Councillors set to decide whether to allow Ford blue for Bristol cabbies Blue is the colour for Bristol's taxis - as long as it is the right shade.
The city council insists that taxis in the city should be "Bristol Blue" so they can be easily identified as a licensed hackney cab.
But in order to save cabbies the cost of expensive resprays, the council has allowed major manufacturers to use some variations on the colour.
It means that if a cabbie buys a Fiat taxi in Capri Blue or a Citroen in Pacific Blue, then they will not be forced to pay for a repaint on their new vehicle.
There are also variations which apply to Mercedes and Volkswagen vehicles that also produce taxis with wheelchair access.
But Ford have now entered the market by introducing their version of a hackney cab.
Councillors are now being asked whether permission should be given for Ford Journeys which are painted in "Deep Impact Blue metallic" can be licensed as a cab without the need of a respray.
In a report to councillors, they are being advised that they should not apply the colour policy too rigidly.
"If Ford Deep Impact Blue metallic is sufficiently close to the approved Bristol Blue paint code, members may wish to give approval to depart from their policy," the report says.
Councillors will meet on Tuesday to consider the matter.
The council decided eight years ago that Bristol's taxis should be a uniform colour in much the same way as cabs in New York are yellow.
The move caused a storm among cabbies because they claimed they had not been properly consulted and three years was not long enough for them to comply with the new colour code.
They staged protests in the city centre, went on strike and a legal challenge was mounted by the Bristol Hackney Carriage Organisation (BCHO), claiming that drivers' human rights had been violated.
But a High Court judge ruled that the council had done nothing wrong.
The council later announced that to avoid confusion, private hire cars would not be allowed to be blue.
Taxis should not be confused with private hire cars.
A taxi can be flagged down in the street but private hire cars should be pre-booked.
The council sets the cost of fares for taxis in the city but private hire cars are not obliged to use a meter.
A cabbie who drives a licensed taxi does not have to use a meter outside the city boundary.
Taxis have white and red licence plates while private hire vehicles use plates which are yellow and red.
Read more:
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Councillor ... z3yTobhAGd
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