Taxi drivers should not be going undercover to try to tackle unlicensed ride-hailing services and the matter should be left to the police, an industry spokesman said on Monday.

Videos online appear to show cabbies travelling as Uber passengers before asking drivers to stop at locations the police have been called to.

Chow Kwok-keung, chairman of the Hong Kong Taxi and Public Light Bus Association, told RTHK he does not agree with such an approach.

He added, however, that there were only 33 prosecutions over unlicensed ride-hailing services last year and the taxi trade is disappointed with the amount of action taken by the authorities.

"Ride-hailing services are legal, but if these companies do not verify whether or not the cars in service have a hire car permit, the insurance of these cars already becomes invalid. This becomes a problem for all road users including third-party vehicles, pedestrians, passengers and even the driver of the ride-hailing car," he said.

"If there is a serious accident and there's no compensation for casualties, people would criticise the SAR's governance and nobody wants to see that."

Chow said he hopes plans for new fleets of taxis will improve services, leading to less demand for ride-hailing firms.