Book a taxi or contact us on-line or phone +44(0)203 00 44 953
Working as a Licensed London Taxi Driver can be a rewarding and lively job. All licensed taxi drivers are self employed. This means you have the freedom to work (or not work) whenever you want: any hour of the day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year.
Requirements
As well as having a lively character and being adept at banter and rhyming slang, these are the requirements:
- Age 21 or over
- An Enhanced CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check
- Medical Fitness: DVLA Group 2
- Full DVLA driving licence or EEA driving licence and GB counterpart
- DSA Taxi Driving Test
- Completion of The Knowledge
Taxi drivers are expected to know the best routes for their customers and need to have a good memory. Drivers will also need to be competent at handling money and communicating with customers. There will be a need to deal with drunk or angry customers in a calm and rational manner. Taxi drivers also need to know how to help people with disabilities.
The Knowledge
Applicants usually take three years to five years to complete their study and testing of “The Knowledge”.
Doing “The Knowledge” entails detailed one-to-one verbal testing of the applicants ability to know the correct route from A to B to C and back again.
This requires detailed and extensive knowledge of every place of interest in Greater London, including hotels, restaurants, buildings, pubs, etc.
Bigger Brains
Doing “The Knowledge” makes your brain bigger, says research by the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience.
Researchers scanned the brains of 16 London taxi drivers who had spent an average of two years learning The Knowledge. They found the cabbies had a larger hippocampus (an area of the brain associated with memory) than control subjects.
The Hackney Cab
Most Licensed London Taxi drivers work in the traditional, easily recognisable hackney cab. The new Mercedes Vito Licensed Taxi has emerged on the scene in the last few years.
Book a taxi or contact us on-line or phone +44(0)203 00 44 953
