Taxi drivers in Shrewsbury who fail to pick up disabled people could face enforcement action which could even lead to them being prosecuted in court, a licensing chief warned today.

Carol Foster, licensing team leader (Central) for Shropshire Council, said that if any Hackney carriage driver had been found to have overcharged a disabled person or refused to pick them up, they could face serious consequences.

It comes after cerebral palsy sufferer Ian Pugh, from Coton Hill, hit out at the attitude of drivers and claimed he was often left housebound as no-one could pick him up. The 23-year-old’s condition affects the use of his limbs.

He claimed that he had encountered problems with some taxi drivers who he said were “unwilling” to do wheelchair work.

But Taffy Jones, chairman of the Shrewsbury Station Taxi Owners’ Association, today claimed that he had never heard of Mr Pugh before and said taxi drivers at his rank treated everybody the same, regardless of whether they had a disability or not.

Mr Jones stressed that at peak periods in the mornings and afternoons some taxi drivers were booked up on school runs for disabled children and contract work, but said they would always respond to calls when available.

Mrs Foster said that if incidents were reported to the council it was able to investigate and, if necessary, take action.

She said: “I was concerned that our wheelchair accessible vehicles are allegedly not picking up wheelchair users where they have got a vehicle purpose-built for that.

“If we have details and evidence of a driver of a vehicle where someone in a wheelchair has been refused to be taken then we will take appropriate enforcement action.

“This can range from just issuing a warning to a driver to a prosecution in court, a revocation or suspension of a licence.”

Mrs Foster said there were 32 wheelchair accessible Hackney carriages in Zone Four, the former Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council area, with only two people that were exempt from doing some wheelchair work.

In an e-mail to Mr Pugh, Mrs Foster said she was planning to speak to all the licensed Hackney carriage drivers to remind them of the policy in force.