BURNLEY could be without taxis for several more days as the cabbies' dispute with the council shows no sign of ending.

Hackney and private hire drivers said today they were willing to thrash out a solution to issues over testing and licensing of vehicles and MP Kitty Ussher joined the call for urgent talks.

Pub bosses felt the pinch over the weekend as customers avoided the town centre or caught the last bus home.

A spokesman for Yates's Wine Lodge said: "It was a quiet Saturday night. It's definitely affected us." And Craig Smith, manager of the Swan Hotel, St James Street, added: "People have been getting the last bus home."

But Coun Charles Bullas, deputy leader of the council and member of the executive committee which brought in changes which have infuriated cabbies, revealed the matter would not be discussed unless councillors queried it during a five-day "call-in" period, which runs out on Friday.

The strike was called after councillors agreed to change testing and licensing of taxis from once to three times a year. Councillors claimed the change would reduce bureaucracy and allow drivers to book tests so they could choose a convenient time.

But drivers' associations said the change had been introduced without proper consultation and would make them the most highly regulated in Lancashire.

Mohammed Arif, vice-chairman of Burnley Private Hire Association, which looks after 400 drivers, said: "We're willing to thrash out our differences but it's the Lib Dems who are causing the problems. I can't see anything happening for the next few weeks. We feel we are being cornered. "They don't want to listen."

On Wednesday, drivers removed licence plates and handed them into the town hall, as well as a petition demanding the council started "listening to their views".

Talks on Thursday and Friday looked to have ended the action but the strike continued over the weekend.

Mrs Ussher said: "I'm not surprised taxi drivers are angry. I urge the council to accept their offer of talks urgently."

Coun Bullas said if no councillors "called" the matter in for scrutiny, the proposals would be implemented later this month. He said: "We've asked the taxi drivers to go back to work until everything has gone through the correct process.

"They have given us a list of grievances which we will be looking closely at."