Aberdeen taxi drivers were breathing a sigh of relief last night after councillors voted to delay a decision on whether all street cabs need to become wheelchair accessible.
Individual drivers and union representatives made impassioned speeches before the Town House debate urging members to reject the proposal, which was first agreed by members in 1994.
The city has operated with a mixed fleet although the number of disabled cars is thought to have increased fivefold in that time.
Dundee also operates a mixed fleet system while Edinburgh and Glasgow have traditionally used black cabs, which are wheelchair-accessible.
Yesterday councillors met to debate whether all taxis, except private hires, would have to be accessible amid backlash from drivers and unions.
They feared their members may have to shell out tens of thousands on new cars.
Christopher Davidson, a driver in the city, argued that some disabled people found it harder to access the supposedly accessible cars.
He said: “If this proposal goes through I estimate that lots of our drivers on the ranks would go private hire.
“(Currently) 52% of our fleet deals with the 2% of wheelchair users in our city.
“I can’t understand why the council is asking for this.”
He added he had collected nearly 200 complaints from other drivers.
But it looked likely members would back the controversial proposal after legal officers informed them that the Dundee trade is “highly contentious” legally and could be challenged in court.
Finance convener Willie Young raised the spectre of a possible upcoming change in the 2010 Equality Act that would make it illegal not to have an accessible taxi.
Members unanimously voted to extend the deadline for upgrading the taxis while they sought answers about the new law from the UK Government.