TAXI drivers fighting moves to impose an all-white colour scheme on a county’s fleet have warned councillors to ditch the switch – or face legal action.
Adrian Fets, chairman of Durham Independent Taxi Association, said he had taken legal advice and was told he had a good case for pursuing a judicial review.
Durham County Council’s cabinet is expected to agree an all-white taxi policy, along with a deregulated, single hackney carriage zone allowing unlimited numbers of vehicles to operate anywhere in the county, on Wednesday.
However, Mr Fets said: “They need to consider what they’re doing very carefully.
They’ve done no research whatsoever and they don’t understand the implications.”
Transport chiefs will urge councillors to introduce a white-only colour policy for new taxis from April 1, with firms allowed to run existing non-white vehicles until they are replaced.
Some drivers say a single colour policy would be costly and undeliverable; and a countywide zone would cause chaos in competitive areas, such as Durham city centre.
Keith Hodgson, of Barnard Castle-based Hodgson’s Taxis, said both proposals would cause confusion for passengers and take away the “local, personal touch.
“Why can’t they just leave it as it is? If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” he said.
However, council bosses believe the change will make the trade more consistent, open, fair and clear, and passengers safer.
Joanne Waller, the council’s head of environment, health and consumer protection, said: “Many members of the trade, some members of the public and the police also expressed concerns over the current regulation of taxi numbers and the effect on taxi availability in the city and town centre areas.
“Sections of the trade also regard zoning and capping as being unnecessary and unfair restrictions on their businesses and on free trade.”
All-white colour policies for hackney carriages are already in force in Chester-le-Street and Wear Valley. No colour policies exist in other areas of the county.
In 2005, drivers defeated plans to impose an all-white colour policy in Durham City.
Earlier, Darlington Borough Council was taken to court after ruling that only cars of a certain red could carry advertising
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