Taxi Driver Online

UK cab trade debate and advice
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:02 am

All times are UTC [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 27 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 6:44 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2003 7:30 pm
Posts: 53921
Location: 1066 Country
Darlington cabbies told to paint their taxis Ferrari red

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/ ... rrari-red/

Image

A DRIVE to ensure the safety of taxi passengers could see all licensed hackney carriages forced to sport the exact same shade of red as Royal Mail vans and many classic Ferrari cars.

The move to enforce hackney carriages to be pantone 485, which is part of a Darlington Borough Council review of its taxi policy, follows rising concerns over passenger safety and private hire vehicles, which are only permitted to pick up pre-booked fares, picking passengers up from the street.

While a meeting of the council’s licensing committee heard the authority had faced legal action from taxi drivers over what ‘red’ was, enforced colour schemes for taxis have proved controversial across the region.

In 2011, Durham City was reduced to gridlock for two hours as taxi drivers staged a go slow protest against controversial new rules for the trade, which included the imposition of an all-white colour scheme.

Applicants for vehicle licences are subject to a range of council policies including a requirement in Darlington that a hackney carriage must be red in colour and a private hire may be any colour but red.

The authority’s licensing manager Colin Dobson said the council worked with police in covert operations to tackle rogue taxi drivers flouting rules over picking up passengers and had recently taken one offender to court.

However, another legal action had seen the council taken to court after claiming a hackney carriage was not red, when the vehicle’s log book stated it was.

Mr Dobson said: “Although vehicles may be classed as red on the log books, if you look round Darlington you will see there are lots of shades of red. Some of them are very difficult to distinguish if they are burgundy, brown.”

He said hackney carriages needed to be identifiable as genuine licensed drivers and vehicles as they picked people up off the street.

He said: “People are taking a chance by hailing a taxi. They haven’t ordered that taxi, so no checks have taken place. There’s no need for private hire to have one specifiic colour as long as its red.”

The meeting was told leading taxi solicitor James Button had advised the council, which oversees 175 hackney carriages and 103 private hire vehicles, to specify a pantone colour in its taxi policy.

Pantone 485 is composed from 83.14 per cent red, 18.04 per cent green and 7.06 per cent blue.

Mr Dobson said: “That’s the red that people believe is red, not some kind of burgundy or brown.”

However, as Darlington taxi drivers had argued that pantone 485 might not be produced in some of the vehicles that they would like, the council had suggested drivers could change to the shade by using plastic wrapping on their cars – a cheaper alternative to spraying.

Mr Dobson said the council was prepared for “an awful lot of representations” over its colour scheme and that it would only apply to new licensed vehicles, as under the current economic climate “asking them for additional costs really wouldn’t be appropriate”.

Councillor Ian Haszeldine said the move was necessary to stop further litigation against the council. He added: “The number of makes and models they are, and the shades of red they are, at the moment are phenomenal.

“It is not a cheap job to get a vehicle wrapped. I certainly wouldn’t want to pay £15,000 to £20,000 for a new Skoda and then have to pay another £1,500 to get it wrapped.”

Councillor Gerald Lee questioned why the updated taxi policy also included a rule stipulating that every horse must have a current passport. He said: “It’s so crazy in this day and age. Do you take a front photograph without a smile on its face or do you take a side elevation?”

Mr Dobson said the rule related to animal welfare regulations that came into force in 2018 and although the council did not have any horse-drawn hackney carriages, it had to prepare for every eventuality,

Councillors approved the policy for public consultation, ahead of the changes being launched in the new year.

_________________
IDFIMH


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Jul 31, 2020 5:56 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:47 pm
Posts: 19110
Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
Quote:
Mr Dobson said the rule related to animal welfare regulations that came into force in 2018 and although the council did not have any horse-drawn hackney carriages, it had to prepare for every eventuality,


which translated into everyday language is we fancied having a corporate image for the town

_________________
Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Jul 31, 2020 7:32 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 6:33 am
Posts: 13810
DBC licensing manager wrote:
“People are taking a chance by hailing a taxi. They haven’t ordered that taxi, so no checks have taken place. There’s no need for private hire to have one specifiic colour as long as its red.”

