ANGRY Redditch taxi drivers have hit out at the council after claiming trade was affected after the sudden move of their rank last week.

The taxi rank had been in its Plymouth Road position for 30 years before Redditch Council made the decision to move it to Unicorn Hill.

The move was to allow work on the major re-development of the bus station to begin.

But taxi driver Parvez Akhtar said: "The council should have given us and the public one month's notice."

Mr Akhtar said the taxi drivers were having to compete with the public for space on Unicorn Hill and the sudden move had confused their regular customers.

A spokesman for Redditch Council said: "We did put a public notice in the press on August 4 about the move of the taxi rank and no objections were raised."

The county council's highways unit manager for Redditch, Jim Casey, said he hoped to designate an area just for taxi drivers on Unicorn Hill this week.