Black Cab

Today’s columnar news.

Request to make daytime tariffs the same as evening to encourage drivers not to take the Games off.

Westminster Council trials fixed rate fares to get you home in a Black Cab this weekend.

Might be best to avoid using the roads around Aldwych from 3pm today – black cab drivers are blocking the streets in protest at illegal minicab drivers. Cabbies claim police and local authorities aren’t doing enough to clamp down on unlicensed drivers, who they say …

A 19 year old boy has become the youngest ever candidate to pass The Knowledge. Good news for the Public Carriage Office who need to attract younger drivers to the trade. The taxing test, which takes normal people about 30 months to study for and …

An electronic iconic TX4 cab has been on the environmentally concerned cards for a few months but now Chinese car maker, Geely Automobile, who are part owners of our own impressive sounding hometown manufacturers, Manganese Bronze, are pushing ahead with research on converting existing diesel …

Hailing down a cab might prove tougher than usual over the next couple of weeks. After a series of unexplained fires, TfL and the Public Carriage Office have ordered drivers of TX4-type cabs with a 56 registration to take their vehicles for a safety check, …

Bearing in mind the revelation last year that a single GLA member racked up a staggering £10,000 taxi bill in a year we’re rather puzzled why senior bosses at Transport For London are causing gripe when they’ve only managed to spend around £1,500 on cabs …

Tolerance, cultural diversity, liberal attitude… none of these are concepts traditionally linked with London’s black cab drivers. But new figures released by TFL reveal that a drive to recruit more cabbies from ethnic minorities has been a great success – with a third of current …

Next time you turn down a proffered tête-à-tête with a chirpie cabbie, you could be missing out on a satisfying cultural exchange. Who knows whether your driver is a painter, origami champion or candle-stick maker? Black cab driver Dominic Shannon has spent nine years of …