Tuesday 29 June 2010
My review of 'The Killer Inside Me'
The scene where the prostitute gets beaten up wasn’t as bad as I was worried it would be; although it was pretty uncomfortable. The cinema only had about 6-7 people in it, and up until that point there hadn’t been any noise or sounds. As the beating progressed I felt the uncomfortable air now present in the theatre, and there were little noises here and there, such as audible groans and what sounded like shuffling in seats. I can only imagine that not everyone reads or listens to reviews like I do, so I knew this particular scene was the main talking point between all the reviewers. Some of these people probably thought it was just going to be a dark thriller, and didn’t count on the multiple sex scenes and a whole new level of graphic violence. Although I am still unsure about the violence, I felt the amount of sex didn’t add anything to the film; he didn’t do anything different each time he had sex, therefore a lot of it could have been much shorter, or simply just left on the cutting room floor. It was definitely not the usual portrayal of a psychotic, basically where they have cast someone who obviously has the presence that fits the bill such as ‘Kevin Spacey’ or ‘Anthony Perkins’. As soon as Casey Affleck appears I thought ‘they have miscast him here, how is he going to be a believable killer?’. When he was with the two women he appeared to be very loving and kind, so when the violence starts, it completely takes me by surprise. The other thing I liked about the film was that the rest of Casey’s character was both written and acted well. When someone is trying to get away with a crime they always sound a bit edgy or uncomfortable, but because of the psychotic nature of this character, you would assume that their mind is very different, that they would react very well under pressure and tough questioning; which he does. Also, the good thing about having it set so far back, meant that you believed he could get away with it for as long as he did, that if it was today, the forensic evidence against him would have been overwhelming. The other controversial subject (although still in the same area) is the sexual violence that all the women in the character’s life enjoy. I don’t get it myself, but I have been told many times by “people” that this sort of thing does go on, and there are women and men who do get off on it; knock yourself out (not literally of course).
Friday 25 June 2010
A crazy last job
There was a call for cabs at The Grosvenor House via DAC, luckily just as I had cleared in W2, so I got there to find people streaming out onto the street. I couldn’t get right to the front, as I was flagged down by 2 women and a guy, the only thing was that they didn’t want him getting in with them. He was in that pissed state where your shirt is hanging out, your eyes are half closed, and you won’t take no for an answer. They asked me not to let him in, but what the hell was I going to do to stop him if they didn’t close the door? I found my moment however when both the girls were sat down with one trying to close the door; the guy wouldn’t let go so I drove away and he had to slam it shut. I noticed the girls were carrying two open bottles of wine, so I told them to make sure they didn’t spill any; ‘oh don’t worry we won’t, thanks’ they said confidently. The job was going to Forest Hill, and for the most part it was uneventful; I will say that I’m sure they were snogging each other at one point. They asked me to stop at a garage by Goose Green for cigarettes, and from then on I left the intercom on. There was lots of whispering going on, followed by speaking at a normal volume, so my concern was that they might have either spilt some wine, or, were going to try something with regards to the fare. As we approached Forest Hill station I asked if they needed a cash-point, and they told me they might just make it. So for the moment the wine thing was out of my mind, and now I was thinking, as I heard the jingle of change, that I would be told that they were a couple of pounds short and would they I let them off. What actually happened when I stopped was that they paid in full no problem, but then when I glanced back to have a look if they had made a mess, sure enough there was wine spilt on the ramp. At first they denied it was wine, but I told them I wasn’t stupid, and that it was obviously wine because there was a used tissue covered in red marks that they had used to try and clean it. I made a fuss that they had lied, which at first I was going to leave it at, but then when they were both out of the car and at their front door, I had a thorough check because I could hear them quietly trying to get in quickly; this is when I saw what looked like a shadow on the offside seat. I felt it and it was wet – a very large patch that was also on the upright section. I quickly shot over to the door to the building which was now closed, but there were windows at the top of the door, so I banged hard on them to get the girls attention. At first