Bristol taxi drivers take city council to court over blue paint ruling
A blue Bristol taxi at Temple Meads Railway StationTAXI drivers are taking Bristol City Council to court for forcing them to paint their cabs blue.
The authority told the city's 800 hackney carriage drivers they had to spray their cabs the colour of the famous "Bristol Blue" glass in early 2008.
But none of the major car makers produces the shade as a standard colour, which means that vehicles must be resprayed, even when they are bought new.
The cabbies say resprays cost between £1,500 and £4,000, depending on the size and type of vehicle. Only around 80 cabs have been resprayed since the policy was introduced two-and-a-half years ago, which leaves more than 700 to be done before the May 2011 deadline.
So for the second time in two years, drivers are taking the city council to court in the hope of getting the colour condition revoked.
The case is due to be heard at Bristol Magistrates' Court next Tuesday after a previous High Court appeal against the ruling failed.
They are also fighting another council decision to stop advertising covering the whole of a cab.
Instead, the adverts can only cover the bottom half of the vehicles.
Both conditions take effect from May 1 next year. The council has said if cabbies do not comply, their licence will not be renewed.
Shafiq Ahmed, chairman of the National Taxi Association for Bristol and district, said: "We are going to court as a last resort.
"We don't really want the hassle and costs of legal action but we feel we have no alternative."
The cabbies are taking the council to court on the grounds that they were not properly consulted about the conditions and they are unreasonable because of their financial impact.
Four cabbies will be used in what the taxi trade hope will be seen as a test case by the council, although it looks as though each hackney driver will individually have to appeal if they lose their case.
Mr Ahmed said cabbies were being unfairly penalised because the new colour was being introduced from a specific date rather than when cabbies replaced their vehicles.
"If the council wants our taxis to be blue, then it should fund the cost itself."
He said cabbies would much rather see the money spent on improving safety such as installed glass screens and CCTV cameras in cabs. The cost of a new London-style cab is about £32,000, which does not take into account the interest charges or the cost of a respray.
Mr Ahmed said this was a huge overhead for cabbies to pay back during the lifespan of their vehicle which must be replaced after ten years.
He said there was no consultation with the trade over respraying vehicles blue, which was considered as a high risk colour because it was not so easily seen at night.
A council spokeswoman said the decision to introduce blue taxis was taken with the support of the police and after talks with representatives from the trade. She said it was primarily a safety measure to ensure that people knew they were hailing genuine licensed taxis.
Hackney carriages can be flagged down in the street while private hire cars must be pre-booked.
The spokeswoman said: "We have allowed close shades to Bristol blue when considering vehicles for licensing. Our research shows the cost is less than quoted here. We do allow a plastic skin of the colour to be applied which is also cheaper. We have allowed some slightly different shades."
The council says they won't accept these cases as a precedent because the trade attempted to overturn the new policies in the High Court but failed.
The spokeswoman said: "The key message we want the public to know is that from May 1, all legitimate Hackney carriages will be blue."
The council says that as a result of consultation, the cabbies were given three years to comply instead of two as suggested by council officers.
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