A gay London cabbie’s dream has come true, with his black taxi being given rainbow livery ahead of an awareness day for LGBT rights.

The taxi, the first in service to get the colourful design, has been decorated to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) on Sunday.

The vision for the colourful pride wrap came from driver Ian Beetlestone, who lives in Islington.

Ian, 36, said: “Gay cabbies are like gay footballers - you know statistically there must be some but you rarely hear about them. I wanted to stand up and be counted.

“I've dreamed about driving a rainbow cab and am thrilled to have made this dream a reality.”

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Ian’s taxi will also join Transport for London’s route 8 rainbow bus taking part in the Pride in London parade on June 27.

Martyn Loukes, chairman of TfL's LGBT staff network group OUTbound, said: “We are incredibly proud to have helped bring London's first rainbow taxi in service to the capital's roads, joining our fabulous rainbow Routemaster which has proved a huge hit with our customers.

“Having a traditional black cab, which is famous all over the world, wrapped in a rainbow flag shows what a truly diverse city we are.”

Ubiquitous, the company responsible for advertising on taxis, has sponsored the taxi’s new design which includes information for passengers about how they can report homophobic and transphobic crime.

Passengers can report the crimes at www.report-it.org.uk, or tapping their smartphone against stickers in the cab.