Taxi Driver Online

Newcastle taxis could adopt black and white design in safety bid



Taxis in Newcastle could get black and white makeovers to try to stop unlicensed drivers preying on vulnerable people.

The council is expected to sign off the idea next week, which would see hackney cabs feature the famous monochrome colours of Newcastle United.

A report showed 96% of drivers surveyed were against the proposal because of concerns over costs.

The council said the rebranding was to keep residents and visitors safe.

The move was taken amid concerns of criminals posing as taxi drivers to target victims - particularly lone women - after a night out.

The council said it was aware of "a number of recent police investigations" into sexual assault allegations relating to unlicensed vehicles.

It is also carrying out 11 prosecutions following an undercover operation in December 2022 where unlicensed vehicles picked up passengers.

Hundreds of black cab drivers would be required to fit a white wrap around their bonnet so they have a "unique branding that is readily identifiable", a report said

The city's Street Pastors called the move a "big step towards creating a safer night out".

The council is proposing to give a £100 grant to each of the 597 licensed hackney carriage drivers in Newcastle to help with the cost of fitting the white vinyl wrapping, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

They will also need to display red council crests on the front doors and have a taxi sign on the roof that is white at the front and red at the back.

Plans would also see private hire vehicles be required to have a green council plate and display the operator's details on the back passenger doors.

The new taxi policy also includes a requirement for any new vehicles to be compliant with the environmental standards of Newcastle's Clean Air Zone.

Labour's Paula Maines, cabinet member responsible for taxi licensing, said the new measures would make it easier for people to identify licensed operators.

"This will assure passengers that the vehicle and the driver have passed our stringent vetting processes and they will be collected and transported to their destination safely," she said.

"It will also help protect people from unlicensed taxi drivers who illegally ply for trade, particularly at night when people are out enjoying themselves."

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IDFIMH

safety or another council aligning it's taxis with the football teams shirt colours.

at the expense of it's drivers no doubt !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

They are getting £100 per vehicle to pay for the bonnet rap.

and how much is it costing per vehicle ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Think that's a BBC report posted by Sussex, but I first read this on the Chronicle Live site.

But at least the BBC report does have a couple of lines about what's been happening:


By contrast, the Chronicle Live contains a quote from the street pastors. I mean, obviously the street pastors have more of a say in this than the vast majority of drivers who objected, never mind police:


But of course, amid the council's official blurb, the 'cabinet member for a Resilient city' tells us how fantastically all the 'partners' are doing:


But maybe it's no wonder they're having problems if they're relying on street pastors for policing, and on the cabinet member for bullshit to gaslight us all

Why not just make the requirement on replacement vehicles?

Might take a bit longer to make the fleet 100% zebra, but seems to be a lot fairer to me.

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IDFIMH

Not sure whether these concerns are a tad exaggerated, but they're certainly not happy. But, I mean, bonnet wraps to reflect football colours?

And, of course, the benefits promoted by the council are exaggerated as well, but PR and politicking are better than stuff like policing the streets

I'm inclined to support the drivers here, but this reads like a list of everything that could possibly go wrong with bonnets raps rather than arguments that are proportionate

And it's a bit like the obverse of councils who make a list of dubious and nitpicking points against rear tints, for example


Taxi drivers claim plans for black and white cabs in Newcastle will be 'huge burden'

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/no ... k-27156463

Dozens of taxi drivers staged a protest outside Newcastle Civic Centre ahead of a cabinet meeting on Monday


Image: LDRS/Chronicle Live

Taxi drivers have claimed that efforts to rebrand the city’s hackney carriages in black and white will be a “huge burden” for them.

Dozens of drivers gathered outside Newcastle Civic Centre on Monday evening to protest plans that would require them to fit a white wrap around their bonnets. Council bosses have argued that the “distinctive” look, designed to match the famous colours of Newcastle United, will make licensed taxis easily recognisable and help crack down on crime – with concerns that offenders are posing as cab drivers to target vulnerable women.

But, ahead of a Newcastle City Council cabinet meeting, more than 40 drivers staged a demonstration outside the local authority HQ calling for the idea to be dropped. While the council is planning to give a £100 grant to each of the 597 licensed hackney carriage drivers in Newcastle to help with the cost of fitting the white vinyl wrapping, it is feared that drivers will be forced to fork out regularly to have them replaced.

Mohammed Subhan, secretary of the Newcastle British-Bangladeshi Taxi Drivers’ Association, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “They think this will safeguard the public, but we don’t understand how it will do that. It is a huge burden on the drivers and it does not make any sense.


Image: LDRS/Chronicle Live

“In the night time you won’t be able to tell if a car has a black or white bonnet or not. We drive these cars miles and miles – a white bonnet is going to get dirty very quickly, the wrap will get ripped and it will lose its elasticity.

“After three or four months they are going to need to be replaced and every time it will cost us £150. In a time of a cost of living crisis, how can we afford to keep doing that?”

