Four people left stranded in rural Kent for two hours by a Welling taxi firm have vowed never to use their services again.

From 1am on June 28, the group were left to sit on steps outside a venue near Tunbridge Wells after a friend's wedding, with repeated calls to the booking office of Carlton Cars met with no response.

A cab had been booked a week in advance to pick them up.

One of the group, Alex Donohue, says an operator finally admitted the delay was caused by a shortage of drivers during Ramadan.

The 25-year-old added when a driver eventually arrived - at 3am - he was unaware of the delay and made no apology, before taking a longer route back to the drop off at Bexleyheath and attempting to overcharge for the £65 journey by £10.

He said: "We booked the job with Carlton a week in advance as until now we believed them to be the most reliable firm in the area. 

"After this experience and their supposed apology I will never use them again - we have all deleted their number from our phone.

"Not only were we left for hours having booked the job a week in advance, but the operator expected us to accept and have known that Ramadan was a legitimate cause for a delay, which must be why no apology was made.

"When I went to complain we were passed from pillar to post without any further apology or explanation before eventually a manager called to explain the catalogue of errors which led to the delay, culminating in a novice driver being sent from another office."

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He added: "A week later management responded with their derisory offer of a £10 discount voucher, which we would never use."

A spokesman for Carlton Cars, which is based in Springfield Road, said: "We despatched a vehicle to pick up Mr Donohue's party this vehicle was unavoidably detained on route. 

"Unfortunately the control centre was not informed immediately and were not aware until Mr Donohue telephoned to query where his vehicle was. 

"This lead to an unacceptable delay and we sincerely apologised to Mr Donohue and his party.  

"A manager spoke to Mr Donohue about his complaint and tried to offer some compensation however Mr Donohue insisted he wanted a full refund and would make this demand via the News Shopper."