Cabbies have hit back at comments by Minister Derrick Burgess that it was "unacceptable" for them to leave passengers stranded at the airport over Cup Match.

Earlier this week, Mr. Burgess, Acting Minister of Tourism and Transport, criticised drivers for taking time off over the public holiday. He said it was "not reasonable" for some operators to decide not to run a service.

Works and Engineering Minister Mr. Burgess said it was up to everyone to pull together during a recession, to provide a good service for tourists.

Passengers on the American Airlines' flights from New York City and Miami on Friday complained of being "left stranded" at the airport due to a lack of taxis.

A Government spokeswoman said: "There were expressions of general shortages, long waits, and people being told 'the taxi is on the way' and a significant amount of time had passed since the pre-arranged booking time."

She said this was "more than an hour in some cases".

However Terry Flood, a part-time driver with Radio Cabs, accused Mr. Burgess of unfair criticism.

"Minister Burgess's comments are totally unacceptable. I think he is being very unfair as most cab drivers work very hard," said Mr. Flood. "His comments are unacceptable and unfair."

Mr. Flood, who is also a community activist, said cabbies deserved time off to take a vacation too, saying: "We are not machines. I worked Cup Match eve and on the Thursday, and we were rushed off our feet. But the problem is airline flights come in to Bermuda at the same time. "Maybe Minister Burgess should concentrate on that."

Mr. Flood said he had travelled to New Jersey at the weekend himself and had "waited an hour-and-a-half to get through immigration and baggage pick-up".

He said this was because the JetBlue flight from New York, the Continental Airlines service from New Jersey and the Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta had all arrived in Bermuda at a similar time. He added: "All around the world you have to wait for taxis. From the general comments we receive from the public we have a very good service and some of the best cabbies."

George Scott of the Bermuda Taxi Co-op, said: "On holidays people do take off, they have that right. We ought to encourage drivers who own taxis to allow another driver to drive it when they're not working.

"The playing field out there also has to be levelled. We have pre-arranged transportation, so the same thing has to happen with taxis.

"They ought to be able to sell seats rather than having just one fare, such as limousines pre-sell seats. This would fill up the vehicles at the airport and so make the best use of what we do have available."

Mr. Scott said the Transport Control Department (TCD) Traffic Officers at L. F. Wade International Airport could organise this. "It's called multiple fares," he said. "That was the whole purpose of putting the GPS system in. We should be using the technology we have at our disposal."

However, member of the public Andrew Correia said: "The Minister's comments are correct. A lot of taxi drivers complain all the time about not getting enough work when it is slow, yet at the busiest time of the year they want time off. In other words they want work to come to them. We don't need this type of taxi driver."

Mr. Correia, the manager of C-Mart, Pembroke, said a friend was robbed on the first day of Cup Match after despairing of getting a taxi, and walking to Pitts Bay Road.