Newcastle's black and white taxi scheme put on hold

The cars would have white vinyl on the bonnet

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.

Drivers staged a protest in response to the plans

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.

'Some misunderstanding'

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.