If you booked a limo to take you to some fancy uptown engagement, would you expect to ride in a vehicle that has four doors, seats five, including the driver, and has black leather seats, plus access to bottled water and a newspaper?

Would you, instead, be expecting a luxury vehicle, with top of the range exterior and interior, plus TV, bars, and refrigerators?

Or, maybe, as long as the vehicle that arrived to pick you up was cut and stretched and carried at least six to eight people in the back, you would be happy to call it a limo?

Something to ponder on a long night when you can't sleep eh? Especially when I tell you that all three of these descriptions have been given as constituting a limo in Hillsborough County, Florida. Admittedly, all by different people.

Mr Lieb, of TB Limo, is suing the Hillsborough Public Transportation Agency in the Federal Court. They are, he says, infringing his right to earn a living. His Prius is the four-door car of my first description. However, as it is a fuel-efficient green vehicle Mr Lieb thinks it should be classified as luxury, giving his customers the facility to save the planet while they ride. The Public Transportation Commission disagree, they say that Mr Lieb's car is a sedan. This means that he is not allowed to pick customers up in Hillsborough County, not even at the airport, although he can drop people off there.

The Public Transportation Commission think more in terms of TV's and refrigerators when defining a luxury vehicle. A competitor of Mr Lieb's just thinks along the lines of stretch and seating a lot of people. The truth is, nobody knows. A limo is in the eye of the beholder.

As Lieb's attorney aptly put, it the Commission's rules are so nebulous you could drive any size limo through them.

Tampa Tribune