Taxi drivers in Nottingham say livelihoods are being put at risk because of an oversupply of drivers and a lack of protection for holidays and sickness.
Drivers have described the city as 'overcrowded' with taxis from elsewhere in the country, even during the coronavirus lockdown.
Those working in Nottingham say the situation has taken its toll both financially and emotionally.
A lack of legal protections including paid leave is also putting many drivers at risk, and some are earning as little as £17 from driving all day.
Asif Maqsood, a 43-year-old Hackney carriage driver from Sneinton and spokesperson for the Nottingham Taxi Owners' and Drivers' Association, said: "I think we have no protections at all being self-employed.
"We see a lot of drivers come from Gedling and Rushcliffe, but also from places like Wolverhampton.
"It feels like there's nobody worrying about taxi drivers when we are struggling to earn a living. We are licensed by Nottingham City Council, but classed as self-employed."
It is also thought that the Deregulation Act of 2015 impacted local taxi drivers' livelihoods as it was made legal for drivers with a private-hire licence from any local authority to operate anywhere in England on pre-booked jobs.
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Chander Sood, a taxi driver of 26 years in Nottingham, is 61 and lives in Wollaton.
He said: "We see drivers from all over the place come here and it does feel overcrowded because the council can't enforce otherwise.
"The contribution drivers make isn't being recognised. We are working in such difficult and hard circumstances, it takes a toll financially, emotionally."
Vijay Sood, 71, and a taxi driver in Nottingham of 18 years added that struggling to earn has left him "vulnerable" and affected him psychologically.
Dr Tom Vickers, senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Social Sciences, recently completed a study on livelihoods of taxi drivers titled 'Decent Work and Good Work in the Platform Economy: Private Hire and Taxi Work in Nottingham'.
He said: “England’s regulatory framework for private hire and hackney drivers accounts only for the safety and wellbeing of passengers, not drivers. This needs to change."
The report mentioned a host of recommendations, including restricting private hire vehicles to taking jobs within the domain of the council to which they are registered.
Information from the Department for Transport reads: "The Government published its response to the report of Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing and committed to considering in more detail, the recommendation around tackling cross border working.
"The views expressed... showed that there is a lack of consensus on how the issue should be solved, with many approaches creating significant additional costs for businesses, and ultimately passengers.
"Following this engagement with the sector, the Government will not, at this time, take forward out-of-area restrictions."
