New year, new look for taxis

Archived press release

Date Published: 21/12/09

Taxis in Aylesbury Vale will soon be easily identifiable by colour, as part of a new taxi licence requirement to improve the service experienced by local users.

From 1 January 2010, the only taxis people will be able to hail in the street will be purpose built cabs. In Aylesbury, they will be black and in Buckingham, Winslow and the rural areas, they’ll be white.

Only these vehicles are classified and licensed as Hackney Carriages. They can be available for hire at a taxi rank and ply for hire in the street.

Aylesbury Vale District Council has introduced this colour scheme to make the local taxi fleet more identifiable to users, improve public safety and accessibility and hopefully stamp out illegal trading.

All other vehicles are private hire, identified by the yellow licence plates and door signs, and must be pre-booked through a licensed operator. If they are not pre-booked they are not insured to carry passengers.

Councillor Timothy Mills, Vice Chairman of the Licensing Committee, said: “Drivers of private hire cars can only accept fares which have been booked in advance. Taxi drivers, by contrast, can accept fares from a taxi rank or by being hailed in the street. There is an important difference and the public are not always aware of this. We sometimes receive complaints about private hire vehicles plying for hire like taxis, and we believe that the new colour scheme will discourage this illegal practice.”

Councillor Mills added: “Licensing is all about public safety. The local taxi trade is very supportive of this initiative which will give added reassurance to the travelling public, not just for residents of Aylesbury Vale but for visitors as well.”

If anyone ever experiences a bad service from a local taxi firm, they can complain to the council by reporting it to the licensing team on 01296 585605.