they looked at me wondering what to do, but as I banged louder they surely realised I would wake the whole block up, they opened up and I gave them what for. “I let you bring in those bottles because you assured me that you wouldn’t spill anything, but you actually spilled 2 loads – on the floor and on the seat”. All the while they were trying to calm me down, and that they hadn’t done anything wrong, but I then dropped the bomb “the car has been soiled and I want £40 to get the car cleaned and go home”. I told them either a check or a card, and when they said they had neither I told them that there was no way that neither of them had no cards. I threatened with the police, which they didn’t think I would call – they obviously didn’t know about the many times in the past I had called on the police and got my money. The mistake I made was going back to my cab to lock it, so I could go in and check their flat number – they shut the main door! For a second I tried to decided what I would say to the police operator when I called them, but instead I thought stuff it, I will just ring someone’s flat number so they get annoyed and come down – I will then blame the girls. A woman appeared at the main door in a dressing gown and asked why I had rang her buzzer; I don’t think I even apologized straight away, I just went straight past her and started banging really loudly on the girls door. I then apologized to the woman and said they had made a mess of my cab, and she said she had heard the commotion before her buzzer went. I assumed she would be really angry at me, but from her reactions when banging on the girl’s door, I concluded this wasn’t the first time they had caused a commotion. When I was outside their door, or what I hoped was their door – I had only seen them unlocking a door from the side, and when I got there there were 2 together – so I listened for any sound and when I heard it I started banging loudly. I knew they were thinking at first not to open it, but my message obviously got across that I would bring wake this whole building down to get my money. The door eventually opened and the anger on my face was clear to see. Anger may not work in other situations, but they knew there would be hell to pay with their neighbours later if this wasn’t dealt with. The more reasonable of the 2 told me she would pay me £30, while the other called me all sorts of names and told her friend “don’t pay him anything”; she was told to shush. When the card appeared I made it obvious that I was going to be quiet by whispering from then on. We (me and the reasonable one) headed out to the cab and I proceeded with putting the card through; all the while there were still insults coming from the other by the main door. By this time the girl with me was asking my name and telling me she was sorry for her friend. I replied “well there is always a sensible and not-so-sensible person in a friendship/relationship, I don’t know why it’s like that, but you are obviously the sensible one”. I was ignoring the regular insults now coming from the other, but she heard this and shut up. Once the receipt was signed and I was happy, the reasonable girl was worried that I was still upset, and she would not let it go. In the end I said to her “look what do you want me to do? Shake your hand, get on my knees…. I’ve got my money…” she interrupted “yes shake my hand” and she shook my hand and squeezed it “there, shake my hand like a man”; I was totally baffled now. I eventually pulled up around the corner and got to work with tissues, wet wipes, bottled water, upholstery cleaner, and a hard brush. I finished off with a good coating of Fabreeze, and opened the magic tree fully so it would overpower any remaining smell; and man was the smell of spilt wine strong.
There was a call for cabs at The Grosvenor House via DAC, luckily just as I had cleared in W2, so I got there to find people streaming out onto the street. I couldn’t get right to the front, as I was flagged down by 2 women and a guy, the only thing was that they didn’t want him getting in with them. He was in that pissed state where your shirt is hanging out, your eyes are half closed, and you won’t take no for an answer. They asked me not to let him in, but what the hell was I going to do to stop him if they didn’t close the door? I found my moment however when both the girls were sat down with one trying to close the door; the guy wouldn’t let go so I drove away and he had to slam it shut. I noticed the girls were carrying two open bottles of wine, so I told them to make sure they didn’t spill any; ‘oh don’t worry we won’t, thanks’ they said confidently. The job was going to Forest Hill, and for the most part it was uneventful; I will say that I’m sure they were snogging each other at one point. They asked me to stop at a garage by Goose Green for cigarettes, and from then on I left the intercom on. There was lots of whispering going on, followed by speaking at a normal volume, so my concern was that they might have either spilt some wine, or, were going to try something