The clothing items banned under Edinburgh Council’s dress code for taxi drivers

A dress code for Edinburgh’s taxi and private hire drivers has emerged after seven drivers were sent home for wearing ‘inappropriate clothing’ during a police and council crackdown.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The official Road Policing Scotland twitter account provided a breakdown of the offences recorded during the initiative near Waverley train station.

Among those reprimanded were seven drivers who were sent home to change for wearing inappropriate clothing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A police spokeswoman confirmed earlier that this was because the drivers in question were not wearing collared tops or dress trousers.

Taxi drivers were sent home to change. Picture: Ian GeorgesonTaxi drivers were sent home to change. Picture: Ian Georgeson
Taxi drivers were sent home to change. Picture: Ian Georgeson

Edinburgh City Council has now provided full details on the dress code.

The local authority’s regulations state both private hire and taxi drivers must be wearing a ‘collared’ top and smart dress trousers, blouse or skirt while on shift.

The dress code defines ‘inappropriate’ clothing as “tracksuits, denim type jeans, vests, t-shirts or sportswear with club colours, baseball caps or other sports hats and trainers or sandals”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A licencing application document states: “The Driver, while in charge of a Licensed Vehicle, shall be clean and tidy in his person and shall wear clothing of a type specified as appropriate in the Dress Code.”

Licensing sub-committee convener, councillor Catherine Fullerton, said: “We work closely with Police Scotland to monitor and inspect the private hire and taxi trades across the city, ensuring the safety of the public and that the high standards we have are maintained.”

The full list of offences posted on twitter today are as follows:

- 40 vehicles stopped

- 7 drivers sent home to change for wearing inappropriate clothing

- 5 red prohibition labels issued (mechanical issues)

- 1 crossing offence report

- 1 ranking offence report

- 9 vehicle defect tickets

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Police were unable to provide a breakdown of how many were taxi drivers or private hire drivers.

To keep up-to-date with all our stories from across Edinburgh and the Lothians like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.

Sign up to our newsletter: enter your email in the box at the top of this article to get daily updates straight to your inbox.