Mr Subhan said that installing improved CCTV in cars and at taxi ranks would be a better use of money. Other concerns from drivers who spoke to the LDRS outside the civic centre included criminals still being able to easily copy the new taxi design, passengers mistakenly thinking that drivers had been forced to replace their bonnet after being involved in a crash, and the black and white livery deterring non-Newcastle fans.

A report to the cabinet stated that 96% of drivers surveyed about the changes were against the proposal, but it was approved by leaders nonetheless. Labour councillor Paula Maines, the council’s cabinet member responsible for taxi licensing, said that the new look would help people recognise official taxis and find drivers who have passed the council’s vetting procedures.

She added: “Recent police and licensing operations have shown that we must take some action to safeguard vulnerable people in our city who are a part of our night time economy. A distinctive fleet of hackney carriage and private hire vehicles are seen as being essential to this.”

Coun Maines said that the new design had won support from the city’s street pastors, nightclub door supervisors and organisations trying to prevent violence against women. While the council’s new taxi policy was approved by the cabinet on Monday, it must also successfully pass through a full council meeting next month before it comes into force.

The black and white branding will only be required on hackney carriages, like those that rank outside Central Station and are licensed to ply for hire, and not for private hire companies that can only pick up pre-arranged bookings.

They will also need to display red council crests on the front doors and have a taxi sign on the roof that is white at the front and red at the rear. Private hire vehicles will have to be adorned with a green council plate and display the operator’s details on the back passenger doors.

I see they have their own national association . Why would that be, do they have different needs to other taxi drivers ?

Noticed that earlier, YBB, but thought it wise not to comment

But not sure it's a national association - I think it's local (the Newcastle bit) and they're using 'British Bangladeshi' as a kind of dual-identity

"the Newcastle British-Bangladeshi Taxi Drivers’ Association"

A bit like Humza Yousaf identifying as a Pakistani Scot, or whatever...

In fact, there's an element of English people up here who support Scottish nationalism and call themselves English Scots. No, seriously

When I lived in England I called myself Scottish English

But some of the comments on the Chronicle's website

There's around 150 already. Of course, some of them are pretty predictable, and racist in tone, but there's the likes of this. And the complete' lack of punctuation reminds me of someone on here


Someone else has taken up the 'side hustles' theme:


Maybe they just haven't met many taxi drivers

And over the years I've read plenty of comments about three foreign holidays a year and never off the golf course etc, but this is even worse:

What a load of old fanny.

We have taxis wrapped locally and they still look perfect years on, and don't forget we actually get the sun down here.

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IDFIMH

I see at the demo loads of signs saying the new signage will have a negative effect on the vulnerable?

Did I miss why that would be the case?

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IDFIMH

it was the same problem when attempts to form an association down here was tried unless the organisation is muslim led and dedicated to only pursuing the interests of that community they weren't interested. Oh and the agenda they wanted

1) Racism
2) racism
3) racism
4) racism
5) using the race card to ensure drivers got away with bending/breaking the rules

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Newcastle's black and white taxi scheme put on hold

A council has paused plans to rebrand taxis in the colours of a football club.

Newcastle City Council unveiled the idea last month to have the city's hackney carriages in Newcastle United's black and white.

It was claimed the idea would cut crime and mean criminals could not pose as officially-licensed taxis.

However the cost of fitting white vinyl on vehicles was met with anger by some protesting drivers.

A protest was staged outside Newcastle Civic Centre in June, where drivers said the scheme would be a "huge burden".

The new taxi policy was due to be signed off at a council meeting on Wednesday night, but was pulled from the agenda just hours before, the Local Democracy Reporting Service. said.

The council plans to give a £100 grant to each of the 597 licensed hackney carriage drivers in Newcastle to help with the cost of fitting the white wrapping, but it was feared that drivers would be forced to pay for them to be replaced regularly once they get dirty or damaged.

Drivers said there were also concerns that criminals would still be able to easily copy the new taxi design, passengers could mistakenly think that drivers had been forced to replace their bonnet after being involved in a crash, and that the black and white livery would deter non-Newcastle fans.

A total of 96% of drivers who responded to a council consultation on the plan expressed their opposition to the white bonnets.

A council spokesperson confirmed that the delay was to allow for further talks with the GMB union and drivers.

They said: "Taxis play an important role in keeping our city moving and many people in our communities rely upon them.

"Everyone who uses a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle in Newcastle should feel safe doing so and that's exactly what these new measures set out to achieve.

"It's clear there has been some misunderstanding about the purpose of the policy and the positive impact this will have for public safety. We have held productive conversations with the GMB and these will continue."

The council said the item discussion will be deferred until the next council meeting to allow these conversations to take place.

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IDFIMH

Read the council's full quote carefully and it looks like it's just a stay of execution until they get more of the trade onside. Reads like the GMB are in agreement, effectively.



And there's yet another article on the Chronicle's website, but it's all rehash apart from quotes from drivers who are welcoming the postponement. But they're members of the Newcastle British-Bangladeshi Taxi Drivers’ Association rather than GMB - I suspect the council and GMB will win the day over this.