About 10 representatives from the taxi trade have protested outside the government headquarters in Tamar, urging Chief Executive John Lee to introduce tougher penalties against what they call illegal ride-hailing services.

They estimated that ride-hailing service Uber is costing their trade over $20 million in revenue each day.

In a petition submitted to the CE's office, the representatives from 45 taxi groups said existing legislation was not enough to regulate ride-hailing operators.

The Chairman of the North West Area Taxi Drivers and Operators Association, Wong Wing-chung, said he and his associates are disappointed that the government has no plans to amend laws to tackle the issue.

“They have more than ten thousand cars on the platform which cause us to lose out on $21 million in revenue each day,” Wong said.