TAXI chiefs are to meet council officials and police later this week to address the problem of the growing shortage of cabbies in the town.

Darlington Borough Council has invited taxi firm bosses to the private meeting on Friday afternoon because of concern over the lack of cabs late at night.

A council spokeswoman said yesterday there were fears that the dearth of taxis could create public order problems in the town centre at night.

"At the moment there seems to be fewer drivers available to take people home from nightclubs," she said.

"People being stranded in the town centre could create trouble. We have called the meeting to address the issue of finding taxis late at night.

"The meeting is to get to grips with the taxi drivers to find out how big the problem is."

Taxi bosses spoke out about the shortage of drivers at a meeting last month. They said it was becoming impossible to recruit people to the job.

Trevor Barnes, of 1AB Taxis, said yesterday that many reasons were to blame, including the new compulsory taxi drivers' test and increased attacks on drivers.

Mr Barnes claims the doors of his Hackney carriage were damaged by a customer on Friday night outside the White Horse pub, in Harrowgate Hill.

A 22-year-old Darlington man has been charged with criminal damage in relation to the incident and will appear before magistrates on March 18.

"People are not interested in coming into the taxi game because of the carry-on you get from customers," he said.

"We have had drivers assaulted in Darlington and attacks on vehicles are commonplace. The police are great, but it is getting worse and it puts people off."

Mr Barnes said his failure to recruit drivers meant he had taken half his fleet of cars off the road.

Chief Inspector Barry Knevitt, of Darlington police, said officers were planning to meet with drivers to discuss the increased number of attacks.

"On certain nights, revelry and drunken behaviour can be a problem," he said.