Hi everyone, this Wednesday the traffic in town was bad, I picked up two ladies in brook st, on the corner east of New Bond St and they wanted to go to Charring X Stn, my only way was to head towards Hanover Sq, normally you would turn right down St George Street but it’s blocked off for roadworks, so round Hanover Sq and cross over Oxford St, at this point I wasan’t sure of the best way, I mean traffic wise, so I decided to head round Cavindish Sq into Regent St,wrong move, it was choca bloc and very slow moving, after about 10 mins and 50 foot down the road, my passengers have had enough, £7.60 on the meter and north of Oxford St, they were further away from Charring X  then when I started, for once they didn’t have a go at me, they said the traffic was so bad, it would be faster walking, I couldan’t have agreed more.

In hindsight, if I knew what Regent St was like, I would have explained in advance and tried a different route.

This is now the 3rd year running that London’s roads have been hell to drive down, when all the road works have gone, I jest, the roads will fill up with traffic again. What is TFL going to do then ?

Jammed up streets lose us cabbies money, people would rather walk, how is that good for the economy, it don’t make any sense.

TFL, getting London moving, my arse, if they were serious about getting London moving then they would get rid of those pesky Rickshaws once and for all, open up blocked roads, instead of  forceing us onto busy streets, sort out London’s busses, there are to many empty busses on the streets day and night, ban minicabs from parking on and blocking major roads, outside restaurants and clubs, let Taxis use more bus lanes, because half the time thay are empty, we need someone with enough bulls and the will to make it happen, because it won’t change by it’s self.

Last night I decided to rank up on the Sloan club rank in Lwr Sloan St, as good a place as any to do some Tweeting but before I managed to start, someone came up to me and asked to go to Richmond,as he got in he said wait for this motley lot to get in, meaning his family, off we go.

When we arrived at our destination he wanted to give me £8 more then what was on the meter,he already paid me the meter fare plus £3,  now he  handed me a twenty pound note and said give me five pound back, I noticed he was having a problem focussing on his money, I told him he had given me a twenty pound note, with that he put it back and pulled out a fifty pound note and asked for a fiver change, I also told him, he then he gave me back the twenty and said give me £15.

I know what your thinking, I was a fool not to take advantage of his bad sight, if he was some rouge drunk and troublesome person that wanted to bilk me in the first place, I might have taken advantage but you don’t do it to good honest bystanders.

Be Lucky folks.

Hello everybody I hope you are all well and earning enough.
I have been back at work for a week and a bit and the “kipper season” has certainly arrived! I know it happens every year but it always takes me by surprise,maybe when I’ve been driving a cab for another 10 years I’ll get used to it.
In my last post I said I was looking at going back to being an owner driver but after looking around,and having a minor breakdown at the state of some of the cabs people are advertising as VGC I’ve decided to keep renting. I spoke to Jason at Hexagon and told him that rather than leave them I now want to upgrade to a newer cab! So hopfully I,ll be the driver of a nice young black TX2 in the near future.
While I’m on the subject of renting I’ll do a bit of free advertising for my garage. Recently I’ve spoken to a few drivers that have had to make the decision to change their old Fairways owing to the new age limits that TFL have imposed and ,even though I feel that it’s time for the old girls to be pensioned off, I do feel sorry for them. So if you are one of those people that are affected by this new legisation and want to stay with the fairways for a bit longer give Hexagon a call as they have had all of theirs plated and are now looking for some new drivers, I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the reception that you’ll get from them.
Advert over now back to my ramblings. I recently had to call the LTDA owing to a dispute with a punter that tried to bilk me,the details of this incident are in my recent post called “a long time coming”. Anyway when I called them I described what had happened and asked for their advice as to how to proceed,hoping to hear that they would look into things for me. But I was surprised to be told that I was an idiot for leaving the cab to pursue the bilker and was also told that I should perhaps be more careful as to who I picked up! So after a bit of deliberation I’ve decided to leave and try one of the other trade associations. I was looking at taxi drivers legal protection,that Steve has put a link to on this site,but I couldn’t find a phone number to contact them on & being an old fart I like to talk to people rather than do things on line. So I was about to try the LCDC when I came across an advert for the UCG legal scheme that is advertised in their current trade paper
so I gave them a call ,left a message and was contacted 24 hours later,while I was writing this blog, by a pleasant sounding chap called Lee. After a long chat and hearing the services provided I have decided to sign up with them. The scheme doesn’t start until Febuary but if you feel that you aren’t getting the service that you need from your trade assosiation then give the UCG a call. You never know you may like what you hear.
Another thing that I have been giving some thought to is the idea that cabs will now need to be mot’ed at an mot station twice yearly,rather than at SGS. Now I know that SGS and in the past the PCO have not been perfect,far from it on occasion, but it does worry me that when we can take our cabs to any garage to be checked over we may end up with a falling standard. Now I know that there will be a lot of you shouting at the screen saying that I don’t know what I’m talkng about but just think about this. I recently took my sons car to be moted at our local garage.
It’s a garage that I use for my car & my wifes car,so I know the owner well enough to pass the time of day with. We talk about football and the terrible events at Spurs,I mean I thought that Harry was there to take them down to the lower leagues,not have them challenging for the champions league! So it was with surprise that when I went to pick my sons car up I was told that there were a couple of little issues with it. The worse was a delaminated number plate and a blocked washer jet but the tester had passed it saying”I know you’ll get these sorted so I’ve issued the ticket anyway”
We did take the car away and get the things sorted but as most of you reading this will know,there are people out there that wouldn’t bother, and there are garages that will decide to become mot stations so that they can issue their own tickets for their own cabs. And if TFL decide that this isn’t allowed who,s to stop them getting together with another friendly garage and doing each others inspections. I will admit that this is just my thoughts on this issue, but as someone that pays a lot of money renting a cab I want to make sure that is is carefully checked over by an independant person not by somebodys mate who will let the little things go.
Well thats me done for now,I,ll be back soon with more from the world of Del Boy.

