THE taxi driver who sparked a row over deregulation has defended his decision to take West Devon Borough Council to court over its refusal to grant him a licence.

Barry Kannenberg's successful appeal forced the borough council's environment committee to vote on the deregulation of the number of hackney carriage licences in the borough, which had previously been limited to 40 licences.

The test case appeal was launched by Mr Kannenberg because the authority had not undertaken a survey assessing the level of demand for taxis in West Devon, which would have cost around £10,000.

Mr Kannenberg, who will be using the name K-Kabz, said he took the borough council to court because he wanted to get his own plates and be able to earn a living operating independently in Tavistock, but now fears that following deregulation other companies from Plymouth and other areas might 'jump on the bandwagon'.

Mr Kannenberg said by publicising the issue the other taxi firms had 'spoilt it for themselves'. He said by drawing attention to the newly deregulated market in Tavistock, existing firms were likely to bring in extra taxi operators causing potential traffic chaos.

Mr Kannenberg said there were times during the drawn-out process of getting his plates, which began in April, when he considered giving in. 'It has been six months of hard toil, struggle and expense.

'It has cost me a lot of money, I could have bought another business with the money I have spent fighting this'.

Mr Kannenberg said that although he was still working as a bus driver, he had a great deal of experience as a taxi driver, having been in the profession for 17 and a half years, much of that time driving in London.

l Richard Nally, of Jay Cars, said local taxi drivers would be looking into the situation to see if they could appeal over the decision to deregulate.

He said it would be 'the survival of the fittest' with more cars in a taxi rank that could only take ten.

'If you are a one-man operation and you cannot get on the rank where can you go?'

He said the drivers were from the community, looked after the local customers and were known by them.

'We all have customers that we look after sometimes above and beyond. They are elderly and they have used us for years. I have got customers that I put the bins out for when I pick them up.'