The Victorian Government moved last week to buyback taxi licences as part of legalising ride-sharing services.

The action has angered cabbies who say their licences have been devalued and they stand to lose millions through the change in system.

On Sunday, Amalgamated Taxis Wodonga chairman Scott Cowie joined hundreds of other drivers at a meeting of the Victorian Taxi and Hire Car Families group in Melbourne.

“The mood in the room was quite angry,” Mr Cowie said.

“There were some people in that room who lost $5 million and their super.

“A guy committed suicide on Wednesday and another one tried on Thursday.

“It’s a pretty serious thing when someone kills themselves over it, but many of these people have lost their life savings.”

Reforms to the industry should have separated Melbourne and regional areas, Mr Cowie believes.

He pointed to country cabbies having a 92 per cent satisfaction rating compared to a 54 per cent level for their city colleagues.

“We were doing a great job and we’ve been shafted and we’ve got nothing left,” Mr Cowie said.

He believed politicians from all parties had let down taxi drivers by not taking their suggestions for reform seriously before allowing ride-sharing service Uber to enter the industry without having to match the standards of the existing cab providers.

Mr Cowie said the Victorian government had “caved-in” to a company whose drivers did not have adequate protection through industrial laws and took its profits overseas.