HUNDREDS of cab drivers are under suspicion following the rape of a teenager at the weekend.

The 19-year-old was attacked after getting into a taxi following a night out with a friend.

But as women were warned to take extra care in hailing taxis from the streets of Tyneside, cabbies blamed a bogus driver for the attack.

Police are talking to staff at Tyneside taxi firms as they hunt for the four-door black cab.

Mike Smith, of Noda Taxis, said: "I am certain it was somebody posing as a taxi driver. It is imperative the police catch him."

The woman got into the cab with a friend in Philbet Street, Newcastle, at 1am on Saturday. The driver dropped the friend off at an address in the city. Then he took his victim to Gateshead, where she claimed he raped her in the back of the vehicle.

He drove a short distance before the woman managed to escape and run home.

The rapist is described as white, in his early twenties, of medium build, with spiky hair and wearing a dark waist-length coat.