Taxi drivers protest by driving past Liverpool's Town Hall beeping their horns

Liverpool’s “taxi war” continued as hackney cab drivers brought traffic to a standstill in the city centre today.

They were protesting about plans to open a branch of Sefton-based Delta taxis in Liverpool city centre.

Black cabs caused roads to be blocked by driving slowly through they city’s streets, honking their horns and using a loudspeaker to shout “Joe must Go” in reference to city mayor Joe Anderson.

The taxis continued to snake through town all afternoon, driving a lorry emblazoned with another message referring to the Mayor.

For years city firms and cabbies have complained that Delta have been undermining their chances of making a living, being licensed in neighbouring Sefton but getting a huge share of the Liverpool trade. 
The firm has not directly commented on the recent controversy, but in December last year, when the Liverpool Taxi Alliance took a vote of no confidence in council licensing chiefs over the amount of city work going to Delta cabs, boss Paul McLaughlin said: “As far as we are concerned, the council’s doing a fantastic job, everything the law requires, but it’s the city taxi drivers who want to take the law back 100 years.

“If other firms invested the same in technology and training as we do then they might have the same success.”

Jimmy Bradley, spokesman for the Liverpool Taxi Alliance, said: “By allowing Delta to open this office in the city centre, they’re creating the circumstances for a taxi war in Liverpool.

“We have paid millions of pounds in licensing fees over the last 25 years, and this comes as a total kick in the teeth.”

The city council has said Mayor Anderson was committed to working with all parties to ensure the best outcome.

It has added that the council is under a legal duty to grant private hire operator licences to applicants who meet the criteria, and would be open to legal proceedings if it did not.

Source; Liverpool Echo