with regards to the fare. As we approached Forest Hill station I asked if they needed a cash-point, and they told me they might just make it. So for the moment the wine thing was out of my mind, and now I was thinking, as I heard the jingle of change, that I would be told that they were a couple of pounds short and would they I let them off. What actually happened when I stopped was that they paid in full no problem, but then when I glanced back to have a look if they had made a mess, sure enough there was wine spilt on the ramp. At first they denied it was wine, but I told them I wasn’t stupid, and that it was obviously wine because there was a used tissue covered in red marks that they had used to try and clean it. I made a fuss that they had lied, which at first I was going to leave it at, but then when they were both out of the car and at their front door, I had a thorough check because I could hear them quietly trying to get in quickly; this is when I saw what looked like a shadow on the offside seat. I felt it and it was wet – a very large patch that was also on the upright section. I quickly shot over to the door to the building which was now closed, but there were windows at the top of the door, so I banged hard on them to get the girls attention. At first they looked at me wondering what to do, but as I banged louder they surely realised I would wake the whole block up, they opened up and I gave them what for. “I let you bring in those bottles because you assured me that you wouldn’t spill anything, but you actually spilled 2 loads – on the floor and on the seat”. All the while they were trying to calm me down, and that they hadn’t done anything wrong, but I then dropped the bomb “the car has been soiled and I want £40 to get the car cleaned and go home”. I told them either a check or a card, and when they said they had neither I told them that there was no way that neither of them had no cards. I threatened with the police, which they didn’t think I would call – they obviously didn’t know about the many times in the past I had called on the police and got my money. The mistake I made was going back to my cab to lock it, so I could go in and check their flat number – they shut the main door! For a second I tried to decided what I would say to the police operator when I called them, but instead I thought stuff it, I will just ring someone’s flat number so they get annoyed and come down – I will then blame the girls. A woman appeared at the main door in a dressing gown and asked why I had rang her buzzer; I don’t think I even apologized straight away, I just went straight past her and started banging really loudly on the girls door. I then apologized to the woman and said they had made a mess of my cab, and she said she had heard the commotion before her buzzer went. I assumed she would be really angry at me, but from her reactions when banging on the girl’s door, I concluded this wasn’t the first time they had caused a commotion. When I was outside their door, or what I hoped was their door – I had only seen them unlocking a door from the side, and when I got there there were 2 together – so I listened for any sound and when I heard it I started banging loudly. I knew they were thinking at first not to open it, but my message obviously got across that I would bring wake this whole building down to get my money. The door eventually opened and the anger on my face was clear to see. Anger may not work in other situations, but they knew there would be hell to pay with their neighbours later if this wasn’t dealt with. The more reasonable of the 2 told me she would pay me £30, while the other called me all sorts of names and told her friend “don’t pay him anything”; she was told to shush. When the card appeared I made it obvious that I was going to be quiet by whispering from then on. We (me and the reasonable one) headed out to the cab and I proceeded with putting the card through; all the while there were still insults coming from the other by the main door. By this time the girl with me was asking my name and telling me she was sorry for her friend. I replied “well there is always a sensible and not-so-sensible person in a friendship/relationship, I don’t know why it’s like that, but you are obviously the sensible one”. I was ignoring the regular insults now coming from the other, but she heard this and shut up. Once the receipt was signed and I was happy, the reasonable girl was worried that I was still upset, and she would not let it go. In the end I said to her “look what do you want me to do? Shake your hand, get on my knees…. I’ve got my money…” she interrupted “yes shake my hand” and she shook my hand and squeezed it “there, shake my hand like a man”; I was totally baffled now. I eventually pulled up around the corner and got to work with tissues, wet wipes, bottled water, upholstery cleaner, and a hard brush. I finished off with a good coating of Fabreeze, and opened the magic tree fully so it would overpower any remaining smell; and man was the smell of spilt wine strong.
