Bath & North East Somerset Council reverses ban on holidaylettings.co.uk taxis
Bath & North East Somerset Council reverses ban on holidaylettings.co.uk taxis
After originally dismissing the design as 'too raunchy' and 'inappropriate', Bath and North East Somerset Council has agreed that holidaylettings.co.uk can advertise on taxis in Bath. The council did a u-turn after holidaylettings.co.uk contacted local press over the matter.
When contacted by holidaylettings.co.uk yesterday, newspapers such as The Bristol Evening Post and The Bath Chronicle thought that April Fool's Day had come early. The taxis, which were successfully launched in
London in January and were designed by MarkMaking, feature a woman in a
bikini and a man wearing swimming shorts, who the council suggested be covered up in t-shirts and shorts.
Working on behalf of holidaylettings.co.uk, Transport Media was told by the council that the marketing campaign could not be extended to
Bath. In an email the council's senior licensing officer, John Dowding, wrote: "Having discussed the proposed artwork with my manager, it has been deemed that the proposal is
inappropriate for licensed vehicles...and as such permission is denied."
Nevertheless, after holidaylettings.co.uk contacted the local press, the council later said that the decision had been reversed. An email received by holidaylettings.co.uk explained: "After an internal review, Bath and North East Somerset Council has agreed that the advertising covers the
bare essentials of our licensing requirements. The council has written to holidaylettings.co.uk to give consent for their taxi advertising scheme."
Following its success in London, the
taxi campaign is also being rolled out to
Cardiff,
Oxford and
Edinburgh, with no objections from their city councils. By targeting major UK tourist cities, holidaylettings.co.uk hopes to raise brand awareness amongst local residents, tourists, tourist offices, businesses as well as second home owners in the area. The taxis encourage those who see them to "escape the rat race".
This story was brought to you by holiday
lettings.co.uk, the UK's No.1 for holiday homes worldwide.
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