A ROW over a bid to introduce a colour code for a city's taxi fleet will not be settled until later this year.

Durham City Council wants all Hackney carriages to be a standard white to make them instantly recognisable to potential passengers.

The council says similar colour rulings have proved successful in neighbouring areas.

In Chester-le-Street and Sunderland, Hackney carriages are all white, while in Darlington red is the chosen colour.

But the city council decision met with anger from Durham Independent Taxi Association, whose members are concerned at the potential cost of ordering new vehicles or having their cars re-sprayed.

Association chairman Adrian Fets successfully challenged the ruling after a two-day appeal hearing at Durham Magistrates' Court, last November.

But the city council lodged an appeal against the magistrates' decision.

It was to have been heard at a two-day hearing scheduled to start at Durham Crown Court, yesterday.

But the day was mostly taken up by an application by the council that the appeal was not valid, as Mr Fets was not an aggrieved party.

The council's application was successfully opposed by Mr Fets' barrister, Karamjit Singh, following a ruling by Judge Maurice Carr sitting with two magistrates.

The appeal hearing has now had to be put back to a later date, to be fixed.

Mr Singh asked for the costs of yesterday's hearing to be made against the council, which brought the failed application.

The council's barrister, Asa Anderson, argued that the costs should be fixed at the end of the hearing, saying yesterday's application was made properly.

But Judge Carr agreed with Mr Singh and ordered the council to meet the costs.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Fets said the fight would continue, despite the continuing delays.

"They have tried every trick in the book and seem to change the argument at every turn.

"They thought they could win on a technicality, but all they are doing is accumulating costs. It's the second time costs have been awarded against them."

The appeal is now expected to take place in late July.