A new advanced driving test introduced for taxi operators in Darlington has angered cabbies, with hundreds threatening strike action.

The test will have to be taken by all drivers eventually, and if they fail they will no longer be able to pick up fares, even though they may already have a hackney carriage licence.

New drivers and those who have been driving for less than six months will be subject to the tests from this month, and others will have to face them from April next year.

Members of Darlington Borough Council's cabinet agreed on the new test at a meeting in September, but it is only now being introduced.

Public stranded

The Darlington Independent Taxi Traders' Organisation said it supported the introduction of the Driving Standards Agency test for new drivers, but not for experienced ones.

Now cabbies are talking of strike action, and one said: "The public are our customers and we don't want to strike.

"But if that is the only way of getting our message across that is what we will have to do."

Another said: "There will be quite a few companies that will cease trading at a certain time of night, then everyone will be left in the town and it will be up to the police to sort it out."