AN entire courtroom adjourned to a taxi rank yesterday to decide whether a black cab was black enough.

The judge, two magistrates, three members of the courtroom council, an usher, two solicitors and 20 people from the Press bench and public gallery trooped out to the parking spaces in front of Newcastle Crown Court.

They were directed towards two apparently black cars parked side by side; their task being to decide which was the blackest.

The deliberation on the street lasted about 20 minutes, during which the judge looked at both cars and bent down to closely examine the difference in colour.

A dispute between driver Khalid Hussain and Newcastle City Council had been brought before the courts after Mr Hussain was refused a cab licence because his car, which has a metallic finish, was the wrong shade of black.

Council rules allow only cars of a particular type of black to be classified as Hackney carriages and Mr Hussain's, it said, did not fit the bill.

He appealed against the decision and the matter was dealt with by Newcastle County Court yesterday and the shade of the two cars was the sole subject of debate.

Judge David Wood deliberated for 40 minutes before he decided that Mr Hussain's cab was indeed black.

Last year, taxi drivers in Darlington threatened court action in a bid to resolve a dispute about the colour of their vehicles.

Council officers claimed that taxis must be the right shade of "pillar box red" to advertise on the sides of their vehicles.