TAXI drivers in Darlington are expected to be given the go-ahead to have continued use of town centre bus lanes.

Darlington Borough Council's cabinet members will be asked to make an experimental order permanent, after objections were withdrawn.

Cabbies have been able to drive in some bus lanes since March last year, in a temporary project.

The order is due to run out at the start of next month.

It allows taxis to use bus lanes in Coniscliffe Road, Stonebridge and St Cuthbert's Way and Northgate, via the Northgate/ inner ring road roundabout.

They can also use Northgate and Crown Street, which prevents vehicles other than buses stopping, to drop passengers off between 10am and 5pm.

A report to the council meeting, which will take place tomorrow, said a study of the order has taken place.

It found no road safety reasons to prevent the experimental order from progressing.

There had been previous objections from Durham Police and bus companies, but they have since been consulted and all have withdrawn their complaints.

A six-month monitoring exercise was also carried out to review the layout, as well as any accidents.

The report states: "The experimental order expires on October 9, therefore it is essential that a decision is taken whether or not to make the legal order and sufficient time is allowed to make the required order.

"As there are no remaining objections to the experimental order and there are not outstanding issues identified in the monitoring exercise that would prevent the experiment from being made permanent, it is recommended that the experimental order be made permanent."

Darlington taxi driver George Jenkinson said the scheme had been a success since its introduction.

He said he hoped it could be rolled out across other parts of the town, including bus lanes on Yarm Road and North Road, which he said get particularly clogged up during the school run.

He said: "I think the council should open up all the bus lanes to us, not just one or two.

"We have found the scheme to be very good. We haven't abused anything. We have provided proof that we can move people as fast.

"And we haven't had any interference with buses."