TAXI drivers in Darlington may consider court action to resolve a dispute about the colour of their vehicles.

Earlier this year, Darlington Borough Council agreed to allow Hackney carriage drivers to advertise on the sides of their vehicles.

But council licensing officers said that to do so the vehicle must be the right shade of red -described as a lighter shade of pillar box red.

The town's independent taxi drivers' organisation says the ruling is unfair and will mean that those with vehicles of a different colour will lose out on thousands of pounds worth of revenue.

They will urge councillors to relax the restriction at a meeting of the authority's transport forum tomorrow.

Mick Kennedy, chairman of Darlington Independent Taxi Drivers, said: "We could take this to court, but we don't like using that to sort our problems out.

"At the end of the day, all we want is a fair footing. People like myself who have a burgundy cab are not allowed to advertise, so the extra revenue to upgrade our vehicles is not available."

Darlington council introduced the colour policy to keep a measure of uniformity among taxis.

Since July 1 this year all newly licensed vehicles must be the correct colour.

Those licensed before that date can continue on the road in their original colour, but cannot advertise on the sides.

Councillor Nick Wallis, cabinet member for highways and transport, said the council was willing to give anyone unhappy about the policy an "open voice" at the forum meeting.

He said: "This decision was taken after a wide-ranging consultation and there was no opposition at committee. Both in the quality of the decision and the process taken, we followed procedure exactly. I believe that there would not be a case if this was taken to court.