A taxi driver has been ordered to pay £800 after challenging their city council’s strict dress code, banning jeans, open sandals and T-shirts.
The Plymouth driver, who has not been named, had appealed against the council's decision on December 22, 2021, to suspend his hackney carriage driver's licence.
Magistrates warned him that he should have asked for a Judicial Review in the High Court.
The hearing, which took place at Plymouth Magistrates' Court earlier this month, is understood to have centred around the council's insistence that drivers abide by it's policy on a dress code - which bans jeans, open sandals and T-shirts.
As a minimum, the dress code was originally set to see drivers ordered to wear collared shirts or blouses and a ban on any football tops, hoodies or trainers.
Following an outcry by taxi drivers, a more "relaxed" set of rules was rubber-stamped by the council - but the jeans remained banned, Plymouth Live reports.
The driver who appeared at court argued the council failed to adhere to correct procedure and slammed its decision to suspend his taxi licence for five days.
But, according to court documents, magistrates said they considered the council was "within their powers and authority to make said decision in accordance with policy, code of conduct, byelaws and statute".
The driver admitted to being aware of the police and therefore magistrates said the council's action was "reasonable, proportionate and lawful".
They stated: "We have the power to consider the council decisions and whether correct decision reached.
"We can accept the application and dismiss the suspension or we can accept the decision and either keep suspension or vary it.
"We dismiss the appeal as we found the right decision was made, and it was both reasonable and proportionate and within the councils power to do so."
The driver was hit with an order to pay Plymouth City Council's £800 legal costs.
A member of the Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association, who asked not to be named, said they were aware of the case and felt the council was still being "unreasonable".
They said: "Yes, clothing shouldn't be torn or tattered or dirty or scrappy, we agree with that.
"But it is unreasonable to object to driver's wearing jeans. Jeans appear to be entirely appropriate for councillors to wear during council work.
"When you go out in a taxi, you may end up having a puncture, or a fan belt goes, or you have to lift items into the vehicle for a passenger, or you have to clear seats if they've been left a mess.
"You don't want to be wearing an expensive pair of smart suit trousers - you want something hard-wearing and practical. It's about what is considered a reasonable standard of dress.
"What's unfair about this is the council has written it's policy and we can't argue it unless someone takes it all the way to the High Court and there can't be that many taxi drivers who have the time and money to do that.
"We still think it's unfair and in this instance one driver who tried to challenge it is now hundreds of pounds out of pocket."
A Plymouth City Council spokesperson said they could not comment about individual cases, adding the council did not take licenced taxi drivers to court - the taxi driver could themselves appeal to the court against the taxi licensing committee's decision.
The spokesperson said: "We use a penalty point scheme for dealing with minor offences committed by Hackney Carriage and private hire licence holders.
"Points are issued via a written notice to licence holders who are found to be in breach of legislation, byelaws, our taxi licensing policy or conditions of licence.
"If a licence holder accumulates 12 points or more within a rolling period of 36 months then their licence will be subject to a review by our Taxi Licensing Committee. If a licence holder is unhappy about a Taxi Licensing Committee decision they may go to court to appeal that decision.
"Since 2018, 79 penalty point notices have been issued for breaches of the dress code standards within the Code of Good Conduct.
"Of the 68 drivers to receive notices, one has accumulated 12 penalty points or more for failure to adhere to the dress code standards.
"The full Code of Good Conduct and Penalty Points Scheme can be found on our website at new.plymouth.gov.uk/taxi-licensing , under ‘taxi policy, guidance and bylaws’."
