On Tuesday, hundreds of irate Perth taxi drivers abandoned fares to protest state government inaction over the discount, ride-sharing service, Uber. Taxis clog Parliament House in protest against the Uber service. Credit:James Mooney About 300-400 cabs, organised by the Transport Workers Union, joined a massive convoy from Perth Airport to Parliament House to deliver a petition to opposition Transport spokesman Ken Travers. Perkusich Uber licencing "They've just had enough," he said.

"They have heard from the government that things are being done and sat back for a while, but there seems to be a lot of rhetoric going on and no action." Union claims Perth taxi drivers had lost about a third of their previous income over the past year. Mr Perkusich said taxi drivers in Perth had lost about a third of their income over the past year since Uber's introduction. Taxi drivers are required to spend about $30,000 to lease registration plates, pay rent to dispatch companies, insurance, registration and security cameras, on top of maintenance and fuel costs. "It's quite an outlay before they even turn the wheel," Mr Perkusich said.

Heavy regulations on the taxi industry, including police and background checks, as well as safety measures such as security cameras, ensured customer and driver safety. Mr Travers said action was taking too long and promised to raise deregulation and compensation issues with the state government. "They enforce the law on you every day; they need to enforce the law on everybody," he said. Transport Minister Dean Nalder said he had not been invited to the protest and thought it was a political stunt to drum up more union members. "Overseas experience has shown that protests against Uber have resulted in heightened bookings for Uber as a result of publicity," Mr Nalder said.

He agreed reform was needed in the industry but ultimately it needed to be open to competition. "The Department of Transport has filed prosecutions against Uber," he said. "It has spent the past few months gathering evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law that drivers are contravening the Taxi Act 1994 ... it is an offence to carry fare-paying passengers in a vehicle that is not appropriately licenced. "Secondly, I have asked my Department of Transport to provide a green paper on the options for the taxi industry, and this is due mid-year." Uber Perth general manager Simon Rossi said since that since Uber entered the Perth market in 2014 it had provided reliable and safe transport, built accountability into the transportation process and created jobs.

"We urge our counterparts in the taxi industry to rise to the occasion, instead of attempting to stifle healthy competition and consumer choice," he said. "Our extensive background checks, first-class insurance coverage and unprecedented transparency built into the app have transformed the riding experience for hundreds of thousands of riders across Australia. "Last year, the governing Liberal Party in Western Australia voted at their state conference to remove the regulatory barriers that prevented services like Uber from operating. "Those sentiments were echoed in the past few weeks by the Federal Labor party, Choice, Treasurer Joe Hockey, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and the Harper Competition Policy Review, who all called for the needs of consumers to be put first. "The time has come for [West] Australian political leaders to heed these voices, and those of the hundreds of Uber driver partners and tens of thousands of Perth riders who use Uber every week, and implement sensible, safety-based, ride-sharing regulation as quickly as possible."

Taxi Council of WA chief executive Joanna Lockyer said people should not expect a disruption to services, though she was unsure how many taxi drivers would join the protest. "We do know drivers are doing it tough at the moment and some won't be able to afford to take part," she said. Meanwhile, Mr Sunni said he and his wife He said their "dream" of sending their two-year-old daughter to a private school will now remain that, a dream. Follow WAtoday on Twitter