Gathering the views of the community

Sometimes a particular story comes along that is best covered by getting out into the community and seeing what their opinion is. I recently heard that Pendle Council was proposing to introduce a new dress code for its taxi drivers in which men would be required to wear a smart shirt and trousers to work and women would have to dress in a similar smart manner. Some Asian taxi drivers in the area were angered by the suggestion of the new laws being put in place and felt that as they would not be able to wear the traditional dress (shalwar kameez), they were being discriminated against.

Due to the objections from members of the Asian taxi driver community, the changes did not go ahead but I went out and about in Leeds to ask people if they agreed with the proposed dress code. Some of the views, which were gathered from a range of ages and from taxi drivers themselves were surprising and the overall findings were that 64% of people believe it is not acceptable for Asian taxi drivers to wear traditional clothing during work hours.

To read the full article at the Asian Express site, click here and go to pages 12 and 13.