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great Christmas and new year, as you probably well know by now I spent my Xmas and new year in Brazil,there was only one regret and that was it didn’t last long enough, now my batteries are charged, I’m ready to put in a few hours overtime,if only it was worth it.

This is my first  day back since the 19th of December, I picked up my cab at Hexagon taxis and started work around 4pm, work was good, I managed to earn more money up to my break at 9pm  then before my Holiday, afterward was a different storie though, between 22:30 and midnight I did one job and that ended up at Victoria, I keep me hire light on all the way back to Hackney and not a sniff of a job, thats it, my first night back and a early night, I dread the end of the month, I’ll owe Hexagon 4 weeks rent, along with the mortgage and January’s tax bill, I love the job when we’re busy but when it’s like this, all doom and gloom, it gets pretty tough trying to pay the bills.

If any of you are wondering why I’m not answering me phone, thats because I tried restoring me phone and it all went wrong, after about the fifth attempt I managed to get it running but still can’t find me contacts, so if any of you are wondering why I not calling you, thats the reason why.

On a lighter note

While parked up, drinking me latte and munching on a ginger snap, I noticed a pair of legs sticking out of the cab, in-front of me, he did get some strange looks from people passing by.

It did look strange, he was actually doing some sort of exercise, well it takes all sorts.

Hello everybody I hope you are all well and earning enough. I have just recieved the new mini cab,sorry Taxi driver ID markers that I’m supposed to fit in the front and rear windows of my cab and I can’t help feeling that they look very much like the identifying badges that are fitted in the windows of mini cabs.
I will get round to putting them in the windows,well I have got to haven’t I,but I don’t remember anybody asking me for my opinion. The thing that worries me is that any person that has a mind to can just take your badge number and make a complaint to TfL. I know that this is unlikely,but having beeen on the receiving end of a baseless complaint it is a bit of a worry. The other thing that I have noticed is that cabs with liveries that cover the rear windows obscure the rear label/badge/sticker or whatever it is called,very much like the way that you can’t see the little badges on the rear windows of mini cabs that have blacked out windows.
Meanwhile in my world I have been thinking of going back to being a owner driver. I have been renting for a couple of years now and have loved the freedom of not having to worry if the cab goes wrong and would recommend my garage,Hexagon, to anyone thinking of going down the renting route. But I have had the longing for a newer cab and have decided to see what it will cost. Theres nothing set in stone yet but I have started to get some prices.
At the weekend I saw a piece in the paper about Diane Abbott, now I know that this story has been done to death but you have to wonder how somebody with her attitude can hold on to a place in parliament.
I often get asked,when people find out I drive a cab,why they can’t get one when they need it. But when I ask if they look to make sure that the light is on and the driver hasn’t already got a fare,or tell them that they have to make sure thay don’t try to hail a cab when they are standing at a place where a cab can’t stop, I;E red route,bus stop etc or even make sure they aren’t with somebody that is so pis%^d and covered in their own lunch that they need hosing down,they look at me as if I’m mad.
Another thing that I’ve noticed is that a lot of cabs have now had the new chip & pin credit card machines fitted and they all seem to have a telly screen fitted in the back of the cab,it seems that a lot of drivers or punters don’t like them as they seem to be covering them with coats etc. Now I know that Radio Taxis will be fitting all their fleet with these bits of kit in the next few months and therefore I’ll be getting one. I do hope that they come with an on/off switch as some of the things that I have seen going on in the rear of my cab are best kept in the dark!
Well thats me done for now, I’ll be back soon with more from the world of Cabby Del Boy.

