Call to scrap current London taxi driver Knowledge test
- Thread starter skyscraper101
- Start date
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Full of puke and pissed-up murderers.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Also, depends where you live. Good luck getting a cab to take you to south east London, for instance. That's probably my single biggest gripe with them - in return for the various privileges they have, they ought to be obliged to carry you within a certain area - up to zone 4 or zone 5, for instance.
joustmaster
offcumdun
a black cab is for when your phone battery has died, and you can't get an uber.
Maurice Picarda
Actually, might as well flounce.
They should at least have heard of Southgate, Barnet or Enfield. I got in a black cab at St Johns Wood and had to direct the bloke from the North Circular, which he had heard of, and was comfortable finding at Golders Green, to places which were entirely new and strange to him. Maybe he had stolen or borrowed the cab, but even so.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Black cabs, 'uber' on smartphones
Such decadence...
Such decadence...
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
They are. They have to accept the fare unless it's over 6 miles. That's not that unreasonable really.
Maurice Picarda
Actually, might as well flounce.
Yes, but they often do not.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
This was a while ago, but I tried to get a black cab to Peckham once from Victoria. That can't be over 6 miles. On hearing the word Peckham, they just drove off. Ended up going off to find a mincab.
(This was with a group. If it had been up to me, we'd have got the bus. Some people seem strangely averse to that idea.)
not-bono-ever
meh
re the Rome reference earlier- 95% of the time i used cabs outside the UK, its hassle/ rip off. Naples is the fucking worst. You realsie how decent the London system when you come back. apart from the credit cards isse. and the sneering cunts that always refuse to take me to SE London from heathrow ( the 6 miles regulation comes in)
trabuquera
Modesty Bag
I'm torn on this one. Coincidentally got in a black cab this last week - for the first time in a year, I can't afford to use them for anything except shepherding frail old relatives on special occasions - and while the driver didn't strop off about having to go to Brixton he didn't know the right way either (so much for the Knowledge). yet amazingly he admitted fault, and not only didn't press for a tip but voluntarily knocked a bit off the metered fare.
OTOH - it's a legitimate skilled trade, the regulation(s) do(es) make sense, Uber are a bunch of uber-bastards (its impact socially is awful and ubercars are not safe), it's part of the rich folklore of London and what will all those brain researchers do without Knowledge-formed brainzzzz to stick electrodes into? On balance I say keep black taxis as they are.
OTOH - it's a legitimate skilled trade, the regulation(s) do(es) make sense, Uber are a bunch of uber-bastards (its impact socially is awful and ubercars are not safe), it's part of the rich folklore of London and what will all those brain researchers do without Knowledge-formed brainzzzz to stick electrodes into? On balance I say keep black taxis as they are.
tony.c
Well-Known Member
The Knowledge requires a prospective cabbie to know routes up to 6 miles from Charing Cross. Southgate, Barnet and Enfield are outside that radius.
tony.c
Well-Known Member
No it doesn't. If the cab is in the feeder queue at Heathrow they are obliged to take you where you want to go within reason. They could refuse if it was say to Bristol or Glasgow, though a lot of cabbies would jump at it as it would be a fare of hundreds of pounds. But a fare into London isn't unreasonable. Most of the jobs are into London, though they would prefer one into Central London so they can get their next job quickly.
If they refuse to take you to SE London you can make a complaint to the Taxi Marshall who will instruct them to take you, or you can make a complaint to the Public Carriage Office - you need their badge number or taxi licence plate number. The PCO can and does take disciplinary action, either warning or suspending their licence.
not-bono-ever
meh
cheers. next time i get the opportunity for work to pay for a cab, I will do this
Maurice Picarda
Actually, might as well flounce.
I believe they are also required to know the arterial routes into suburbia.
tony.c
Well-Known Member
That isn't part of the Knowledge. 'Green Badge' cabbies need to have a working knowledge of London within a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross. After reaching a required standard for that they have to take a second test which is mainly routes from London to Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.
There are also 'Yellow Badge' cabbies who only know areas of the suburbs and routes into Central London, but they aren't allowed to pick up outside their area.
maomao
普費斯
I dislike Uber's business model but I don't understand why you think they're not safe. The car's have to do a twice yearly MOT and the drivers have to pass an enhanced CRB. What's unsafe about them?
bi0boy
Power User
I always get in taxis before saying where I am going, unless it's outside their meter range in which case I negotiate a price before getting in. I thought everyone else did this too.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Occasionally you get a really decent bloke. In the summer I was going from Swiss Cottage to Marylebone and the tube was down. I was late so stopped a black cab but only had a tenner on me so asked him to get me as close as possible and stop when it reached £10. Without saying anything he switched off the meter at £10 and drove me the rest of the way anyway.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
This. Although sometimes they won't unlock the doors until you tell them where you're going though the window.
tony.c
Well-Known Member
If they refuse to take you anywhere within 6 miles of Charing Cross you can report them to the police and/or the Public Carriage Office. Someone I knew did that. He was annoyed because he used cabs a lot and was in a hurry to get to a Court. The police did prosecute the cabbie for refusing to take him. When the case came to the Magistrates Court the cabbie claimed he had stopped for someone else, but the Magistrates found him guilty and fined him. The PCO also suspended his licence for two weeks which would have cost him a lot more.
A cabbie can refuse to take you if you appear to be drunk though, so they might claim that.
A cabbie can refuse to take you if you appear to be drunk though, so they might claim that.
tony.c
Well-Known Member
It does sound over the top. According to this Taxi Fare Calculator a cab from Battersea to Harrow should be around £61.my friends wife got very, very drunk at the Christmas party last night. It was at Battersea, she lives in Harrow.
A black cab ride cost £100. I don't know if she tipped him and that was included and rounded it up...but £100
Can't say the knowledge has ever done much good for the black cab drivers I used to experience.
Anything slightly off the beaten track e.g not on a high street/major destinationand they've always needed to ask for directions. I've never once had an issue with an uber driver using GPS, you can even input the destination before you get in so they're ready to go the minute you get in their vehicle.
Anything slightly off the beaten track e.g not on a high street/major destinationand they've always needed to ask for directions. I've never once had an issue with an uber driver using GPS, you can even input the destination before you get in so they're ready to go the minute you get in their vehicle.
Uber have really been putting the arm in this week with 'surge pricing'. All week long I'm hearing it: Oxford Circus to Tulse Hill £45, Trafalgar Square to Surrey Quays £50, Barbican to Monument £25 etc.
Me? I took the night bus home from my works doo and luckily woke up at the stop just before mine.
Me? I took the night bus home from my works doo and luckily woke up at the stop just before mine.
bi0boy
Power User
You're probably too poor. Isn't the knowledge designed for e.g. the Palace Theatre to the Swiss Embassy via Claridges.
Miss-Shelf
I'll meet you further on up the road
I got a cab for the last leg of a journey home recently ..got talking to the driver ...He found out I'd been delivering a laptop to a person (an urban person but didn't go into that
) Who was going to take it to a person in need in Calais so he let me off the fare 
They're not all wrong uns but there's not many in se London
) Who was going to take it to a person in need in Calais so he let me off the fare They're not all wrong uns but there's not many in se London
tony.c
Well-Known Member
A Liverpudlian I used to work with reckoned that cabbies were the lackeys of the upper classes, and that the Knowledge was only for training them to drive the rich around London avoiding them having to see the poor.
tony.c
Well-Known Member
The cabbies I know are all trade unionists and left wing, one is an anarchist. But it is true they are the minority.he let me off the fare
They're not all wrong uns but there's not many in se London
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