Hartlepool councillors reject call to change taxi colour policy over its distinctive yellow cabs
Hartlepool’s distinctive yellow street cabs are set to stay after councillors rejected calls for change.
Taxi licensing chiefs at Hartlepool Borough Council carried out a pubic consultation earlier this summer after one company raised concerns about the “prohibitive” costs of respraying vehicles.
Blueline Group, which provide a number of hackney carriage taxis in the town, asked the council to review its current policy to allow newer vehicles to feature only partial markings, in an approved design and colour.
In the council’s survey, 418 out of 491 people that responded were in favour of keeping the town’s cabs yellow. And councillors on the Licensing Committee agreed.
Meeting on Wednesday, Cllr Carole Thompson said: “Our taxi drivers want them yellow, the public want them yellow.
“We’ve done our due diligence, we have done our consultation. I think we just say ‘no we’re staying as we are’.”
She added the yellow colour is well known by passengers as being authorised taxis, and said public protection must be their “overriding objective”.
Cllr Sue Little agreed saying: “We’re Hartlepool and we are proud of our yellow cabs and I vote we keep them.”
Blueline, which has operations across the North East, claimed the council’s survey “failed” as it only asked people to choose from the colours yellow, white black, or ‘other’, and not about partial yellow livery or about applying it only to electrical vehicles.
It says it plans to replace its older diesel vehicles with fully electric vehicles.
But in a letter to the committee, boss David Wilson said the colour compliance costs would “affect that investment,” quoting up to £2,000 for a full respray.
However, councillors questioned that figure with their research suggesting around £350.
Blueline again asked council to allow partial livery in an approved standard manufacturer’s colour either generally or for electric hackney carriages.
It said it would mean vehicles would still retain “prominent yellow markings” to clearly distinguish them from private hire vehicles.
Cllr Matthew Dodds said the price of a respray was minimal after the cost of introducing a new electric fleet.
“It feels very much like something they don’t want to do,” he said.
Cllr Dodds added: “We have a heritage in this town of yellow taxis. London has the black cabs, New York has the yellow with black and white.”