A taxi firm has invested almost £250,000 in ten vehicles designed specially for people who use wheelchairs.

Southern Taxis (Brighton) has already taken delivery of six of the Ford Transit vehicles and hopes to have the remaining four before Christmas.

The diesel vehicles, which fall somewhere between a car and a minibus and cost £23,000 each, have enough room for two wheelchairs and six other passengers.

Wheelchairs can either be loaded from the side or rear of the vehicle to make parking easier.

Andrew Cheeseman, managing director of Southern Taxis, said the company was in regular contact with health organisations which prompted the firm to invest in the new fleet.

He said: "We are the main contract taxi firm for the local NHS and University Hospital trusts and transport about 400 children to and from special needs schools every day.

"A lot of these children suffer from Asperger's syndrome or autism and some use wheelchairs, which, until now, has meant us having to send a least two taxis to the schools.

"So we wanted to find a greener, long-term solution which would reduce emissions around the schools and generally provide a better service for people in wheelchairs.

"It was a substantial investment but we will hopefully benefit ourselves by getting more custom from disability organisations.

"Because our drivers work for us, rather than being self-employed, none can refuse to pick up a fare just because someone might be in a wheelchair.

"To the best of my knowledge we are the only taxi firm in Brighton and Hove where this applies."

The company hopes to recoup some of the heavy costs by allowing customers to hire the vehicles for private use, either with or without a driver.

Southern Taxis, which trades as City Cabs in Brighton and Hove, now has 140 vehicles in its fleet, of which ten are specifically designed for disabled passengers.

Since it was established in 1963, the company has expanded and taken new technology on board, including a computerised telephone ordering and dispatching system The company runs its own taxi school based in Queen's Road, Brighton. Training takes eight to 13 weeks to complete, with guaranteed work at the end for those who qualify.

The school also makes sure all its drivers are trained to handle customers with wheelchairs.