North East is in desperate need of taxi drivers
There just aren't enough drivers to meet the demand
Taxis firms across the North East are desperately in need of more staff as they’re struggling to cope with demand.
An increased demand from the hospitality sector reopening has put a strain on taxi services, after many drivers left the profession during lockdown.
David Singh from Budget Taxis in Newcastle said: "Actually when COVID first started it effected us really badly. Everyone panicked, people weren't going out and people were falling ill. We lost a lot of drivers. Everybody now is short of drivers.
"I do want to apologise for all the customers for letting them down, and the reason was because of the shortage of drivers. Just seeing if we can get some more drivers on, because we have a classroom now running and we're looking for about 500 drivers."
Dave Singh also tells us that if people are struggling to find work when the furlough scheme ends this week they’ll happily take them on.
Mr Singh said: "The furlough finishes at the end of this month, hopefully they don't but some people will be laid off. We don't want them to panic because there's a job there for them. We'll take them on, we'll give them the training. It's not hard, we can put them into work straight away."
The taxi driver also said that he is worried that this strain is being felt nationwide.