TAXI companies in Dorset are actively recruiting drivers from overseas because of a shortage of suitable British applicants.

Foreigners now make up around a fifth of the taxi driving workforce in Bournemouth and six per cent in Poole.

Ashley Miller, of the Bournemouth Taxi Association, claimed: "There are always complaints going into the Town Hall regarding breakdown in communication and the driver not knowing where he's going.

"Quite a few of the foreign chaps are as good as gold. They do their job very well, they're well-presented and they keep their cars clean.

"As with the British lads, there's only a small minority that let the side down."

One Poole taxi company boss, who asked not to be named, confirmed that some vehicles were standing idle because of a shortage of drivers.

"One or two guys have drivers they have brought over from Poland. There are also South Africans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Indians and Albanians," he said.

"Anyone can recruit anybody, but they have to go through the local authority. They are the licensing body, and if they approve that person, they are allowed to work.

"What's important is the public getting a good service, not the nationality of the driver."

But Poole independent taxi driver Mike Gale said: "I get people getting in the car saying: I don't want that driver over there because he can't speak English very well and doesn't know where he's going'.

"If a driver can't communicate with someone, it puts a bad light on the rest of us.

"No-one wants to be called a racist, but at the end of the day, if the public can't understand them, what are they supposed to do?"

A spokesman for Poole council said the number of complaints about taxis was low and not related to ethnic origin. "The knowledge of roads and locations is an oral test, so if there was any doubt as to the language skills, that person would be unlikely to pass."

A Bournemouth Council spokesman said there were "very few" complaints about taxi drivers not knowing the area.

Drivers have to satisfy the authority that they can speak, read and write English before getting a licence.