All new taxi sales in Stirling will now have to meet new colour guidelines, laid down by the local council.
Taxi Sales Colour Schemes
From now on, all new public hire taxis have to be white plus silver or light metallic grey, while licensed private hire taxi sales can be any colour other than the new hackney colours.
The new colour scheme has been introduced by Stirling Council’s regulatory functions panel.
They’ve also come up with restrictions on signage. Taxis will still be allowed a roof sign but all taxis for sale will be limited to one sign on each of the two front doors.
Although private hire cabs will only be able to include the company name and/or logo on that sign, hackney taxis will be allowed to choose from a list that includes their company name, logo, telephone number and/or email address. There must be no advertising of other firms or services on any taxi signs.
Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Sales
Council officials told the panel: “The colour for taxi vehicles has been relaxed over the last couple of years for wheelchair accessible taxis, which has resulted in there now being a range of different colours for taxi vehicles. The previous taxi vehicle testing station did not check the signage of the vehicles, resulting in unapproved signs being displayed on a number of taxi and private hire vehicles.”
A consultation exercise was carried out before the changes were announced. During that process, an open meeting was held which attracted 27 taxi and private hire operators.
People at the meeting agreed that having different signage on public hire taxis and private hire vehicles helps members of the public differentiate between the two, and helps prevent illegal plying for hire.