About 500 Auckland taxis have been unable to accept fares since Monday, because mandatory security cameras have yet to be installed in them.
Although their operators were given an extra week from August 1 to fit the cameras and panic buttons, following attacks on drivers and the murders of two of them, the Transport Agency has refused to grant a further reprieve.
Agency spokesman John Doesburg said yesterday that they had been given more than three months to order the cameras and the only extra exemptions were granted to operations where there would not otherwise be enough taxis to provide an adequate transport service.
He said the 500 Auckland taxis unable to operate until they fitted cameras were out of a region-wide fleet of 3700 cabs, so there were still plenty still in service to meet customer demand.
But a manufacturing problem in China meant it was touch and go for the region's largest operator, Auckland Cooperative Taxis, which won a High Court injunction on Sunday afternoon for an exemption until noon today.