More than 70 taxi drivers were prosecuted last month for refusing hire, overcharging and other offences.
This was well below the number prosecuted in the comparable month last year.
Two cabbies were disqualified from driving.
Police received 321 complaints last month. Thirty-six were for refusing hire, 85 for meter tampering and 73 for taking an indirect route.
'Among the prosecutions, seven were for refusing hire and 28 for meter offences,' a police spokesman said.
Kwok Chi-piu, chairman of the Urban Taxi Driver Association Joint Committee, said there were three reasons for the drop in prosecutions: There had been a recent decline in police operations against malpractices; Fewer people were travelling by taxi, which led to fewer complaints; and, The attitude of taxi drivers was improving, although their average income had fallen by more than 40 per cent.