Wednesday 16 June 2010
London Taxi Guide
Taxi Guide (video coming)
What you can expect from the driver:
Unless they have a good reason not to, drivers must:
• Accept any hiring up to 12 miles or any hiring up to one hour duration
• Accept any hiring up to 20 miles if starting at Heathrow Airport
• Accept any hiring up to one hour duration, if the destination is in Greater London
• Those good reasons could be that the customer is unfit to travel – so drunk that they cannot give you an actual address, so drunk that they may be sick in the vehicle, they have already been sick on themselves, the passenger looks untrustworthy (the longer you are a cab driver the better you get at summing people up), the passenger doesn’t have the money on them and they want to go a long way etc…
(video of passengers you don’t pick up)
In this day and age of the internet, we all now have an easy way of complaining if a product or service isn’t up to standard – so why should the London Taxi trade be any different. It infuriates me when passengers tell me stories of how a London Taxi driver had spoken to them, not wanted to pick them up because the job didn’t suit them, or taken a much longer route which cost them more than they normally pay. I believe complaints make companies better and more efficient, so I urge you as our customers to email your complaints to our governing body – THE PUBLIC CARRIAGE OFFICE. All you need to do is take down the driver’s license number, registration number, or anything else you note, and write exactly what happened. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes, but if more people did it it would change the bad habits of many of those drivers that let or industry down.
The Public Carriage Office may change it’s address or phone number in the future, so to be directed straight to the complaints page, just type ‘London Taxi Complaint TFL’ into any search engine.
Complaints - pco.tfl@gtnet.gov.uk
020 7941 7800
The Public Carriage Office,
15 Penton Street, London, N1 9PU
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/pco/taxi.aspx complaints forms
•
There are no extra charges for luggage, additional passengers or carrying of assistance dogs.
There is an extra charge of £2 for journeys that start from Heathrow Airport ranks.
Christmas and New Year
There is an extra charge of £4 for journeys made between 20:00 on 24 December and 06:00 on 27 December or between 20:00 on 31 December and 06:00 on 2 January 2010.
Booking taxis and minicabs
Any minicab journey that isn't booked by phone or in a minicab office is illegal, dangerous and puts you at risk.
Booking your minicab guarantees that your trip will be carried out by a licensed driver in a licensed vehicle. It also means a record is kept of your journey so, in the event of any problem, the driver can be traced.
Even drivers in minicabs lined up outside pubs and clubs are breaking the law if they accept your fare without a prior booking. You must not approach minicab drivers and any minicab driver who approaches you on the street anywhere is acting illegally.
The difference between the green and yellow badges
Cab drivers who hold a green badge can pick up customers anywhere within the London metropolitan area; this is the entire area denoted by this map. The 9 separate coloured sections on the outside denote the yellow badge suburban areas.
Obviously drivers who choose to study a suburb, complete their knowledge in a much shorter time; usually around 2 years. They may choose to do this for several reasons these may include – central London may be too far for them to drive to and study everyday, financial and times constraints, or simply that they just prefer to work in the area they live. If they choose to study the “all London” knowledge, it will obviously take much longer – between 2 and 5 years depending again on your finances, time constraints, job, and of course how good your memory is.
Currently there is no visible distinction between a yellow and green badge holder, so occasionally a few cheeky yellow badge drivers may try to pick up outside of their zone. There are many cab drivers though who are pushing to have coloured licenses on display on the outside of all London taxis to prevent this.
_____________________________________________________________________
I frequently hear people suggest that we know every street in London, well, there are approximately 70,000 streets in Greater London, and I can only guess at the number of points of interest, basically that’s far beyond the capacity of even the world’s greatest memory champion. On average I would say we learn around between 5000 to 10000 roads, and the same number of points of interest within a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross.
Many of my customers have told me of their frustration when they have seen taxis driving along with their light off but with no one in the cab; there are several reasons for this, such as
-the driver is on their way home, therefore their hire light has to be off in case they are flagged down and asked to go 12 miles in the opposite direction (something they cannot refuse)
-The driver is a yellow badge holder and has to drive back to their suburb before they can work again
-the driver is going on a break to one of the many café’s or tea huts around London
-The driver is part of a radio circuit and has a pre booked account job they are on the way to
-There is something wrong with the cab and they are making their way home for safety
-And of course there are the times when we simply just forget to reset our meter –I have driven around some nights wondering why no one is hailing me only to find out 20 minutes later that my meter isn’t even on.
Increasing your chances of finding a taxi – especially at the busy periods
-When hailing a taxi, make your self as visible as possible by standing at the edge of the pavement with your arm raised high. Many times I see people put their hand up so briefly that I wasn’t sure if they wanted a cab or not.
