A BRASSED-off cabbie who was ordered to remove a safety message from his private hire car has slammed licensing chiefs.

John Dunlop, 61, was so concerned about passengers failing to belt up in the back seat he had a warning sign made up to make sure they weren’t putting themselves at risk.

But now he has been forced to get rid of the sign on the rear passenger window – because it breaches advertising rules.

Disgusted John, who works out of Johnstone, hit out after he was told by Renfrewshire Council to remove the sign that urge travellers to fasten their seat belt or face a fine.

The cabbie says the move by Renfrewshire Council to make him remove the warning is ridiculous and compromising passenger safety.

Mr Dunlop added: “They told me they have orders and have got to go by the book. They said that if they allowed me to keep the letters on the window it could lead to more people doing the same. They asked ‘what would then happen if 1,500 cars did it?’.

 

“There are so many things they should be concerning themselves with but it seems the council are only concerned with trivialities and not realities.

 

“They say it breaches advertising regulations but it is not advertising, it’s a sign to improve road safety and keep my passengers safer by making sure they put on their seat belts. It is a disgrace that I have had to remove this.”

 

Mr Dunlop who works for Alpha Cars and is licensed to pick up passengers in his blue Peugeot 406 across Renfrewshire.

 

But he had to scrape the lettering from the window or he would have been booted off the road.

 

Renfrewshire Council insisted their regulations are “quite clear” while acknowledging Mr Dunlop’s concerns for the welfare of his passengers.

 

A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: “While we appreciate Mr Dunlop's efforts to promote a safety message, this isn't the most appropriate way of going about it. The regulations are quite clear that there are no exterior messages allowed on private hire cars. There are good reasons for that approach. Firstly, the private hire trade itself wants to present a professional image and doesn’t want unrestricted messages or advertising cluttering up the cars. Also, there are potentially safety issues in terms of visibility if there are excessive messages on the cars.”

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