A hike in taxi fares by as much as 38 per cent has been approved.

Councillors who gave the rise the go-ahead say it should increase the number of late-night cabs.

Hackney carriage charges for the Eastbourne area will rise by varying amounts, depending on the time of day and the distance travelled.

Planning and licensing committee chairman Councillor Patrick Bowker (Cons) said the application to increase the charges had sailed through. He added the aim of the charges was to encourage more taxis on the streets of Eastbourne late at night.

Councillor Olive Woodall (Lib Dem), a member of the committee, said: "There was a sliding scale to the charges from a little in the day and more at night. It seemed a reasonable increase."

Customers can expect to pay around 30p extra for daytime journeys and between £1.10 and £2.30 extra for journeys between midnight and 3am.

Charges between 3am and 5am will drop between 10p and 50p depending on the length of the journey.

There are 84 hackney carriage taxis in Eastbourne, 62 of them run by Eastbourne and Country Taxis. Company chairman David Stone-Cox, who proposed the increase in charges, said: "We are pleased that it went through."