Claims that taxi dispatchers are showing favouritism to some drivers has driven one driver to quit Radio Cabs in disgust.

Warwick driver Renalda Bean has cancelled his subscription to Radio Cabs because he alleges dispatchers were rude, did not answer his calls and gave jobs to their friends rather than him.

Mr. Bean claims poor service from dispatchers is resulting in customers waiting half an hour or more for a taxi.

And he said other operators lied about taxis being available at some job sites when none were there.

In a letter to Radio Cabs owner Edward Darrell, copied to The Royal Gazette, Mr. Bean claimed some dispatchers even created bogus jobs for him to prevent him getting some fares which they reserved for their friends.

His comments will add to concerns about the efficiency of the taxi service after the Senate last week delayed by one year Government plans to force all drivers to install global positioning system (GPS) technology in their cabs to ensure the nearest driver is dispatched to all jobs.

In his letter, Mr. Bean writes: "Being new to the taxi business I had hopes of providing the best service I could to the consumer. I am finding this difficult to do when I have to be concerned with these types of issues.

"How many other drivers have been treated like this and are now working without radio service? It is behaviour like these operators that contributes to the customer waiting a half-hour or more for a taxi.

"My suggestion to you is that you closely monitor the actions of your operators in the future, as they will drive away business."

Mr. Darrell said: "I will definitely look into it and if these alleged things are true I will have to talk to these individuals.

"It is very unfortunate and I am sorry, but I am surprised that if this has been going on all this time, he did not contact us before, then I could have checked into it. I am sorry, but he has the choice of using another operator."