Taxi fares across Cannock Chase are to rise by more than three times the rate of inflation after local traders pressured the district council.

Prices for the first mile will see a 16 per cent rise under proposals and would go up from £2.75 to £3.20 during the day.

Subsequent miles will also increase by between 12.6 and 13.9 per cent with evening fares also jumping in price. For a two-mile journey customers will pay £4.50, up from £3.95 in the day and £6.75, up from £5.80, at night.

Over the last two years the district council had kept rises down but now local taxi companies have lobbied the council to put up fares.

The fare rises are currently under public consultation until January 29 but if no objections are received then it is likely the fare rises will be given the green light.

Mike Bayliss, who represented taxi firms to the council, said the rises were based on pricing league tables which compared local areas and what they charged. He told the Express & Star: “Cannock is languishing 340th out of 377 so we are down at the bottom.”

Anyone who wants to make a formal objection should write to Steve Shilvock, head of environmental health, at the district council offices on Beecroft Road, Cannock, WS11 1BG.