Hi there everybody I hope you are all well and earning enough. I’ll start by wishing you all a Happy new year and hope it’s a bit easier than last year to earn a living.
It’s been a while since I last posted on here and as Steve has decided to take a bit of time off to have a Brazillian I thought I’d have a go at filling the pages again.
Firstly I will apologise for keeping the blog short,but I have been having a problem saving and editing them and as Lester has gone away with Steve there is nobody to sort it out for me so I’ll keep adding bits over the next few days.
Well where shall I start? “At the begining ” I hear you shout so here goes.
Since my last post I have reached the grand old age of 50 and therefore should know better than to let myself get wound up by the various idiots that get in my cab and as a rule I do resist,but occasionaly they get the better of me.
One such occasion was when I picked up an Aussie chap on Tottenham court rd who asked to go to Bethnal Green. As we set off I asked if he had enough cash on him or did he need an ATM. He assured me that he was ok for cash so off we went.
When we arrived at Bethnal Green he decided that he did indeed need an ATM and asked to stop at Tescos. I started to get a bad feeling,so I undid my seatbelt as he got out and sure enough after making a pretence of getting money from the machine he did a runner. I jumped out of the cab and started to go after him but too many sausage and bacon rolls washed down with tea and choccie biscuits over the years have taken their toll! So it was back to the cab for me. I did a swift U turn and set off down the side road that he had run down. I must admit that I didn’t expect to catch him but he heard the cab come round the corner and started running,had he stayed hidden behind the wall where he was I would have driven past! As he ran away he tripped over and this gave me enough time to catch up and as he got to his feet I was out of the cab and grabbed his arm. We ended up rolling around on the ground like a couple of little kids and I managed to get him back to the cab. He then started to ask why I was so bothered about the £20 or so that the fare was!
Now it always gives me the hump when people say this,because if I went into a supermarket and walked out with a trolly load of gear I’d be nicked for thieving so what is the difference? He then told me that he was a school teacher and that I was acting like a small child. After another frank exchange of views he gave me his bank card and said that I could try to swipe it through my CC machine for the fare but as he had no money in the bank I’d be unlucky.
By this time I,d had enough so I decided to take him to Bethnal Green nick where the police could sort it out. When we arrived at the nick he refused to get out so I locked he doors with him in the back and went inside. By the time I came back out he had had it on his toes,I forgot that the doors could be unlocked from inside! But as I still had his bank card I still made a complaint hoping that the police could trace him through him bank details. I must say that the staff at Bethnal Green were very helpful and I thank them very much for all the help they gave me.
After a week or so I got a letter from the police saying that there was no way that the crime could be solved and was given a crime number just in case. About a month later I had a phone call from a PC in the C.I.D telling me that he had followed up the case and had spoken to he fella who was seriously embarrased by the way he had acted,I wonder if he felt the same way before the police knocked on his door,and wanted to make amends! After a bit of tooing and froing I eventually got my cash and a little bit extra to cover my time spent at the nick. So the next time any of you have a bilker and can get them to a police station do it! Don’t let the little wasters get away with it.
Another attempted bilk was 4 lads who I picked up in York way who wanted to go to W Ken Stn. I asked the usual question about cash and after they assured me that they had enough cash off we went. On the way the lads did nothing to arrouse suspicion so it was a big surprise when they did a runner at the end of the journey! Unfortunatly for them they should have had a good look around before they did the off, because a police car had pulled up behind us and 2 of the lads ran straight into the arms of a couple of coppers!
After a couple of radio messages the other 2 had been gathered up by another car. The sergeant had a little chat with the lads then asked me what I wanted to do about them. All I wanted was my fare and the police soon got that for me and sent me on my way while still dealing with the 4 would be bilkers. As I drove off 1 of the lads was in tears and the other 3 were close to it!
Right thats me done for now,but before I go I’d like to say well done to Steve for keeping the site going even though he has had a lot going on at home over the past year or so. I feel that I could have helped a bit more than I have and will try to help more this year. Also if any of you out there have an interesting story to tell about the cab trade send it in to Steve and you’ll get the delight of seeing your work in “print”.
Cheers and I’ll be back soon with more from the world of Cabby Del Boy.

