A businessman has branded the island's taxi service "pathetic" after arriving at the airport on Friday night to find not a single available cab in sight.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, came back on the late night American Airlines flight from New York but found all the cabs had been pre-booked. He said: "The flight was two-thirds full but there wasn't a single cab, that's quite a statement for an island which prides itself on tourism and business.

"It's an absolute disgrace. Visitors didn't know what the situation was. Maybe Dr. Brown is right. We need to do something radical."

The businessman managed to get a lift with someone else but he said he would not take his chances next time and would arrange a company driver. He said he would be advising colleagues to do the same. He said of Friday's shortage: "It's symptomatic of the service ethic in the hospitality industry here."

Acting Airport General Manager Lester Nelson said the situation on Friday had been "nothing out of the usual".

He said Friday was normally a busy night and there was no way of forcing cabs to go to the airport.

"I don't want to point the finger, sometimes there is a surplus when it's late or there might well be a shortage, you just don't know how many drivers will show up," said Mr. Nelson. He said the airport worked with TCD, airport limos and the taxis who were at the airport to overcome any crisis with some cabs taking several people at a time. The system usually mopped up normal overspill short of a strike said Mr. Nelson.

In a reference to Dr. Brown's plan for taxis to have global positioning systems to allot jobs to the nearest cab, Mr. Nelson said: "The Minister of Transport is initiating improvements in the dispatching system. Hopefully this will help it."