Not like me to be pedantic, but that's three different errors in one short sentence:

- 'specifiic' is misspelt, obviously :roll:
- 'its' should be 'it's' :roll:
- presumably the sentence should read 'as long as it's not red' :roll:

Anyway, where to start with all this pantone stuff :?

They seem to have gone from one extreme to the other. First, they've been using the logbook designation of red, but obviously that can vary quite widely. But that should have been obvious from the off, and why has it taken them years to do something about it rather than being more specific to begin with?

So now they're goning to the other extreme, and specified a particular shade of red, namely pantone 485.

DBC licensing manager wrote:
That’s the red that people believe is red, not some kind of burgundy or brown.”

What's the basis of his claim that pantone 485 is the red that "people believe is red"?

I suspect that there are dozens of different pantone shades of red that people would describe as red rather than burgundy and brown (there are, I think, the thick end of 2,000 pantone colours in total).

So I suspect there are lots of reds produced by manufacturers that would fit the bill as regards what the public view as red, but aren't actually pantone 485. Do any manufacturers actually produce that shade, and have James Button and DBC actually investigated this, or are they just using the option of wraps as a fall back? Or are they expecting drivers to buy Ferraris?

And what colour will the PHVs have to be? Anything except pantone 485? :lol:

To that degree I suspect many PHVs will end up looking more red to the public than the pantone 485 HCs =D>

Had a look to see if there was any more discussion or detail in the council papers, but this is all I could find in the review document:

Darlington Borough Council wrote:
1. The colour specified for hackney carriage vehicles in the current policy red. It has however been noted by a number of people (including Purple Flag assessors) that Darlington has different coloured hackney carriage vehicles. Although vehicles may be classed as red on their log book there are a large range of shades that although classed as red may appear to be brown or a burgundy colour.

2. James Button, who is one of the country’s leading taxi licensing solicitors recommends that policies specifya pantone colour to ensure consistency. Pantone is an internationally recognised colour chart where each shade has a specific number.

3. A basic red, Pantone 485,is proposed for Darlington.This is the same red used by the Royal mail. If this was to be specified, a phased approach would be proposed so that it only applies to new vehicles, not those already on the fleet.

4. Members of the trade might argue that Pantone 485 may not be manufactured in the model of vehicle they would like, however we would propose allowing the ‘wrapping’ of the vehicle to circumvent this issue. This is a cheaper alternative to spraying and will actually provide protection to the paintwork underneath.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Jul 31, 2020 7:40 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 6:33 am
Posts: 13810
Here's a few pantone reds - I suspect this is just a sample, and there are quite a few more similar colours. Pantone 485 is the one on the bottom line called 'stop sign red'.

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 6:07 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:47 pm
Posts: 19110
Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
Quote:
Ladybug red
:evil: :evil: :twisted:

Why do we have to put up with Ameringlish in England

Ladybird is the one in the OED !

_________________
Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 7:52 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:23 pm
Posts: 4904
Location: Lincoln
Could it be that they’ve been driving their cabs like Ferrari’s, so they might as well paint them like Ferrari’s?

_________________
Former taxi driver


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 7:54 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:23 pm
Posts: 4904
Location: Lincoln
edders23 wrote:
Quote:
Ladybug red
:evil: :evil: :twisted:

Why do we have to put up with Ameringlish in England

Ladybird is the one in the OED !


Is ladybug red even a color edders? :wink:

_________________
Former taxi driver


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 8:47 am 
Offline

Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:27 pm
Posts: 19638
jimbo wrote:
edders23 wrote:
Quote:
Ladybug red
:evil: :evil: :twisted:

Why do we have to put up with Ameringlish in England

Ladybird is the one in the OED !