By Mark Brown, Wired UK

Every black-cab driver in central London has to have “The Knowledge” — a memorized map of the capital, including some 25,000 streets and thousands of landmarks, right down to the order of theaters on Shaftesbury Avenue.

wireduk
It’s a brutal learning process that can take three to four years to complete, with a final test — the Knowledge of London Examination System — that often takes 12 attempts to pass. Even then, ultimately only half of the trainee cabbies ace the exam.

According to a report published in the journal Current Biology, successfully learning this mental atlas of London’s spaghetti streets causes structural changes in the brain, affects memory and creates a greater volume of nerve cells in the brain’s hippocampus.

In a lengthy study, Eleanor Maguire and Katherine Woollett from the neuroimaging center at University College London followed a group of 79 trainee taxi drivers and 31 controls (who weren’t in training to become cab drivers). Over time they took snapshots of their brain structure using MRI and studied their performance on memory tasks.

At the start of the study, the participants showed no discernible differences in brain structure or memory. The posterior hippocampus and the anterior hippocampus — which had been found, in previous studies, to be larger in London taxi drivers — was currently the same across all participants.

In the intervening years, only 39 of the trainee group passed the test and went on to qualify as registered taxi drivers. This gave the researchers an opportunity to further divide the volunteers into three groups: those that passed, those that trained but did not pass, and the controls who never trained.

Now, with the exam over, the researchers found an increase in grey matter — the nerve cells in the brain where processing takes place — in the back part of the hippocampus of the trainees who passed the test. Those that failed, or never learned, had no changes to their brain structure.

In the memory tasks, both the successful and failed cabbies were better than the control group at recalling London landmarks. However, at other tasks not related to the capital, such as recalling complex visual information, the controls and the trainees who failed to qualify were better than the registered taxi drivers who had “the Knowledge”.

“By following the trainee taxi drivers over time as they acquired — or failed to acquire — ‘the Knowledge’, we have seen directly and within individuals how the structure of the hippocampus can change with external stimulation,” said Maguire in a press release. “The human brain remains ‘plastic‘ even in adult life, allowing it to adapt when we learn new tasks.”

What’s less clear is whether those who ultimately succeeded at the exam had some inherent advantage over those who failed. “Could it be that those who qualified are genetically predisposed towards having a more adaptable, ‘plastic’ hippocampus?” Maguire said in the release. “This leaves the perennial question of ‘nature versus nurture’ still open.”

I always put my intercom on when reaching destination, no different this time. except my punter turns it off, this happened four times, she then says your intercom is faulty, I says no its not and explained what she did,  it took a while to sink in. I  just pulled over anyway and asked where she wanted to go, she says back there, I says I’ll do a u-turn and take you back, she says don’t bother, no problem then, you get wet.
I Pick up another punter, in Bayswater rd, she asked to go to Chiswick,  I get as far as the Goldhawk rd and asked where exactly she wanted, she says just go to the end of Chiswick, I says what the high rd, she couldn’t tell me but says just keep driving, I says how do I know where you live, she said I’ll tell you when we get there, I says how will I know when I’m there If you don’t tell me where it is, she Eventually tells me.

You can never win in this game, if I didn’t ask where she lived and relied on her telling me the way to go, there would have been a point where she missed her turning and blamed me for not asking where she lived.

Believe me that has happened, remember a few weeks back, I tried a different way and let the punter tell me the way to go, the first junction I came across, I didn’t get an answer which way to go, so I just guessed, I was right up to a point, so I continued in a straight line and he forgot to tell me to turn,that when the argument started.

This would be a great job, If I didn’t have to pick up argumentative and rude punters.

Another time while pob and driving down Charring Cross Road, the traffic was heavy as usual, I let a bus pull out in front  of me and tried pulling in behind him but the next double decker refused to let me in and forced me to break hard, even my passenger commented on how rude he was and a passing cab driver said he didn’t even look in his mirror, why the bus companies employ such selfish,arrogant,bad drivers, is beyond me.

Another day I was sitting at traffic lights in Upper Brook Street Mayfair, when this car came rolling round the corner and parked up, the smug look on the drivers face was a picture, I let him park up then told him he just drove into a one way street, that look of smugness soon disappeared as he sheepishly reversed back round the corner, I couldn’t help but smile.

Hexagon Taxis where I rent my cab from, have fitted out just over a hundred cabs with Verifone card payement terminal, so punters can now touch,swipe or just simply put their pin no in, I like using it and have done a few good job because of it  where some punters insist on paying by card,Quite often at Paddington Station I get someone wanting to pay by card.

