OK For Taxi Drivers to Veto Strip Club Ads

Devout Muslim New York City taxi drivers, who had been crouched behind their steering wheels in shame while driving with ads for strip clubs atop their cabs, have won a major victory in their war on roof smut, the New York Post reported Friday.

The city's Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) agreed to give cabbies who own their vehicles absolute veto power on the content of ads on their cars -- delighting scores of modest hacks of various faiths who had fought hard for the rule overhaul.

Previously, the owners of the taxi medallion -- often someone other than the car's owner -- could decide which ads were to be placed atop cabs.

"The law is now on our side!" said a jubilant Osman Chowdhury, a longtime cabby and leading member of the Bangladesh Society in Queens.

Last week, he was so embarrassed at the strip-club ad on his cab, which he uses as his primary mode of transportation during off hours, that he refused to drive it to his mosque for services.

"I had to walk to mosque," said Chowdhury.

Prior to the vote, several cabbies recounted their shame at promoting strip clubs to the TLC board of commissioners.

In one example, cabby Mohan Singh recalled his six-year-old granddaughter telling him she wanted to be a "dancer" after seeing a Flashdancers ad atop his taxi.

The risqué ad also prompted his grandnephew to ask what a "gentlemen's club" was and if he could ever go to one.

Medallion owners make, on average, about $125 a month from the rooftop ads.

It is now illegal for medallion owners to dictate what ad content is displayed over the wishes of the car owners.Read more: NYPost