Taxi Co-op president George Scott said yesterday that drivers -- who say they are arming themselves in reaction to a recent spate of attacks -- risk having their assailants do the same.

"If you let someone know you have a weapon, they will prepare themselves to deal with it,'' Mr. Scott said. "The weapons will escalate in size. If a driver has a pipe, then the attacker will get a gun.'' Instead of this, Mr. Scott said drivers needed to stand back from the problem and look at the issues more objectively.

Mr. Scott's comments came one day after The Royal Gazette ran a story about the decision of some taxi drivers to arm themselves in light of recent attacks.

But Mr. Scott said: "If we keep dwelling on the random acts of violence against the taxi drivers and resort (to weapons) just to defend ourselves we are not going to solve the problem.

"We have to remove ourselves from all the emotion that has come to surround these violent acts and look at other ways to prevent it.

"But we need to improve the industry because it is in a crisis. That's why these things are taking place.'' Mr. Scott said the removal of the requirement that drivers carry radios in the taxis a few years ago put cabbies at risk because they were cut off from the dispatcher in the event of an emergency.

However the lack of a radio in the car is just one of several other ills in the industry, he suggested.

"The fare increases that we haven't had since 1989 are also a problem because other things like fuel, parts and the vehicles themselves are constantly going up,'' he said.

"Everything else is going up. And without an increase to compete with those costs, any person will look to cut costs.

"Our problems in this industry need to be solved collectively and that includes the taxi drivers, the taxi owners and the taxi dispatch services.''