Motorists, including taxi drivers, cannot park on city streets and wait for passengers without a parking voucher.

But a taxi driver, who learned about the rule yesterday morning, has cried foul.

Larry Franklin, a taxi driver since 1993 and better known as "the car doctor'', said he was shocked when a traffic warden approached him and told him he would have to move or display.

The incident occurred yesterday morning while Dr. Franklin was waiting for a passenger outside Bermuda Homes on Bermudiana Road.

Although Mr. Franklin said the traffic warden was polite and gave him a break, he complained to Corporation of Hamilton secretary Roger Sherratt, because he believed the policy was unfair.

"I told her the customer was coming right out, but she said if the customer stepped out of the car, I had to display a voucher,'' a perplexed Mr. Franklin said.

"She told me if I have a problem with that, I should call Roger Sherratt,'' he added.

Mr. Franklin said he went one step further. When his passenger returned to the car, he drove to City Hall to see Mr. Sherratt to confirm if what he had been told was true.

Mr. Sherratt said the traffic warden was right.

Still not satisfied that he was being treated fairly, Mr. Franklin contacted The Royal Gazette in order to let the general public know of the policy.

"If a taxi driver has a customer who is going shopping or something like that, I agree he should have to display,'' he said. "But if a working customer just needs to drop off a message and I have to display for 30 seconds or two minutes, that cost should not be passed on to the customer or the driver.'' Mr. Franklin said he would like to see the policy changed.

But Mr. Sherratt said the rules were the same for everyone. And he noted that before the vouchers, which were introduced two years ago, taxi drivers were only allowed to park at the taxi depots.

"Before the vouchers the (Bermuda) Taxi Federation pointed out that they get customers who go into business meetings and want them to wait on customers who go shopping and want them to wait so we changed the rules,'' he explained.

However, Mr. Sherratt stressed that the rules were the same for everyone. And he said in most cases when a driver told a passenger they would have to use a parking voucher, the customer usually paid for the parking and gave a tip.

"Motorists can't just park and sit there because they are waiting for someone (without voucher),'' Mr. Sherratt said.

Quoting from the parking rule, Mr. Sherratt said: "Anyone can stop briefly to drop off or pick up passengers for free. But drivers can only stop long enough to let people in or out. They aren't permitted to wait or leave (their cars) or engage in long conversation and that applies to everyone.''