It comes after Mr Pearce told The Daily Advertiser he no longer felt safe doing his job due to reckless driving on Wagga’s roads.

The local cabbie was just 200 metres into a journey from Mount Austin to Ashmont when two customers began berating and threatening him.

Mr Pearce pulled over and stated he would not proceed, but the two customers refused to leave the vehicle and an hour-long standoff ensued.

Police removed the two men from the car and did not press charges.

But the incident left Mr Pearce shaken.

“They abused me throughout that hour,” he said.

“They also pulled out an iPhone to record me while threatening to tell the ombudsman that I'm not fit to be a taxi driver.”

The rattled cabbie said abusive behaviour had risen sharply over the Christmas period.

“Across the industry we’ve absolutely noticed an increase in abusive and unruly behaviour,” he said.

“It's disgusting what we have to put up with.

“The past four weeks we've copped massive amounts of abuse.”

Mr Pearce praised the police and Wagga Taxis management for their handling of abusive situations, saying blame lay purely with the patrons who were “making life hell”.

Fellow taxi driver David Southgate echoed the calls for a change in behaviour and said his profession often involved being “spoken to like a second-class citizen”.

“We don’t need to be talked to like we’re dirt, we’re only only trying to provide a service.

“We’re putting these customers before our families a lot of the time by working through Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve.

“Yes it’s our job and we’re getting paid to do it, but there’s just no reason to behave this way.”

Another taxi driver, who opted not to be named, said drivers were regularly scolded for things that were out of their control.

“The customer might’ve waited two hours for a taxi and that’s not my fault personally,” he said.

“Our role is to do the jobs we’ve been allocated on the night.”