Cabbies are reassuring customers that they will not be striking during the festive period.

The Oxford Mail reported at the weekend that taxi drivers in Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington had threatened to strike on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, but drivers have said this will not happen.

Bicester residents, who believed hackney carriage cabbies in the town were still on strike, have been avoiding the taxi rank in Market Square. But taxi drivers are assuring customers they are fully operational.

These fears follow two strikes by all 83 hackney carriage drivers at the end of last month and beginning of this month, over a dispute between Cherwell Valley Hackney Carriage Association and Cherwell District Council about plans to put more cabs on the road.