ANGRY taxi drivers have called on Worcester City Council to protect them after a colleague was assaulted in Evesham.

City cabbies spoke out following reports of an assault on a driver in Bridge Street, Evesham, on Monday, May 27.

Police arrested a teenager following the alleged attack and charged him with two counts of criminal damage and common assault.

He was due to appear before Worcester Youth Court today.

A spokesman for Worcester-based City Taxis called for safety measures to be stepped up.

"The city council really should do a hell of a lot more for taxi drivers," he said.

"There are a lot of incidents, mainly at the weekend. Safety really does need to be improved if we're to stop attacks happening."

A spokesman for Evesham company MD Taxis revealed the driver involved in last week's incident had been able to return to work.

"Assaults on drivers are increasing," said the spokesman.

"But it's normally at weekends. This was on a Monday and happened in broad daylight at 6.20pm.

"The point is, we shouldn't have to expect that this sort of thing will happen."

The spokesman said the problem had spread across the country.

"It seems that the only answer would be more beat officers, but the police just don't have that sort of manpower available," he added.

Julian Pugh, senior licensing and enforcement officer at Worcester City Council, urged drivers to come forward and discuss their concerns.

"We offer drivers personal safety training and it's possible to install some form of CCTV in the cab," he said.

"We've not discussed this with them but we're willing to sit down and speak about it.

"We have quarterly meetings and I'm sure if this is a concern it will be raised at the next meeting, which is due sometime this month.

"We do acknowledge their concerns."