A tax driver claimed last night that he was willing to go to prison over his refusal to have a new mandatory satellite navigation system installed in his taxi.

Keith Darrell said Government?s insistence that all taxis be fitted with the high-tech GPS equipment ? which has led to some cabbies being ordered by the Transport Control Department (TCD) to stop taking fares this week ? was ?unacceptable? and unenforceable in law.

His remarks came as it emerged that one of the Island?s three taxi dispatching firms had run out of the systems and was unable to fit any cabs with GPS.

Co-Op Taxis is waiting for the arrival of its equipment from Toronto. President, Alaine Mouchette, said they will be going to today?s Public Service Vehicle Licensing Board meeting to plead their case.

?Our order was pushed back,? she said. ?I am hoping it will arrive in the next few days. We have been trying to do our due diligence and meet the deadline but due to circumstances beyond control we couldn?t. We hope that they will be understanding.?

She added there were others in the same position and said she will go to today?s meeting armed with documentation proving that it was beyond her control that the equipment is not here.

BTA (Dispatching) has five systems available and is about to order more. Radio Cabs owner Eddie Darrell has already fitted 150 cabs and just collected an order of 60 systems from Atlanta. He arrived yesterday and went straight to work to fit more taxis with the mandatory equipment.

Mr. Darrell, who was installing a system while speaking to last night, said he personally flew to Atlanta to collect the equipment.

He added that the equipment will be used to finish equipping his company?s customers as well as for other drivers who have given him money to purchase equipment. He said they would be installed very quickly.

TCD traffic officers have been inspecting cabs at the airport and cruise ship ports all week and telling those without the new kit that they cannot pick up passengers.

Mr. Keith Darrell, 55, of Smith?s, who has driven taxis on the Island for 34 years, said the height of the tourist season was the wrong time for the Government to be ordering taxis off the road.

?They are pulling them off the road when their services are needed,? he said. ?There are about 200 cabs without GPS. If you pull those off the roads you are going to have a taxi shortage.

?And what legislation are they penalising the drivers under? There isn?t any. There aren?t any penalties. They have to go back to the House (of Assembly) and revamp it.?

Mr. Darrell said it was unfair that he had paid about $300 for a taxi licence and $1,600 for insurance but was being told he could not work. He said he would get the new system eventually but was opting to go with Co-op so could not get fitted at the moment.

He added: ?It?s totally unacceptable. I?m going to continue to drive. I?m willing to go to prison. GPS is a failure.?

TCD Director Randy Brangman said taxi drivers had been given more than ample time to get installed with the equipment.

?Everybody knew it was coming since last year this time and February was the deadline,? he said. ?There was a six-month grace period given after that. Now we are getting these issues arising.

?This could have been addressed a long time ago if they had complied by the February deadline.?

He said Mr. Darrell was wrong about the new law ? the Motor Car Amendment Act 2005 ? being unenforceable.

?Under the new legislation it says no person shall operate a taxi unless it?s registered with a dispatching company and the vehicle is properly equipped.?

He said he could not say what the penalty for non-compliance would be. The Public Service Vehicle Licensing Board will decide that following a special meeting today with taxi drivers caught without GPS.

?I don?t want to pre-empt what the board is doing,? said Mr.Brangman.

?Once the board makes a decision on that, TCD will be guided accordingly.?

He added that he could not speak on behalf of the board regarding Taxi Co-op?s bind and would not say whether he thought they would be ordered off the road or allowed to remain in service.

Michael Ray, president of Bermuda Taxi Association and president and a shareholder in BTA (Dispatching), said he hoped those cabbies who had not complied would not lose their licences.

?If they have to appear before the board they should be given an ultimatum and have to have it before a certain date,? he said.

He said of Mr. Darrell: ?If he refuses to obey the law he should not complain about the consequences that follow.

?This fight has been going on for five years and it?s been lost since 2005.

?I think his is a lame excuse. I?m not going to go to jail for that but some taxi owners or drivers feel that strong. If he feels that strong, then that?s his prerogative.?

Mr. Ray added that Government should have let drivers know the penalties they would face well in advance of GPS becoming mandatory.

But Mr. Brangman said: ?I would have thought that taxi drivers would have just wanted to adhere to the law. If the law says it?s got to be done, then it?s got to be done.? revealed on Tuesday that 120 of the Island?s 600 taxis ? 20 percent of the fleet ? had still not had GPS fitted.