Taxi drivers face having to spend thousands to comply with new emissions rulesNEW rules to cut air pollution in Plymouth have been criticised as "using a hammer to crack a nut".
Strict curbs on vehicle emissions that come into force on January 10 will cost some taxi and private hire drivers thousands of pounds.
Hackney cabs and private hire cars licensed after April 1, 2010 will now have to comply with Euro 3 emissions standards.
Any taxis licensed after April 1, 2012 will have to comply with the much tougher Euro 4 technology.
Hackney carriage owners will be able to fit conversion kits at a cost of up to £2,000, but private hire drivers may need to buy new cars.
One leading Plymouth cabbie criticised the city council's new rules.
Roy Hamilton, secretary of the Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association, said his organisation had negotiated with the council to win a better deal with.
"Thanks to us, vehicles over six years old will now not have to be taken off the road.
"But these new rules are not necessary. It should have been done through natural wastage. Legislation should not be retrospective.
"The emissions rules are a hammer to crack a nut because the amount of pollution we cause is negligible compared to fireworks and the ferries."
He said it would cost up to £2,000 to modify a black cab.
"What they have done is to increase the age of the Plymouth taxi fleet because people have been going up to London to buy older vehicles that have been modified.
"My own vehicle is Euro 4 compliant, but I feel sorry for the guys whose vehicles are not."
Cabbie Jake Journeaux said: "From what I can gather I'll need to get a new cab.
"That would cost thousands. Or, rather, it would cost my Dad thousands because this is his cab.
"It's wrong to do this in the middle of a recession, when running costs and fuel prices are also rising."
"I think the council is being very harsh," said Raymond Smith. "Other parts of the country are not insisting on bringing in the Euro 4 standards.
"My cab is nine years old and Euro 3 compliant so it won't cost me now. Originally they wanted it off the road by April 2013 because it isn't Euro 4 compliant.
"As far as I know they have given us leeway to 2015. That's when I'll have to retire because it would cost more than £30,000 to buy a new one.
"We don't cause a lot of emissions. I work an eight-hour day – but for five and a half or six hours I'm parked up at the railway station waiting for a fare.
"Buses and lorries cause more emissions."
The European emissions standards dramatically cut the amount of gases like carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and particles coming from a vehicle's exhaust.
David Trace, managing director of Taxifirst, which operates private hire cars and black cabs in the city, said most of his newer vehicles already complied with the higher standards.
"We've all got to do our bit," he said.
"The taxi trade is doing quite well at the moment and the build-up to Christmas was superb.
"The new regulations have been coming for quite a while. You can drive behind some vehicles and see smoke billowing out of their exhaust.
"These rules are for the benefit of people breathing Plymouth's air."
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