No private hire taxis are legally allowed to pick up passengers in Worthing today.

Licences needed by more than 270 drivers have not been renewed by Worthing Borough Council because of an administrative backlog.

The council still cannot say for certain when the paperwork will be completed.

Without them, drivers cannot insure their vehicles and are unable to prove to the public that police have checked them Despite the threat of prosecution for operating without a licence, many drivers have decided to go back on the road.

Private hire driver Glen Harris said: "The reason we have a licence is to ensure the public have confidence in drivers, who they know have been vetted by the police. Now no one will know who is legal and who isn't.

"When we now go to a school and pick up a child we've no licence to demonstrate we've been checked out. It's losing us business and is unsafe for the public.

"I've been a cab driver for four years and we've never had a problem before. I'm going to carry on because I have to earn a living."

Drivers appealed for their licences to be renewed six weeks ago.

The council's new licensing officer, Tony Armstrong, who was taken on in April to change the system, said: "The new licences will run from today until the day before the driver's next birthday and will then be annual.

"There will be a similar system for vehicles on the date of their registration each year.

"When we send out the licences they will be back-dated to today.

"If people trusted them yesterday they should trust them today.

"This has been a tremendous amount of extra work.

"They haven't been renewed on time because for the last three weeks I've been dealing with a constant stream of calls and I have not been able to physically process them because there are so many. Last week was horrendous."

The council said it would be in touch with the drivers by noon today to let them know when their new licences will be available.