-Obviously if you are wearing dark clothes it will be harder for a cab to see you at night, so if you can hold up anything light coloured to help you, this will increase your chances especially from a distance. A suggestion of mine, which isn’t as absurd as it sounds, is for you to carry something reflective, or even a keychain light that you can move around in the air.
-The west end is the busiest part of London, so on a busy night if you are having trouble getting a cab there, walking to the edge may take 5-10 minutes, but, could mean you getting a cab in 10 minutes as opposed to 30 minutes or much more by just standing in the same spot. Basically if you can get to any of the bordering roads Park Lane, Edgeware Road, Marylebone Road, Euston Road, Tottenham Court Road, Charing Cross Road, Shaftesbury Avenue or any bridge, then you increase you chances.
-There are several other ways to get a London taxi other than just hailing one, you can contact one of the several taxi circuits, websites, and there is even a service on Twitter – I have provided all the links in the description box.
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What is a London Taxi? Well currently there are 7 different models on the streets today.
The newest is from Mercedes, the Vito Taxi, which holds 6 passengers
The Metrocab, which there is a 5 and 6 seater version of
The rare and elusive Asquith
And then the 4 current models from LTI, the fairway, TX1, TX2, and TX4 all that hold 5 passengers.
Although they are more commonly known as ‘London BLACK Cabs’, they come in many different colours
Anything else is just a private hire vehicle, or more commonly known as a ‘minicab’
_____________________________________________________________________
Technology and the future.
Probably our biggest concern from the public is that there are never enough taxis around during the busy periods, but, during the years I have been a taxi driver, I believe there are always enough taxis. Basically, how are we, the taxis drivers, to know there is work on a parallel street to where we are driving along looking for work? There may be work in City and we don’t know, so continue to waste our time driving around the West End area. Etc etc. The two current ways we are dealing with this is by using the computer terminals in our taxis (that is those of us who work for computer circuits), and by the growing number of London Taxi drivers on Twitter. What we do is send messages out to all the other drivers to tell them ‘a train has just pulled into Paddington Station and we need more taxis’, or ‘The Albert Hall has just emptied and there are lots of people looking for taxis”. What I actually want to see is smart phone application that all London Taxi drivers have, and all members of the public have – an application that tells every taxi driver in London that someone wants a taxi. The way I envisage it is a map that the taxi driver opens on their phone, and on that map there are flashing red dots which symbolise people wanting a taxi. A person that wants a cab should just be able to press a button on their phone which creates the red flashing dot. There are many websites and ideas for booking London Taxis, but having been both a minicab driver and London Taxi driver for 13 years, I have concluded that people in London, one of the busiest cities in the world, don’t want to think that far ahead. So, in the ‘hopefully near future’, someone can be coming to the end of their meal, be putting their coat on, then suddenly think “I need a cab”.. well, no booking required, just press that button.
Obviously there are some minor issues and concerns that would have to ironed out, but I believe most of them will be common sense or courtesy issues. Obviously, if you’re a cab driver, you wouldn’t run 5 miles to a job when there will almost certainly be someone closer. If you are the person wanting a cab, you wouldn’t press the button until you are on the street, because we will pick up the first person with their hand up. Etc.
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Are London Taxis more expensive than minicabs?
There is no simple answer to this, but for some trips they are, and for others they aren’t; I will try to explain what I mean. The minimum fare for a London Taxi is £2.20, that means as soon as you get in the cab there will be £2.20 on the metre. The minimum fare for many of the large minicab fleets is around the £7-10; the exact amounts are available on their websites, so can easily be verified. The local firms outside of the central London area, (and some that aren’t) will be somewhere in the region £3-5. Many of these local firms can be somewhat unreliable as a service, and I have known many customers to miss planes, trains, and appointments because the minicab was late, didn’t turn up at all, or didn’t know where they were going.
Anyway, the fair in a London Taxi goes up in increments of 20p, and those increments go up at different speeds depending on the tariff. There are currently 3 tariffs we operate on, that is 3 different price systems during different times of the day.
Tariff 1 -6am until 8pm
Tariff 2 -8pm until 10pm
Tariff 3 -10pm until 6am
The more expensive tariff was introduced to persuade more taxi drivers to work later into the night.
