Government is clamping down on cabbies driving without radios by mounting spot checks at Bermuda International Airport.

Acting Transport Control Department (TCD) Director Roxanne Christopher said the policy had been operating for about a month and some drivers had been caught and were told to comply with the law although she could not give figures.

Government is to require drivers to radio to dispatchers when they have picked up a fare and then call back when the job is done.

Records of this will then be given to Government which is keen to get more information about the taxi industry.

Radio Cabs owner Edward Darrell said he would comply with the request but said Government had not said why it was necessary. "That information isn't helpful. It doesn't serve any purpose."

Referring to the recent Senate vote which blocked Government's bid to make a global positioning system mandatory in cabs, Mr. Darrell said: "They have got nothing else to do. (Transport Minister) Ewart Brown lost."

He added that the extra radio traffic would clog up the airwaves and require more staff to monitor the system.

Dr. Brown denied there had been a clampdown.

He said: "We are enforcing the law. That's what the Bermuda Taxi Owners Association asked to be done.

"One of the arguments made was if the current law was enforced then there would be no need for the Global Dispatch System (GPS)." Asked about the need for it Dr. Brown said: "That is not up for discussion if the law says its required by the Director of TCD."

He said there was a need for more information about how the taxi industry worked and that the GPS system he had tried to bring in would have provided hard facts rather than speculation.

Bermuda Taxi Association spokesman Lee Tucker also attacked Government's request for drivers to call in when they had picked up and dropped off passengers.

He said taxis might have a job trying to get through to the dispatch to let them know they had found another job. "Should I accept the job or wait until I get through to the service? You could miss out on a lot of work."

He said extra bureaucracy required to log all the radio traffic would increase costs for dispatchers which could then end up increasing costs for drivers.

"If dispatchers have to double staff and put in more channels whose going to pay for it?"