THE chairman of the National Private Hire Association has become the first taxi driver to have a Toyota Prius licensed for carrying fare paying passengers.

Mark Cartledge, who is based in Nottingham, said: 'With the vast amount of traffic we have, Nottingham is training to be London at the moment. We'll be doing a lot of 'stationary', and that's where this car comes into play. I think it should be very impressive.

'The most I can get out of a diesel in these conditions is 39mpg, but we've already had a Prius doing 55mpg.' Cartledge estimates he will do 80,000 miles a year in the 1.6-litre petrol-electric hybrid Prius, which has had to be given an 'experimental vehicle' licence by Nottingham City Council as it usually only authorises vehicles of 1.8-litres and above.

Nottingham City Council were persuaded to license the Prius because it is looking to battle pollution through its 'Clear Zone' traffic controls, where only essential traffic is allowed into the town centre during the day.