Cabbies say rising fuel prices mean costs are soaring, competition from Uber prevents them raising fares, and Watford’s vital night-time sector is under threat - meanwhile they face the same cost of living crisis many deal with at home.

The last fare increase came in 2017 when petrol cost around 115 pence per litre, this week prices reached 165.9 pence.

Further problems appear to be on the horizon after plans to turn the popular Pryzm nightclub into 147 homes were submitted.

Read more: Closing Watford Pryzm would 'put taxi drivers out of work'

We spoke to drivers at Watford Junction to see how they’ve been affected.

Independent taxi driver and Liberal Democrat councillor Shafiq Ahmed, 53, said: “With the prices going up there’s not enough business all over. It’s making drivers work extra hours. We can’t make £120 a week less.

“With the competition from Uber and the big apps, the average taxi driver in Watford is struggling to make ends meet.”

Maqsood, 61, said: “Drivers can only make ends meet by working more and more hours. But it means we are not giving our families our time. We have no time, a couple of the drivers will be half asleep here.”

Over the past year diesel has also risen by 48.6 pence per litre.

Another driver, Kfen, 55, said: “Making enough money is more and more difficult because my fare has not changed but the fuel prices have. Now everybody does so many hours.”

Watford Hackney Carriage Drivers Association chairman Zaheer Ahmed, 44, said: “We are looking at about £80 to 120 extra a week that comes out of our profit.

“If you are losing £400 at the end of the month there is no coming back from that. The drivers are struggling, and you really do feel the pinch.

“It’s everything, it’s not just fuel but your everyday life expenses, electricity, gas, your food bill. So everything is going up, its pushing people below the poverty line."