Is ladybug red even a color edders? :wink:

It is on that chart.

_________________
Grandad,
To support my charity text MAYORWALK to 70085 to donate £5


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 2:19 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:23 pm
Posts: 4904
Location: Lincoln
grandad wrote:
jimbo wrote:
edders23 wrote:
Quote:
Ladybug red
:evil: :evil: :twisted:

Why do we have to put up with Ameringlish in England

Ladybird is the one in the OED !


Is ladybug red even a color edders? :wink:

It is on that chart.


I’ll check that out tonite.

_________________
Former taxi driver


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:02 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:36 pm
Posts: 1384
We still have the one colour rule here in Chester, Black. But we can have advertising ‘wraps’ that change the colour completely! Private hire vehicles can be any colour including black. Years ago when Private hire couldn’t be black, people used to send their logbooks off and inform DVLA of a change of colour from black to gunmetal grey. The council had to accept what was stated on the logbook. #-o


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 8:36 pm 
Offline

Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:56 pm
Posts: 2466
x-ray wrote:
We still have the one colour rule here in Chester, Black. But we can have advertising ‘wraps’ that change the colour completely! Private hire vehicles can be any colour including black. Years ago when Private hire couldn’t be black, people used to send their logbooks off and inform DVLA of a change of colour from black to gunmetal grey. The council had to accept what was stated on the logbook. #-o


No they should not have accepted that,colour is on the vin plate(code) consequently the log book was not accurate.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 9:06 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 6:33 am
Posts: 13810
edders23 wrote:
Quote:
Ladybug red
:evil: :evil: :twisted:

Why do we have to put up with Ameringlish in England

Ladybird is the one in the OED !

Even if you didn't know, suspect the vast majority would guess that Pantone didn't originate in the likes of Liverpool or Glasgow.

In fact, according to Wikipedia, Pantone LLC is headquartered in New Jersey, USA.

Anyway, apparently the RGB colouring system (used mainly for onscreen stuff) consists of almost 17 million shades, so I suspect there are thousands that the public would consider 'red', yet DBC are specifying just one for the HCs.

You can use the tool here below - just fill in the RGB numbers, and then use the mouse point to pick out various different shades, which automatically changes the RGB numbers. You'll see that even a barely discernible change of shade changes the RGB figures.

Pantone 485 in RGB is 218 41 28 :-o

https://www.google.com/search?q=color+picker


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 8:09 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:47 pm
Posts: 19110
Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
We briefly had a rover car on the fleet 20 plus years ago in a shade called Nightfire red.

Best shade of red I have ever seen but sadly car written off after only a month in service after driver with another firm crashed into it and it was written off despite the damage only being to one wing.

_________________
Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:28 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu May 03, 2007 8:15 pm
Posts: 9163
jimbo wrote:
edders23 wrote:
Quote:
Ladybug red
:evil: :evil: :twisted:

Why do we have to put up with Ameringlish in England

Ladybird is the one in the OED !


Is ladybug red even a color edders? :wink:


Technically it would be a colour shade and not a colour.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:46 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:36 pm
Posts: 1384
heathcote wrote:
x-ray wrote:
We still have the one colour rule here in Chester, Black. But we can have advertising ‘wraps’ that change the colour completely! Private hire vehicles can be any colour including black. Years ago when Private hire couldn’t be black, people used to send their logbooks off and inform DVLA of a change of colour from black to gunmetal grey. The council had to accept what was stated on the logbook. #-o


No they should not have accepted that,colour is on the vin plate(code) consequently the log book was not accurate.


You’re right Heathcote, but the licensing officers at the time where complete idiots (aren’t they all ?) at the time we only needed a normal MOT, we then took our vehicle to the council offices for another inspection (first aid kit, fire extinguisher etc and a general look around) if it was raining they’d just look out the window!


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 27 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 100 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group