AN MP has accused a council of squandering its taxpayers' money by deciding to appeal against a court ruling in favour of taxi drivers.

Labour MP Gerry Steinberg has backed the drivers as Durham City Council presses ahead with its bid to introduce a code requiring that the city's Hackney carriages eventually all be white.

Drivers and operators have objected to the ruling, arguing that it would create difficulties because many manufacturers did not make white cars as standard.

They said drivers would face two-month waits for vehicles or have to pay for re-sprays.

Last month, the city's magistrates overturned the council's policy after an appeal lodged by Adrian Fets, chairman of the Durham Independent Taxi Association.

Mr Steinberg, who had tried to liaise with the council to resolve the drivers' concerns, said last night: "I regret that the city council is so arrogant it always believes it is correct and the taxi association and the court are wrong.

"What particularly concerns me is the slapdash way it is using council taxpayers' money to try to force its will on people, irrespective of the thousands of pounds this is costing local taxpayers.

"The council's management of this situation has been appalling. It could not even provide a reasonable case for the colour policy, other than to copy other authorities in the county."

He said the case had already cost thousands of pounds in legal bills and council officers' time.

However, the council's Liberal Democrat leader, Councillor Fraser Reynolds, said it was important for the city to have a colour policy for taxis.

He said: "We wanted to bring in colour code and chose white because it is the easiest to administer. We have appealed against the decision because all other districts have a colour code when magistrates say we cannot have one.

"We believe it is a bit unfair and think they were wrong.

"We are trying to give Durham a more corporate image.

"We have a lot of tourists coming into Durham. Taxis are the first point of contact a lot of people have with Durham and we want them to look the same."

Coun Reynolds said the authority was not insisting on the colour change being brought in overnight.