Well what does this all mean to the customer? Well, if you want you are just using a London Taxi to get around the central London area, it’s quick, it’s convenient, and the price is similar to other forms of transport. If you are travelling somewhere within the M25 area our prices may sometimes be a little higher than the larger London firms, but generally they will be very similar. Outside of the M25, on those very rare long trips, you can negotiate with the driver on the fare beforehand. Recently I agreed to do a job for £70 to somewhere in Hertfordshire, but left the metre running to see what it would have cost - £88.60 eventually. Don’t assume every driver will do this, it will be completely at their discretion; you may however get a bargain if you catch a driver going home your way.
Touts, illegal minicabs, and pedicabs
“lets get an illegal minicab, we can barter with them”
Anyone who thinks that using an illegal minicab, or tout as they are more commonly known, is better because they can bargain with the driver, is sadly mistaken. I was hailed late in the city recently by a man wanting to go the East End of London, and as I pulled over, I saw a 5 seater vehicle, commonly used by touts, driving away from the man. ‘Thank god, a black cab’ said the man as he got in my taxi, so I asked whether that was an illegal minicab that had just pulled away; it was. What I didn’t understand was why he had said ‘thank God, a black cab’ because he had actually tried bartering with the driver? Anyway, the tout wanted £20, but the man said £15, so he drove away. The fare was £13 exactly in my taxi. I have had hundreds of other similar experiences, even with pedicabs, the 3 wheeled passenger carrying bikes that currently plague the streets of London. They have no metre system, so can charge what they like, and they regularly give quotes of £20 to places such as Paddington Station from the West End, which would be around £10 with a London Taxi. The London taxi trade is currently working to have the pedicabs taken off the streets of London, because not only are they incredibly unsafe, they also block the streets outside shops and theatres around the west end, and they ride up on pavements, and the wrong way down one way streets.
What you can expect from the driver:
Unless they have a good reason not to, drivers must:
• Accept any hiring up to 12 miles or any hiring up to one hour duration
• Accept any hiring up to 20 miles if starting at Heathrow Airport
• Accept any hiring up to one hour duration, if the destination is in Greater London
• Those good reasons could be that the customer is unfit to travel – so drunk that they cannot give you an actual address, so drunk that they may be sick in the vehicle, they have already been sick on themselves, the passenger looks untrustworthy (the longer you are a cab driver the better you get at summing people up), the passenger doesn’t have the money on them and they want to go a long way etc…
(video of passengers you don’t pick up)
In this day and age of the internet, we all now have an easy way of complaining if a product or service isn’t up to standard – so why should the London Taxi trade be any different. It infuriates me when passengers tell me stories of how a London Taxi driver had spoken to them, not wanted to pick them up because the job didn’t suit them, or taken a much longer route which cost them more than they normally pay. I believe complaints make companies better and more efficient, so I urge you as our customers to email your complaints to our governing body – THE PUBLIC CARRIAGE OFFICE. All you need to do is take down the driver’s license number, registration number, or anything else you note, and write exactly what happened. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes, but if more people did it it would change the bad habits of many of those drivers that let or industry down.
The Public Carriage Office may change it’s address or phone number in the future, so to be directed straight to the complaints page, just type ‘London Taxi Complaint TFL’ into any search engine.
Complaints - pco.tfl@gtnet.gov.uk
020 7941 7800
The Public Carriage Office,
15 Penton Street, London, N1 9PU
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/pco/taxi.aspx complaints forms
•
There are no extra charges for luggage, additional passengers or carrying of assistance dogs.
There is an extra charge of £2 for journeys that start from Heathrow Airport ranks.
Christmas and New Year
There is an extra charge of £4 for journeys made between 20:00 on 24 December and 06:00 on 27 December or between 20:00 on 31 December and 06:00 on 2 January 2010.
Booking taxis and minicabs
Any minicab journey that isn't booked by phone or in a minicab office is illegal, dangerous and puts you at risk.
Booking your minicab guarantees that your trip will be carried out by a licensed driver in a licensed vehicle. It also means a record is kept of your journey so, in the event of any problem, the driver can be traced.
