Taxi fares in Midlothian will go up after councillors agreed to increase charges to help drivers cope with increasing costs.

Midlothian Taxi Owner’s Association (MTOA) urged the council to increase fares after it was revealed a review of the current charges was long overdue.

The proposed new fares will see initial hire charges during the day go up to £3.50 from £3, with the evening charge going from £3.80 to £4.50 and festive holiday rates going from £4.50 to £5.

Additional time and distance charges of 25p go to 30p – a 20% increase, across all tariffs except at Christmas holidays when it remains at 40p.

The association said increasing evening fares would help encourage more taxi drivers to operate in unsociable hours.

A meeting of the council’s general purposes committee heard a cons

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