The format and colour of hackney carriage and private hire vehicle licence plates in Huntingdonshire are changing – with effect from 1 February 2007.

The new plates will carry extra information, offering passengers even greater reassurance that they are travelling in a fully licensed vehicle.

Currently the plates – black for hackney carriages and yellow for private hire carry the name of the licensing authority, Huntingdonshire  District Council, the registration number of the vehicle, whether it is a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle, the plate number, and the number of passenger seats.

The new plates will be slightly bigger and will be blue for hackney carriages and yellow for private hire, and in addition to the information above will carry the make, model and colour of the vehicle, expiry date of the licence, a tamper resistant hologram.

Two types of licensing plates are required in order to distinguish between hackney carriage vehicles, better known as taxis, which are permitted to pick up passengers in the street without a booking and private hire vehicles which can only undertake work that has been pre-booked.

New vehicles licensed on or after 1 February will be issued with the new style plates. Otherwise the changeover will take place when the vehicles undergo their annual test.

Councillor John Sadler, chairman of the council’s licensing panel said: “The new style plates contain more information, which gives passengers further checks to ensure that they are being carried in a properly licensed vehicle.”