Taxi fares will not go up for a second time in a year, despite a request from drivers.

Seven hackney cab drivers - the sort of taxis you can catch at a rank in town - had requested the council to change the Saturday day rate for hackney cabs – adding £2 to every journey and bringing the start of the “tick over rate” – when the price per mile or minute increases – down from £16.10 to £11.10. This what put the higher price into action earlier in longer journeys.

Councillors who had been asked to consider a change in the fare structure proposed by some of the borough’s licensed drivers not only turned down the request, they have added a stipulation that such submission must have genuine support among drivers.

But councillors felt that changing the fare structure, and increasing prices, would come too soon after a review and change made in October.

Licensing manager Kathryn Ashton also pointed out that the consultation process with the trade and public that approving the change would need had not been allocated any money in the licensing team’s budget for this year.

Councillor Abdul Amin was against approving the change. He said: “We decided a significant change only a few months ago.

“Changing the fare structure would be another significant change and I don’t think this is the right time to do it.”

The committee chairman Vinay Manro was also concerned by the number of drivers who had made the request. There are 130 licensed hackney drivers in Swindon, so seven drivers represent just over 5 per cent of the trade in the borough.

He said: “I would like to have more of a consensus among drivers for requests like this. We need a degree of common ground if we are being asked to approve another change so soon after the last one.”

Councillors voted to maintain the current fare structure until it is reviewed next Autumn.

And in a separate, but connected matter, they agreed to hold only one review a year unless there were exceptional circumstances that made another review necessary.

Councillor Dan Adams said: "It’s not inconceivable that fuel prices suddenly double, and we’d need to be able to respond.”

Having heard from drivers that engaging with all the licensed drivers was very difficult, the members agreed to consider submissions for fare changes if they were supported by at least a third of the licensed trade, currently 43 drivers.