Calls have been made for the number of private hire cabs to be capped to help struggling trade.

Hackney carriage drivers claim they can be waiting on the rank for more than one hour for a job and can often earn less than the minimum wage.

Last week some private hire operators claimed that the Braintree Council knowledge test could lead to a shortage of drivers as only one driver had passed the test in four months on their third attempt.

But drivers at the rank, where the number of hackney carriage licences are capped, believe there is not enough trade due to the recession and so there should not be unlimited private hire licences available.

Primitivo Gomez works from Braintree taxi rank estimated trade has dropped by 45 per cent and said: “Why keep putting plates out when the work is not there anymore.”

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