Guildford Borough Council has made the decision to revamp the hackney taxi trade and has requested that all cabs are re-sprayed in a specific shade of teal colour and liveried with the Guildford Borough Council logo.
As well as new look taxis, the drivers are also being asked to brush up on their local knowledge and customer service skills by attending a training course which is expected to eat up 40 hours of their time.
A Safer and Professional Outlook
The Council hopes that the changes will help promote a safer and professional appearance of the borough.
Paul Spooner, lead Councillor for Licensing and Governance, said: “Taxis and private hire vehicles provide an important service to the local community, particularly at night.
“We want to ensure our taxis are easily identifiable and the new livery will reassure passengers that they are taking a licensed cab.
“In a recent consultation, 84% of the travelling public said they agreed taxis should have a livery. We are making great strides to provide a well-respected, professional service in our borough.”
Effect on Cabbies
However, the news hasn’t been welcomed by all of the cabbies in the area and a petition was started by driver, Mick Simmons, who acquired 115 signatures against the changes.
Mr Simmons said: “The idea to make hackney carriages look more like taxis is a waste of money to rate payers and drivers.
“If they go ahead with the livery, the problem will still exist of private hire impersonating hackney carriages – they will just a have a uniform to copy.
“We have great things in this borough, such as the castle and we’re also a market town by the river yet none of these more attractive things were considered to be put on our taxis, instead we get this awful colour.
“The livery will also disadvantage to some drivers earnings. For example some earn money by having advertising for local companies and some with more exclusive vehicles will no longer get the benefits of exclusive work.”
The Guildford Hackney Association has also commented on the fact that modern technology is now installed with most private hire companies. This allows a text with details of the booking, including a car registration number, vehicle make and vehicle colour, to be sent to the customer ensuring there is no confusion about what cab they should be getting into.
“Over 40% of people sampled didn’t know that you couldn’t hire a private hire car from a taxi rank or flag one down. For those people, putting a livery on the taxi won’t make a difference.”
The council has said it will absorb 75% of the predicted £750 paint job per vehicle. Multiply this by the number of hackney taxis in the borough and you’ll get and approximate total cost of £120,000, payable by the tax payer.
Mark Rostron, Secretary of The Guildford Hackney Association, commented: “Over 40% of people sampled didn’t know that you couldn’t hire a private hire car from a taxi rank or flag one down. For those people, putting a livery on the taxi won’t make a difference.
“It’s a public education issue not and identification issue.”