A Bedminster taxi firm claims it is losing £5,000 a day after the telecoms company supplying its phones went into receivership.

Bristol South Taxis, which has 40 drivers working 24 hours a day, cannot take calls on its main switchboard number after the collapse of Global Telecoms in Manchester.

Callers cannot get through on the main taxi number – 0117 940 9000 – which is written on the side of taxis and whose lines are supplied by Global.

Unpaid bills by Global means its services have been cut off for customers across the UK.

Stefan Bond, 49, a partner in the taxi business in West Street said: “It’s been a nightmare.

“All of a sudden at 5.30pm on Thursday night, the phones all went dead. There is no dial tone and when you ring the number nothing happens.

“We rang BT who told us Global, who supply our phone system had gone bust and all of their services across the UK have been cut off.

“Our drivers are self-employed, so if we get no calls, then they have no fares and no money – one driver has already left and gone to another firm.

“We’ve spent 15 years building up this business and I reckon between the 40 drivers, it’s costing around £5,000 a day in lost takings for the drivers.”

Drivers pay the firm a weekly fee for radio equipment and a percentage of their takings in return for fares across Bristol.

Mr Bond said: “We tried ringing Global, but there’s just a recorded message saying to leave your details if there’s a fault, but you can’t speak to anyone.

“We can still send out cabs – callers should ring 0117 963 1818 which is another phone line we use.”

The firm is asking BT to reconnect its main phone lines to the BT network, but has been warned it could take ten days.

The taxi firm chose Global for its phone system 18 months ago in a bid to save cash.

The phone lines were rented from BT by Global, which offered its own network at reduced rates.

Global Telecoms Limited based in Bury, near Manchester, closed down earlier this month after a winding up order was taken out by one of its main suppliers.

The Bristol Post left messages at the offices of Global but received no reply as the paper went to press last night.

Chris Orum, a BT spokesman, said: “BT is aware of this and we are doing all we can to provide service for those affected customers."