Taxi drivers will follow the Rolling Stones' advice and Paint it Black in a compromise deal with licensing chiefs.

Colchester Council bosses sparked alarm last summer when they suggested the town's taxis should adopt a standard livery in a shade of pink, the colour favoured by cross-dressing cabbie Babs in sitcom the League of Gentlemen.

The authority's licensing committee eventually settled on a two-tone design - leaving the colour up for debate - but has now been advised to scrap the idea altogether.