Black & white wraps for Toon taxis approved despite driver protests

Newcastle hackney drivers are unhappy with a City Council plan to paint all local taxis in the black and white colours of Newcastle United.

While the plan doesn’t go as far as stripes like the football shirts, drivers will have to add a white bonnet wrap to their vehicles. The council has approved the plan, saying it would make licensed cabs more recognisable and deter bogus drivers.

But drivers are against the unhappy about the costly cab revamp, and instead want the council to improve CCTV at taxi ranks.

More than 40 drivers gathered outside Newcastle Civic Centre to protest against the move.

Newcastle City Council said it would offer a £100 grant to each of the 597 licensed hackney carriage drivers in the city to help with fitting the white vinyl wrapping – a cost of nearly £60,000.

Mohammed Subhan, secretary of the Newcastle British-Bangladeshi Taxi Drivers’ Association, said: “It is a huge burden on the drivers and it does not make any sense. At night time you won’t be able to tell if a car has a black or white bonnet.”

However, drivers believe they will be forced to pay out regularly to have them replaced. Subhan said: “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.”

Subhan said a report to the council’s cabinet said 96% of drivers surveyed about the changes were against the proposal. He added that improved CCTV at taxi ranks would be a better use of money.

But Labour councillor Paula Maines, the council’s cabinet member responsible for taxi licensing, said: “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.”

The new taxi policy will go before a full council meeting next month before it comes into force.