Cabbies have accused police of failing to protect them from thieves who get away with tens of thousands of pounds in unpaid fares.

More than 100 taxi drivers have banded together to call on police to take fare dodging more seriously.

Drivers say they already run a nightly gauntlet of physical violence and robbery and have called for extra support from police.

But they say the growing menace of fare dodging is now costing them their livelihoods as well.

They say police are failing to take action to catch suspects and are simply shrugging their shoulders and advising drivers to pursue fare dodgers through the civil courts.

Cabbies estimate tens of thousands of pounds worth of rides are stolen each year in Brighton and Hove, mainly at night time during the weekends when people are drinking.

The 100-strong group of taxi drivers have signed a petition urging the Sussex force to prosecute fare dodgers.

They are also calling for the public safety of taxi drivers and other night-time workers to be given higher priority.

Bernard Knowles, who organised the campaign, said cabbies were statistically more likely to encounter violence while working than police officers.

Fighting on the streets was commonplace around nightclubs on Friday or Saturday nights and confrontations often started in the taxi queue.

He said: "Of lone workers, taxi drivers in many places are at the greatest risk of violence. Night time is the highest risk driving period and, as in other occupations, customer intoxication appears to play a role in precipitating violence."

Mr Knowles, who operates a London-style Hackney Carriage, said drivers wanted extra support from police to deal with the effects of binge drinking.

But their main beef was with fare dodgers and the police's alleged failure to tackle them. The 52-year-old from Brighton Marina, said: "If someone steals from a shop, they are treated as criminals but if they run off without paying a taxi fare the police say there is nothing they can do.

"The truth is their resources are stretched so they don't want to do anything. We are calling for police to stop telling us there's nothing they can do."

Mr Knowles said no driver was likely to bother going to the small claims court to pursue a unpaid fare of £10. He said night-shifting drivers had to put up with about six fare dodgers a year each.

Superintendent Kevin Moore of Sussex Police said he would investigate fare dodging to see if officers were applying the law properly.

He said: "If I discover we haven't been dealing with these matters correctly then I can assure you that in future that is exactly what we will do.

"Sussex Police does not have a policy of not prosecuting fare dodgers. If there is evidence to show criminal offence has been committed we will deal with it."