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Legal action taken against fewer taxi drivers

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More than 70 taxi drivers were prosecuted last month for refusing hire, overcharging and other offences.

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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.

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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.

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