Taxi colour rule plan goes ahead
From the Northern Echo, first published Wednesday 4th Aug 2004.
DURHAM City Council is pressing ahead with a taxi colour rule despite the opposition of cabbies.
All new Hackney vehicles will have to be white, including the nine licences that are being issued as part of the deregulation of the industry.
Hackney operators opposed to the move staged a protest strike after the Euro 2004 England against Portugal match.
They say white is used in neighbouring Easington and Sunderland and that will make it harder to identify Durham-licensed cabs if there are problems.
They also say white vehicles are hard to obtain, that resprays will add to their costs, that deregulation will cost existing operators business and that their views have been ignored.
The council is concerned that there are not enough cabs to clear the city's taxi ranks of weekend revellers in the early hours and that there are not enough vehicles that can carry disabled people - the nine new licences will be for cabs with disabled access.
Dave Stewart, the council's senior transportation engineer, said the colour rule was primarily for the safety of the travelling public and would offer easier identification of legitimate cabs.
"Quite a lot of other authorities have done it and have seen it as advantageous,'' he said.
"Sunderland, Chester-le-Street and Easington, which border each other, all have white and it hasn't been a problem for them.''
He said the new policies would be a big step forward for passengers, particularly the increase from two to 11 disabled-access cabs.
Phil Bell, chairman of Durham Taxi Association, said: "I should think we'll be fighting this.''
He said legal challenges to colour code policies had been successful in other areas, adding: "We are consulting our solicitor''.
Mr Bell said: "White is one of the hardest colours to get hold of now, it is a colour that has faded out. Respraying can cost between £700 and £1,200 and it is another expense for us.''
Labour councillors have criticised the authority's move and proposed silver, which the taxi drivers preferred.
Labour leader Councillor David Bell said: "I proposed silver but no way would they accept it.
"At this time we need the taxi drivers on board for the sake of the vibrancy of the city.'
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City sticks to white taxis ruling
From the Northern Echo, first published Friday 6th Aug 2004.
DURHAM City Council is pressing ahead with a taxi colour code.
All new hackney vehicles will have to be white, including nine new licences being issued as part of the deregulation of the industry.
Taxi operators oppose the move, saying white is already used in Easington and Sunderland and will make it harder to identify Durham cabs if there are problems.
They also say white vehicles are hard to obtain, that re-sprays will add to their costs, and that deregulation will cost existing operators business.
The council is concerned that there are not enough cabs to clear the city's taxi ranks of weekend drinkers in the early hours and that there are not enough vehicles that can carry the disabled - the nine new licences will be for disabled-accessible cabs.
Phil Bell, chairman of the Durham Taxi Association, said: "I should think we'll be fighting this."
He said legal challenges to colour code policies had been successful in other areas. "We are consulting our solicitor."
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Crown court date set as taxi colour row steps up a gear
From the Northern Echo, first published Friday 11th Feb 2005.
A CLASH over a council's taxi colour code rule is to be settled at crown court later this year.
The scheduled hearing at Durham Crown Court was yesterday delayed to allow taxi drivers time to rebut evidence put forward by the city council in support of its ruling that the entire hackney carriage fleet should be a uniform white.
City councillors made the decision last year to ensure taxis are easily identifiable on city streets. Drivers and operators objected, claiming passengers would not be able to distinguish local cabs from those of neighbouring areas, including Chester-le-Street and Sunderland, which are also white.
They also feared it would create difficulties as many manufacturers do not make white cars as standard, leaving drivers facing months of delay after ordering replacement vehicles, or facing a £2,000-plus bill for a respray.
Adrian Fets, chairman of Durham Independent Taxi Association, challenged the council's decision at the city magistrates' court.
His appeal was upheld, overturning the ruling, with a costs award made against the council.
The council subsequently lodged its own appeal against the magistrates' decision, to be heard at the crown court.
But the hearing, set to go ahead yesterday, was adjourned after an eleventh- hour application by Mr Fets' barrister Martin Towers.
He said he would need time to consider and seek to rebut evidence submitted by the council only 24-hours earlier.
Mr Towers told the court: "A substantial amount of evidence was disclosed by the council yesterday, which Mr Fets or any of his six witnesses have yet to see.
"It includes a number of matters set out for the first time which Mr Fets would seek to call rebuttal evidence against." Mr Towers said the new evidence was from neighbouring councils where similar rulings are already in force, claming there were few problems in the introduction of a uniform colour code.
"Some of the taxi drivers would say they have been in liaison with drivers in those areas saying they have had difficulties," he said.
Judge Peter Armstrong agreed to Mr Towers' request and the hearing was re-scheduled to start on April 7.
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Cab colour code plans abandoned
A 15-month dispute over proposals to introduce a white-only colour code for all city taxi cabs has come to an end. Durham City Council wanted to introduce the code for hackney cabs in the city.
That was challenged by drivers' leader Adrian Fetts before magistrates where he was successful, but the council then appealed that decision at crown court. The judge there dismissed the council's appeal and after reading the report, the council has now decided to abandon the colour policy.
Dozens of taxi drivers marched through the city earlier this year to protest against the plans. The council said it had wanted to introduce the single colour for a number of reasons including distinguishing between hackney cabs and private hire vehicles.
Other reasons were ease of enforcement and standardisation with other authorities in the area. The council said the judgement from his Honour Judge Carr said the council had consulted adequately on the introduction of the policy and that the timescale had been reasonable.
But he did not accept that the colour was a means of distinguishing between hackney carriage and private users. He did not accept that the colour of the taxi would encourage individuals to use a taxi if they would otherwise not have done and so he dismissed the public safety argument.
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