate if a journey ends outside of the metered area, in this case, Wiltshire, and the fare is agreed with the customer before the journey starts.

“For journeys that start and end within Wiltshire any fare agreed upfront cannot be more than the metered fare.

“Internet maps enable taxi drivers to work out journey distances and the cost accurately based on our schedule of hackney carriage fares.

“For prebooked, Private Hire journeys the driver and customer can agree on a fare that is acceptable to both when the booking is made. The driver would have to price this competitively to secure the business.”