Hartlepool councillors to decide this week what colour town's taxis should be following calls for more flexibility
The colour of Hartlepool’s trademark yellow taxis is expected to stay after more than 400 people had their say in a formal consultation.
Hartlepool Borough Council recently asked the taxi trade and the public what colour they think the town’s cabs should be.
It followed a formal request to the licensing authority to amend the council’s policy in relation to its hackney carriage colour.
Submitted by Blueline Group bosses, who provide a number of hackney carriage vehicles in the town, it asked the council to review its current position and raised concerns over the price of spraying whole vehicles yellow.
A letter from Blueline noted partially wrapped or liveried designs retaining the distinctive yellow colour “could be achieved at a much lower cost” and added a “more practical and cost effective colour/livery choice” would help to “preserve the remaining hackney carriage trade for the public.”
The council’s licensing committee agreed to launch a consultation on the matter, and the results are due to be discussed at a meeting on Wednesday, September 23.
A council report states the survey revealed a “decisive mandate from the community, with 418 out of 491 respondents explicitly wishing for Hartlepool’s hackney carriages to remain yellow”.
A report to councillors recommends that the current private hire and hackney carriage licensing policy colour requirements are not amended.
The council report states that “Blueline Group makes a compelling commercial argument regarding the financial burden of full vehicle resprays and the logistical barriers it presents to modernising their fleet with electric vehicles”.
However, the report adds that the “commercial perspective stands in stark contrast to overwhelming public and trade sentiment”.
It goes on: “While Blueline’s proposed partial-livery and vinyl wrap alternatives offer a pragmatic compromise to lower trade costs, the licensing committee must carefully balance the economic concerns of an operator against a powerful and near-unanimous public and trade preference for maintaining the traditional, highly visible identity of the town’s taxi fleet.”
Hartlepool Borough Council’s current hackney carriage policy states such vehicles must be “professionally painted or wrapped to a non-standard production shade of yellow.”
A 2019 consultation around changing the colour saw councillors vote to keep the vehicles yellow in line with the views of the majority of drivers and residents who responded.