Minicab drivers who race from job to job, putting lives at risk, were warned today they will lose their livelihoods.

The warning came after Bradford councillor the Reverend Paul Flowers called for action to curb some private hire drivers whom he accused of driving recklessly.

And at the next Council meeting Councillor Keith Thomson (Lab, Wibsey) will ask why some cabbies are driving round with plates which are difficult to read and attached with "bits of string, old shoe laces and big rubber bands".

Today Councillor Michael Walls, chairman of the hackney carriage and private hire panel, warned that no licences would be renewed automatically if drivers were found to have committed offences.

Coun Flowers (Lab, Great Horton) said: "I would stress that the vast majority of private hire drivers are good and law abiding drivers but there appear to be a significant minority who cause problems and whose driving can at best be described as reckless."

He called on the Council to require bad drivers to take advanced driving tests and said he wanted a centre where the public could report examples of bad motoring.

Coun Walls said the Council demanded high standards from the 370 licensed hackney carriage drivers and 1,800 private hire drivers who had all passed the normal driving test.

He added: "The courts can require drivers to go on to centres which give them better skills, and it is not up to the Council."

People could already report bad driving to the hackney and private hire unit - on 433586 - and a special centre would be a "bureaucratic expense".

He said the panel would examine ways of making plates clearer for the public to read if they were concerned about bad driving.

"The main problem is speeding. Some drivers say they are under pressure from their controllers to get jobs, and members of the public also get annoyed if they are not on time. But it is a matter of putting lives at risk."

Linda Dixon, Bradford district representative of the National Private Hire Association, said: "If people have passed their statutory driving test they shouldn't need another one. The vast majority of the drivers always drive safely."