Bedford Driving Lessons

A taxi driver has been forced off the road – because his car is the wrong shade of silver. Asif Khan has worked as a taxi driver in Manchester for seven years. But when he decided to swap his private-hire car from a silver Volkswagen Passat to a silver Honda Accord, he hit a snag. The father-of-two was told by Manchester council that his badge could not be renewed because the new car did not meet the town hall’s strict colour code. Bosses have ruled that cabs must be white or silver – and have issued a colour ‘swatch’ showing the exact shades which qualify. The rule was brought in by Manchester council as a safety measure to help crackdown on bogus taxi drivers. But Mr Khan, 31, said there was virtually no difference between his new taxi and the chart of accepted colours. Now he faces having to buy a new car – or pay a huge bill to get his cab re-sprayed. He said: ‘I have been to the council twice and they say it is grey. ‘The only way I can get it passed is by buying a new car or re-spraying it. ‘But it’s practically the same colour as my old car. It says silver in the log book and on the insurance documents.  More