Fareham taxi fares are set to increase for the first time in two years.

Council chiefs have allowed cabbies to reduce the £2 pull-off distance from 470 metres to 420 metres, with the charge thereafter increasing from ten pence for every 140 metres to 20 pence for every 260 metres.

Waiting time charges will be increased from 20 pence for 80 seconds to 20 pence for every 60 seconds.

Councillor Diana Harrison, chairman of the borough council's licensing and regulatory affairs committee, said: "We expect the changes to come into effect from about September because all the meters will now need to be changed in the taxis. We believe the price rise is acceptable as Fareham taxi fares will remain the second lowest in south Hampshire after Havant."

Included in proposals was a request for the starting time of more expensive after-hour services to be brought forward from midnight to 11pm.

However, this led to complaints that it would be unfair on people who go out for an evening and leave the town when pubs close at 11pm.

Instead the committee decided to bring the time down to 11.30pm.

Mrs Harrison said: "We wanted to make sure that people coming out of venues like the cinema still get the best rates."

Tom Gane, chairman of the Fareham Hackney Carriage Association, said a consensus was quickly reached.

"After midnight getting drivers out is quite difficult so we wanted to see the late night price brought forward as an incentive," he said.

"We are happy to wait until September as any increase is better than nothing."

Hampshire police had said that the higher rate would be counterproductive in that people who normally leave by taxi would no longer have an incentive to leave the town centre.