Even drivers in minicabs lined up outside pubs and clubs are breaking the law if they accept your fare without a prior booking. You must not approach minicab drivers and any minicab driver who approaches you on the street anywhere is acting illegally.
The difference between the green and yellow badges
Cab drivers who hold a green badge can pick up customers anywhere within the London metropolitan area; this is the entire area denoted by this map. The 9 separate coloured sections on the outside denote the yellow badge suburban areas.
Obviously drivers who choose to study a suburb, complete their knowledge in a much shorter time; usually around 2 years. They may choose to do this for several reasons these may include – central London may be too far for them to drive to and study everyday, financial and times constraints, or simply that they just prefer to work in the area they live. If they choose to study the “all London” knowledge, it will obviously take much longer – between 2 and 5 years depending again on your finances, time constraints, job, and of course how good your memory is.
Currently there is no visible distinction between a yellow and green badge holder, so occasionally a few cheeky yellow badge drivers may try to pick up outside of their zone. There are many cab drivers though who are pushing to have coloured licenses on display on the outside of all London taxis to prevent this.
_____________________________________________________________________
I frequently hear people suggest that we know every street in London, well, there are approximately 70,000 streets in Greater London, and I can only guess at the number of points of interest, basically that’s far beyond the capacity of even the world’s greatest memory champion. On average I would say we learn around between 5000 to 10000 roads, and the same number of points of interest within a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross.
Many of my customers have told me of their frustration when they have seen taxis driving along with their light off but with no one in the cab; there are several reasons for this, such as
-the driver is on their way home, therefore their hire light has to be off in case they are flagged down and asked to go 12 miles in the opposite direction (something they cannot refuse)
-The driver is a yellow badge holder and has to drive back to their suburb before they can work again
-the driver is going on a break to one of the many café’s or tea huts around London
-The driver is part of a radio circuit and has a pre booked account job they are on the way to
-There is something wrong with the cab and they are making their way home for safety
-And of course there are the times when we simply just forget to reset our meter –I have driven around some nights wondering why no one is hailing me only to find out 20 minutes later that my meter isn’t even on.
Increasing your chances of finding a taxi – especially at the busy periods
-When hailing a taxi, make your self as visible as possible by standing at the edge of the pavement with your arm raised high. Many times I see people put their hand up so briefly that I wasn’t sure if they wanted a cab or not.
-Obviously if you are wearing dark clothes it will be harder for a cab to see you at night, so if you can hold up anything light coloured to help you, this will increase your chances especially from a distance. A suggestion of mine, which isn’t as absurd as it sounds, is for you to carry something reflective, or even a keychain light that you can move around in the air.
-The west end is the busiest part of London, so on a busy night if you are having trouble getting a cab there, walking to the edge may take 5-10 minutes, but, could mean you getting a cab in 10 minutes as opposed to 30 minutes or much more by just standing in the same spot. Basically if you can get to any of the bordering roads Park Lane, Edgeware Road, Marylebone Road, Euston Road, Tottenham Court Road, Charing Cross Road, Shaftesbury Avenue or any bridge, then you increase you chances.
-There are several other ways to get a London taxi other than just hailing one, you can contact one of the several taxi circuits, websites, and there is even a service on Twitter – I have provided all the links in the description box.
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What is a London Taxi? Well currently there are 7 different models on the streets today.
The newest is from Mercedes, the Vito Taxi, which holds 6 passengers
The Metrocab, which there is a 5 and 6 seater version of
The rare and elusive Asquith
And then the 4 current models from LTI, the fairway, TX1, TX2, and TX4 all that hold 5 passengers.
Although they are more commonly known as ‘London BLACK Cabs’, they come in many different colours
Anything else is just a private hire vehicle, or more commonly known as a ‘minicab’
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Technology and the future.
