Cab firms discriminating against disabled customers by charging them higher fares than other passengers should be taken to court, a leading campaign group has demanded.

People First Keighley and Craven says legal action is now needed following a disappointingly poor response to its original appeal for fair treatment.

Lead campaigner Tom Walsh claims some private hire firms continue to charge disabled passengers inflated prices compared to able-bodied customers, despite the warnings.

He alleges unscrupulous drivers are still flouting the law in Keighley district a year after Bradford Council ordered them to meet the requirements of disability discrimination laws.

And other district groups have reported similar issues.

Mr Walsh said: “They were given six months and basically nothing has changed – it’s looking like it might need prosecutions for this to be enforced.

“Once a company has been prosecuted, other firms might think it’s only a matter of time before they are also taken to court.”

Mr Walsh said he had volunteered to be the complainant if the Council is willing to take a test case to court in a bid to end the unfair practice.

But Stuart Hastings, director of private hire firm Metro Keighley, hit back at the claims, arguing equal pricing had become common practice among cab firms following People First’s 2012 report.

Mr Hastings said: “I don’t know what People First is talking about. They need to name the firms that are doing it.”

People First, which is run by adults with learning disabilities, started its campaign early last year after discovering some firms were charging up to double the fare.

People in wheelchairs have to use seven-seat vehicles, which usually cost more to hire than normal taxis that can only carry four people.

But Mr Walsh, who himself uses a wheelchair, called several cab firms asking for prices. He then phoned the following day to request fees for the same journey for a wheelchair user, only to be quoted a significantly higher figure.

Haworth parish councillor Barry Thorne who has campaigned for many years against disability discrimination, agrees taxi companies charging higher fares for disabled passengers should face prosecution.

He added: “You don’t charge more in a restaurant because a wheelchair takes up more space.

“Do you pay more in a shop to get more assistance? Of course you don’t.”

Metro Keighley charges wheelchair users the price of a four-seat car rather than the normal cost of the larger vehicle, and the company pays the difference to the driver.

Ian Bairstow, Bradford Council’s strategic director for environment and sport, said private hire firms could not charge more for a journey simply because the customer was disabled.