Taxi drivers have hit out at council proposals which could punish them for wearing their preferred shorts or leaving their cars unattended.
Thanet District Council (TDC) has come under fire after releasing a draft of its policy for private hire and Hackney Carriages, which proposes a penalty points system to keep drivers in check.
If voted in, infringements imposed on workers could include not adhering to the dress code, not having a fire extinguisher or first aid kit or honking the horn to announce their arrival.
The dress code will prohibit the wearing of sports shirts, baseball caps and shorts – unless they are “smart tailored”.
It also forbids leaving your taxi unattended, having a cab that is too old or not green enough.
It has led to outrage within the cabbie community, with dozens gathering outside TDC’s Margate offices on Friday to vent their frustrations.
Muhammet Yesiloz told KentOnline: “If it is enforced within six months, even a year, no one will be able to keep up with it, and half of the drivers will be left without any work.
“So, a council with this policy will create jobless people rather than improving society.
“We do understand the upper government wants a greener world, but this greener world, implementing it in this sudden manner, will create darker lives for the drivers of Thanet.
“We want to know if the judgment system will be fair enough, it is so open to abuse.
“Anyone can report anyone – if someone hates the way a driver looks, or his background, or just for the sake of fun, anyone can be reported.
“Have they considered the earnings of the drivers when they’re doing the policy? When they implemented that we should buy cars younger than five years old, which costs minimum of £15,000?”
The release of the council policy, which is only at a draft stage at the moment, took many by surprise.
While there has been an appetite for change and improvements in safety for both passengers and customers, it is feared there may be too much change in one go.
Andrew McMillan likened the situation to “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut”.
He added: “I’m not disagreeing with the council, it’s great that we’re actually getting on board and trying to improve things.
“But it’s too much all at once, and it’s bringing to the surface lots of frustration and anxieties just in the day-to-day job.
“Sadly, they haven’t given us a voice, I would say, for the last six years.
“If you leave your car unattended, you’ll get penalty points or you’re at risk of getting penalty points, but what does unattended mean?”
Penalty points will remain on a licence for a period of two years from the date on which they are imposed, and if a licence holder is given 12 or more penalty points within two years, they will be put in front of the council.
In its papers, the council says penalty points “will be used to deal particularly with minor breaches or infringements of legislation, policy or unacceptable behaviour by licence holders.”
“It supports a risk-based approach to enforcement as the points threshold for considering further sanctions will be triggered by repeated or serious breaches.”
It also declared “authorised officers will assess whether standards of dress are acceptable or not”.
The council has not yet been able to clarify how exactly it will seek to enforce its rules.
Mustafa Okur noted the job often requires seeing people “in the worst of situations and the best of situations”.
He told KentOnline: “We don’t get any of the support that we need, and because of that, we find that sometimes we’re unable to do our jobs.
“This point system, while good as an idea, there’s no clear, transparent method or burden of proof.
“Some specific language would be great because, believe me, you tell us how we can get bad drivers out, we’ll be a bigger force for you than the police.”
The council has been contacted for comment.