Probably our biggest concern from the public is that there are never enough taxis around during the busy periods, but, during the years I have been a taxi driver, I believe there are always enough taxis. Basically, how are we, the taxis drivers, to know there is work on a parallel street to where we are driving along looking for work? There may be work in City and we don’t know, so continue to waste our time driving around the West End area. Etc etc. The two current ways we are dealing with this is by using the computer terminals in our taxis (that is those of us who work for computer circuits), and by the growing number of London Taxi drivers on Twitter. What we do is send messages out to all the other drivers to tell them ‘a train has just pulled into Paddington Station and we need more taxis’, or ‘The Albert Hall has just emptied and there are lots of people looking for taxis”. What I actually want to see is smart phone application that all London Taxi drivers have, and all members of the public have – an application that tells every taxi driver in London that someone wants a taxi. The way I envisage it is a map that the taxi driver opens on their phone, and on that map there are flashing red dots which symbolise people wanting a taxi. A person that wants a cab should just be able to press a button on their phone which creates the red flashing dot. There are many websites and ideas for booking London Taxis, but having been both a minicab driver and London Taxi driver for 13 years, I have concluded that people in London, one of the busiest cities in the world, don’t want to think that far ahead. So, in the ‘hopefully near future’, someone can be coming to the end of their meal, be putting their coat on, then suddenly think “I need a cab”.. well, no booking required, just press that button.
Obviously there are some minor issues and concerns that would have to ironed out, but I believe most of them will be common sense or courtesy issues. Obviously, if you’re a cab driver, you wouldn’t run 5 miles to a job when there will almost certainly be someone closer. If you are the person wanting a cab, you wouldn’t press the button until you are on the street, because we will pick up the first person with their hand up. Etc.
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Are London Taxis more expensive than minicabs?
There is no simple answer to this, but for some trips they are, and for others they aren’t; I will try to explain what I mean. The minimum fare for a London Taxi is £2.20, that means as soon as you get in the cab there will be £2.20 on the metre. The minimum fare for many of the large minicab fleets is around the £7-10; the exact amounts are available on their websites, so can easily be verified. The local firms outside of the central London area, (and some that aren’t) will be somewhere in the region £3-5. Many of these local firms can be somewhat unreliable as a service, and I have known many customers to miss planes, trains, and appointments because the minicab was late, didn’t turn up at all, or didn’t know where they were going.
Anyway, the fair in a London Taxi goes up in increments of 20p, and those increments go up at different speeds depending on the tariff. There are currently 3 tariffs we operate on, that is 3 different price systems during different times of the day.
Tariff 1 -6am until 8pm
Tariff 2 -8pm until 10pm
Tariff 3 -10pm until 6am
The more expensive tariff was introduced to persuade more taxi drivers to work later into the night.
Well what does this all mean to the customer? Well, if you want you are just using a London Taxi to get around the central London area, it’s quick, it’s convenient, and the price is similar to other forms of transport. If you are travelling somewhere within the M25 area our prices may sometimes be a little higher than the larger London firms, but generally they will be very similar. Outside of the M25, on those very rare long trips, you can negotiate with the driver on the fare beforehand. Recently I agreed to do a job for £70 to somewhere in Hertfordshire, but left the metre running to see what it would have cost - £88.60 eventually. Don’t assume every driver will do this, it will be completely at their discretion; you may however get a bargain if you catch a driver going home your way.
Touts, illegal minicabs, and pedicabs
“lets get an illegal minicab, we can barter with them”
Anyone who thinks that using an illegal minicab, or tout as they are more commonly known, is better because they can bargain with the driver, is sadly mistaken. I was hailed late in the city recently by a man wanting to go the East End of London, and as I pulled over, I saw a 5 seater vehicle, commonly used by touts, driving away from the man. ‘Thank god, a black cab’ said the man as he got in my taxi, so I asked whether that was an illegal minicab that had just pulled away; it was. What I didn’t understand was why he had said ‘thank God, a black cab’ because he had actually tried bartering with the driver? Anyway, the tout wanted £20, but the man said £15, so he drove away. The fare was £13 exactly in my taxi. I have had hundreds of other similar experiences, even with pedicabs, the 3 wheeled passenger carrying bikes that currently plague the streets of London. They have no metre system, so can charge what they like, and they regularly give quotes of £20 to places such as Paddington Station from the West End, which would be around £10 with a London Taxi. The London taxi trade is currently working to have the pedicabs taken off the streets of London, because not only are they incredibly unsafe, they also block the streets outside shops and theatres around the west end, and they ride up on pavements, and the wrong way down one way streets.
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