This time was  different, I processed the card and gave him his receipt, as he walked off, my machine rejected the transaction, it’s done this a couple of times before, normally when the punter is still in the back. when I did this job,I dropped him short of his destination because the traffic was so bad and pointed him in the right direction.

I eventually got to the pub, where I dropped him, I went inside and found him sitting there, so I went up to him and showed him the cancelled transaction and told him  his card didn’t go through, he apologized and payed me cash.

Lucky for me there’s only been one incident where the transaction didn’t go through and it cancelled after the punter left, it was only £7.60, so no big problem.

I will say one thing, if anyone does a card transaction , make sure you know exactly where you drop your punter.

Black cab drivers were today divided over demands to charge passengers 20 per cent extra during next summer’s Olympics and Paralympics.

Protest: Jonathan Myers, of the United Cabbies Group, pickets outside the Standard's Kensington office

A group representing about 2,000 drivers has attacked the main trade body’s claim that cabbies would be “encouraged” to work during the Games if they could earn more.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association claimed that up to half of London’s 25,000 drivers will take time off during the Games after being denied a series of concessions by Transport for London, including access to priority “zil” lanes.

But the United Cabbies Group said that the reputation of drivers would be irreparably damaged if the fare rises were imposed.

In a picket at the Standard’s Kensington offices yesterday the UCG accused the LTDA, which has about 9,000 members, of a “politically-motivated” campaign. Jonathan Myers, a spokesman for the UCG, said: “We’ve had people getting in our cabs asking about the rises. I had one customer who called us opportunist bastards.”

LTDA spokesman Steve McNamara said: “TfL were worried they were not going to have enough cabs so they asked what can we do. We said to give us access to the zil lanes, but they said they couldn’t do it. We suggested they could try paying the blokes more money. Everyone is now convinced we are going for 20 per cent, which we’re not, it was a suggestion.”

A consultation on the increase proposals ends this month

Source London Evening Standard

No doubt many of you will have seen the damaging banner headlines in the Evening Standard of Friday 11th November following the LTDA’s demand for Rate 3 for the duration of the Olympics and other payments. No one can doubt this is a massive ‘own goal’ and as one of our members said: ‘did this come from A****** *** (A well known PH outfit) marketingdepartment?’
Well, it might as well have!

The RMT London Taxi Branch position is as follows:

We have NO proposals to ask for enhanced rates during the Olympics.

Our view is that this hopefully busy event will mean plenty of work, full occupancy and less dead mileage so our takings will increase as a result.
We do have other Tariff & Olympic Concerns such as:•

• Full Access to the Olympic Road Network (ORN)

• Adequate Rank provision

• The proposed £5.00 Rank Levy in addition to our licence fee.

• The Index used to calculate the tariff (RPI/CPI)

All of this is under active discussion at Branch member and Committee level.

If you are not a member of the RMT Taxi Branch, ask yourself the following questions:

1.  Has my trade organisation consulted with me on this or anything else?
2.  Do they hold monthly meetings where you as a member make the policy democratically?
3. Are they part of a campaigning union with world leading legal protection plus many other benefits?
4. Did they support the recent successful demonstration against the failure of TfL to protect you and the travelling public?

Don’t listen to rumours from others, if you need any further information or to find out more about becoming a member, contact us now on:
078997 786433 or email   londontaxi@rmt.org.uk

London cabbies have done it again.

This is the second time the ( UCG)  United Cabbies group have arranged taxi’s for transporting War veterans to the cenotaph in Whitehall.

There were so many cabs that they had to have a double queue, it stretched from the centre of Westminster bridge all the way back to Lambeth Palace Road, Past St Thoma’s Hospital.

Once again, I take my hat off to the organizers and marshals and of course the drivers who helped out.

Helping a disabled lady to a waiting taxi.

Above, Marshall Lee, directing people and cabs.

Standing proud and waiting in line for a taxi.These are just a few of many Hundreds that were taken to and from the Cenotaph.

Above a warm welcome from UCG Marshall Mark, holding cab door open.

Sitting comptable and waiting to depart at the Union Jack Club in Waterloo.

Getting a farewell hug from his daughter and then standing proud next to his waiting cab, while  we take his photo.

Marshall Mark helps put a wheelchair in cab.

They are two ex Air Force, Jenny and Angela and one ex Army, David

All members of  WRVS  (Womens Royal Voluntary Service)

All Marching in the Cenotaph parade – Civilian contingent veterans.

I took these four people to Paddington Station and I was proud to be part of the taxi fleet on the day.