Brothers who quit their jobs to start a new taxi company hope to fill a void left in Ashford after one of the town's biggest firms closed for good.

Min Thapa has been running Ashford Premier Taxi part-time for 10 months but recently joined forces with his brothers Khyam, Neyam and brother-in-law Jaya Pun to expand the company after hearing Arrow Taxis was closing.

The Cobbs Wood-based firm, which has been operating in Ashford for 40 years, parked up its Mercedes fleet for good yesterday as bosses found it "increasingly difficult" to recruit new drivers.

Min Thapa, 37, said: "I used to work as a mobile phone repair technician in Beaver Road and I was doing that part time with the taxi company too.

"I quit that job as soon as I heard Arrow Taxis was going because I saw it as a good opportunity, but at the same time a big responsibility, to deliver good services to Ashford residents.

"I resigned and my brothers resigned and now we are focused on this.

"Now what we plan to do is become a limited company and we want to expand our business so we can deliver better service to Ashford residents."

Mr Thapa and his brothers are sons of a Gurkha veteran while Mr Pun is a retired veteran himself.

From today, Ashford Premier Taxi will take over the 666666 number previously used by Arrow Taxis and has hired five of their drivers to join the team.

Mr Thapa, who lives in Kennington, has between 10 and 15 drivers but hopes this will soon increase as more recruits are in training and he is looking to hire new drivers.

Since the pandemic, fewer drivers have entered the profession meaning taxis have been harder for customers to get hold of across the county.

Mark Robinson, co-owner of Medway taxi firm Vokes, says he receives 2,000 calls a day, but is having to turn down 400 of them due to a lack of drivers.

Mr Thapa hopes the introduction of his company will help to address the shortfall in Ashford.

"Lots of people are enquiring because people are struggling to get a taxi, even for very short journeys, so we want to improve the service in the town," added Mr Thapa.

"Customers are calling about four or five hours before for advance bookings because otherwise they will struggle.

"We are not at full capacity at the moment, but we do have more drivers joining.

"We expect to be able to deliver a full service from August 1."

Mr Thapa also hopes the Ashford Premier Taxi app, where customers can register to book a taxi on their phone, will also be ready for the start of next month.

Bosses at Arrow Taxis said rising fuel costs were also a big factor in the company's closure, something Mr Thapa says is his biggest threat but he remains 'optimistic' the high prices will be temporary.

Arrow had held the title as one of the oldest private hire taxi companies in the county.

Mike’s Taxi, another firm based in Ashford, has also expanded since the closure and has hired former drivers from Arrow's fleet.