DANGEROUS “cowboy” taxi drivers are taking advantage of long queues of revellers who are left stranded after a night out due to a “driver shortage”.

AC Taxis in Southend are struggling to keep up at peak times every weekend, caused by drivers quitting due to Covid fears, its bosses have revealed.

Party-goers have now spoken of hour-long queues in the town centre at taxi ranks.

As a result, cowboy taxi drivers are offering lifts for as little as £10, swooping in when they see there is a lengthy wait.

A 60-year-old from Southend, who wants to remain anonymous, explained how he and a group of friends used one of the fake drivers.

He said: “It’s not safe, and it’s dangerous.

“I was with a group of people at the time, but if I was on my own it would have been a different story.

“He came to the taxi rank in the town centre and asked if we wanted a lift for £10.

“We’d been waiting for 45 minutes, and were told a few times to wait there for a few minutes and a taxi would turn up.

“We weren’t the only ones waiting for a long time and I’m not the only one to have used these cowboy taxis recently.”

Across the country, taxi firms are struggling with a driver shortage.

Stephen Noakes, general manager at AC Taxis, said: “In the last few weeks, we’ve had to let people down at peak times at the weekend, which we never want to do.

“We’ve had a number of older drivers not come back to work because they don’t want to put themselves at risk of Covid.

“We’ve got a shortage at the moment, it takes us nine months to get a new driver walking through the door, to being licensed by Southend Council.

“The council needs to come up with a solution to the cowboy taxis.

“It’s not safe to get into a cowboy taxi, you don’t know who’s driving the vehicle, they won’t have any of the right checks.”

Martin Terry, councillor in charge of community safety, said: “This is a serious problem, and is really dangerous.

“By using one of these (cowboy taxis), you’re putting yourself in danger. You don’t know who’s driving them.”