Taxi drivers may no longer be able to use sat-navs to find their way around Bath after new licensing conditions were proposed.
Bath and North East Somerset Council is considering bringing in the measures in a bid to improve the knowledge of drivers.
Councillor David Dixon, the cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said all taxi drivers should know their way around the local area without having to rely on a satellite navigation system.
He said: "It is not unreasonable to expect that a professional licensed driver should be able to have a sound knowledge of the area in which they are licensed.
"Satellite navigation systems do not always provide the most appropriate route and are unable to take account of local transient conditions that a professional driver should be aware of."
Mr Dixon said the drivers would still be able to use sat-navs outside of B&NES and that this was a measure which the vast majority of taxi drivers had supported.
He added that there was also a safety issue with people using large sat-nav systems on their windscreen.
"On a recent multi agency taxi check undertaken in B&NES 100 per cent of existing taxis already using satellite navigation systems were found by VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) inspectors to be compromising the drivers view of the road by being installed within the swept area of the windscreen.
"The systems were required to be removed by VOSA immediately as they were considered to be in contravention of construction and use regulations."
However, the move has been met with resistance by opposition politicians, who branded the decision as "bizarre" and "unenforceable".
Conservative councillors said that whilst passengers had a right to expect taxi drivers to have a good knowledge of the local area, an outright ban on the use of sat-navs was a step too far.
Councillor Anthony Clarke (Con, Lansdown) said: "Sat-navs will never be able to trump local knowledge, and of course taxi drivers should have a good knowledge of the area in which they operate.
"But B&NES covers a large area, and there may be instances when a taxi needs to take a passenger to a part of the authority with which they are less familiar.
"So to put in place an outright ban on the use of sat-navs in taxis quite frankly seems bizarre.
"Of course taxi drivers shouldn't need to rely upon sat-navs, but at the end of the day their use is now commonplace and when used appropriately they can have a role to play in ensuring passengers get to their destination by the cheapest, most direct route."
