A COURT battle between a North-East council and a taxi driver cost the authority nothing, a meeting heard yesterday.

Darlington Borough Council won a test case in the High Court in December, after it challenged a ruling by magistrates that it did not have the right to make taxi drivers sit advanced driving tests.

Malcolm Kaye, 54, a cabbie of 33 years, had refused to sit the test and took the council to court, backed by the union Amicus, after he was refused a licence.

Magistrates in Bishop Auckland ruled that the council acted unlawfully, but this was overruled by Justice Alan Wilkie.

Council solicitor Andrea Catterick told a licensing meeting the authority had been paid the £7,000 costs it was awarded in the High Court.

She added it did not have to pay £4,600 in costs ordered by magistrates at the initial hearing.

"It has ended up not costing the council any money, other than the costs of using its own solicitors," she said.

Mr Kaye's case was referred back to magistrates to be heard as an "exceptional case" by Justice Wilkie.

A pre-trial review will take place in Darlington next month.