Hundreds of taxis could boycott St Albans City Centre in the early hours of the morning amid fears for driver safety and lack of support from police.

The general secretary for the St Albans and Harpenden Taxi Association has said it will advise its 247 members to leave the city centre at 3am if Hertfordshire Constabulary does not give them more support in the early hours of the morning.

Musaddar Yasin, general secretary for the taxi association, told the St Albans and Harpenden Review there had been several incidents in recent weeks, which the police had not responded to and drivers had been “beaten up” in the past.

Mr Yasin described one recent incident, which took place on Sunday, February 22, when customers arguing in the taxi became a danger to the driver. But when the driver asked them to leave, they punched and kicked the vehicle.

Last weekend, a member of the public was allegedly involved in a fight which spilled over to inside the taxi and the rear window of the taxi was smashed.

He said: “Two of the three incidents were reported to the police, but no one has attended.

“Another incident took place at Batchwood hall a few weeks ago, when door staff tried to place a troublesome member of the public into a taxi, which then resulted in damage to that taxi".

Mr Yasin said officers often leave the city at around 2.50am and have been seen outside the city centre.

The taxi chief added: “If it carries on, we will be advising our members to finish at 3am and let the police deal with them.

“We are doing a service. We are helping people and taking them out of the town centre in the evening.

“We have one driver who has had a couple of problems. Now whenever there is an incident, he does not ring the police. That lack of trust is growing and there is division growing between the taxi trade and the police.

Chief Inspector Ken Townsend Albans has defended the police’s responses to incidents involving taxi drivers and pointed towards a splitting of the taxi rank, which he says has reduced crime.

He said: “When responding to recent incidents at St Albans taxi ranks officers have arrived within the national response targets. The complainant in this incident was seen within these times but told officers he was too busy to speak to them when officers arrived.

“St Albans police officers regularly patrol the City Centre throughout the night time - there is and always has been a 24 hour policing response. We work closely with local authority partners, including CCTV operators, to ensure we are doing all we can to both prevent and detect crime.

“The introduction of a Taxi Rank Marshall Scheme some years ago has reduced the number of incidents involving disorder and crimes committed against Taxi Drivers, this scheme has been of huge benefit in assisting drivers .

“I would like to assure taxi drivers that Hertfordshire Constabulary fully support victims of crime and investigates any crime reported to establish the facts surrounding those allegations. “Each investigation will be reliant on the lines of enquiry available. The support of a victim is paramount as early as possible in any investigation.

“I would encourage anyone who is a victim of a crime to report the incident and to make sure when doing so, that they ensure any small piece of information is brought to our attention.”