A council has acted over allegations that women were being put at risk by taxi drivers who refused their fares.

In future, Tonbridge and Malling council will require all licensed cabs and private hire vehicles to have new improved signage so that rogue drivers can be more easily identified.

Cllr Anna Cope (Green) had first raised the issue last March after she herself was refused a ride when she arrived at Tonbridge Railway Station at 11.30pm.

She said some taxi drivers were refusing to take fares from those who didn’t have cash or fares that were only for a short distance - because “it wasn’t worth it”.

Tonbridge and Malling council had already introduced a rule a year before that all cabbies must have the ability to take card payments, but the experience of Cllr Cope and others was that individual drivers would claim their card machines were not working and demand cash.

A driver who spoke anonymously to KentOnline suggested that there were two reasons why some drivers were reluctant to take card payments - firstly because they didn’t want to pay the transaction fee, but secondly because passengers who paid by card were far less likely to give a tip.

After Cllr Cope secured a debate in the council chamber in September, she told colleagues that women sometimes had to walk home, often late at night, putting their safety at risk.

The regulations require that cabbies must accept the first fare that hails them - no matter what the distance. But in order to take action against rogue drivers, the council needs to accurately identify them.

Sometimes the council has received complaints, but the complainants could not give the vehicle plate number, meaning there was no way of addressing the issue with the driver concerned.

Currently, the licence plate identification number is on the rear of vehicle, where it is less visible to those using the taxi.

In future, the council will require a licence plate to be shown on both sides of the vehicle and it will include a QR code, which passengers will easily be able to snap on their mobile phone to get the taxi’s details.

The rules will apply to both taxis and private hire vehicles to make it easier for people to report concerns.

Tonbridge and Malling is one of the first authorities in the country to adopt this approach.

Cllr Des Keers is the cabinet member for community services. He said: “We are committed to ensuring high quality, safe taxi services across our borough and making licence numbers more clearly visible is just one way of doing that.

“While most passengers don’t have issues, we want to make it easier for those who do to report it so we can investigate and take appropriate action.”

The new signs will roll out to more than 500 registered private hire and hackney carriage vehicles in the borough from early November.

Cllr Cope welcomed the measure.

She said: “I’m thankful that TMBC has listened to women who have been put at risk.

“The vast majority of taxi drivers don’t break the rules and are angry that their reputation is being tarnished by the few who do.

“I’m grateful to the women who have let me know about their experiences and I can assure them that I will continue to watch the situation.

“I’m not so naive as to think the new signage will necessarily solve all the issues overnight, but there’s a good chance that if drivers know they can be easily identified they are more likely to do the right thing.”

A spokesman for Tonbridge and Malling council said that following an investigation, any drivers found breaking the rules could be subject to range of penalties.

They included issuing penalty points on the driver’s licence, suspending the licence, or revoking it altogether.

A taxi driver who operates at Tonbridge Station said he had “no problem” with the new signs, but said the council was not addressing the real problem which was that there were too many licensed cabs for the business available.

He said: “You can be waiting on the rank an hour for a fare. Then you get someone who just wants to go round the corner for a few quid. A few minutes later and you are at the back of the queue again.”