London Taxi Drivers – The Knowledge

As I am sure you are aware, working as a London taxi driver requires you to pass the street knowledge test often referred to simply as ‘the knowledge’. This test is like no other in the UK requiring immense amounts of study and dedication.

I have the utmost respect for London cabbies knowing what they have to go through to get their green badge. Having a couple of friends who are working as taxi drivers in London, I can safely say that I am glad I didn’t have to sit the knowledge test! There are 400 runs (routes) as mentioned in the Public

Carriage Office "Guide to Learning the Knowledge of London" (the 'Blue Book') and more than 1000 pubs bars and clubs in central London. There is a written test and you will also be tested ‘one to one’ in interviews called ‘appearances’.

Helpful Learning Resources...

You will need to exercise your memory to make the most of your study time, some prospective cabbies also drive the routes on mopeds because driving the routes allow you to visually remember them, this is the best way to learn. Either way you wil need some learning resources.

There is a CD information pack full of loads of good info and resources you can print off and use on the computer, you can order it online and it is called 'Become a London Taxi Cab Driver' (links below) ...I first found out about this via a friend who has since passed the knowledge and is now working as a full time black cab driver. I have had a chance to look at the materials myself and it is a very useful and comprehensive tool to have as an aid to your study and for mock testing yourself.

Features include...

• Essential information about the Knowledge
• The eligibility requirements
• How and where to apply
• The History of the Black Cab
• Completing the Application Form correctly
• What the selection process involves
• Actual Interview questions
• Advice on how to tackle the Blue Book Runs
• Where to find FREE information and resources
• Complete list of points
• Complete runs
• 30,000 points in text format
• Sample blank maps

In Summary...

This information is spot on and is just what you need... highly recommended by colleagues, especially as it costs so little at the moment. The sample maps are cool, the complete runs and list of points are invaluable as are the interview questions. There are loads of links and tips on how to find free information. There is also a free bonus CD included at the moment on how to pass your interview - I cannot comment on that part as I have not seen it, but the price is right! ;-)

Click Pic or Link Below...

Click Here: www.how2become.co.uk

Safe driving peeps!

If you buy dont forget to leave your comments below.

p.s. i had a link to an old online the knowledge London taxi mock test. will post here if i remember.

Voucher Code 10% off Discount @ Taxi-Mart.co.uk

Just a quick update, Taxi-mart.co.uk have an online shop that sells pretty much every accessories you could need for your taxi... Car vacuum cleaners, money belts, sick bags, door guards (to protect against careless idiots) , CarPoint seatbelt stoppers, portable toilets, she-wee, coin dispensers, receipt books....etc....etc ....and a load of other stuff that I don’t have the will to list here.

Taxi-Mart has a juicy 10% discount voucher code which could save you a good few quid. When you go through to check out on their site, use this code:

TMS-02

There is no expiry date for this code so it should last forever.

Rent or Buy your Taxi?

This is a question I am often asked and my answer is always the same, if you are going private hire you should rent first buy later. A lot of the time my advice falls on deaf ears for the simple reason that once someone falls in love with the idea of buying their own shiny new car then there is no telling them otherwise.

I will be honest; lot of people go and but their own car and never look back but the main reasons I say you should rent are:

If you are not in a good financial position the last thing you need in more financial commitments, renting will help you build up some cash.

You never know how you will react to driving a taxi, some love it some detest it... You will not know your genuine feelings for weeks or months. It’s much harder to quit with debts hanging over your head.

You have much more flexibility to work if you rent, if you buy a car on finance the bills don’t stop when you have a week off.

Renting often works out at the same cost as buying a new car. My Skoda cost £210 a week to run excluding petrol, to rent the same car from the operator costs £200 so you see there is not much in it.

If you are convinced you want to buy a car or you have tried rentals and it’s time to move on then I would recommend you buy a second hand car, try to keep below £5000. And either pay cash or spread term of the loan so your repayments are lower, I would aim for no more than £160 per month. After all, this will be deducted from your overall income. Try to avoid hire purchase as its very hard/impossible to get out of the agreement and they will have no sympathy if you struggle to make repayments.
It’s worth remembering that some councils require your car to me no older than 3 years.

My Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDi Taxi

Someone emailed me to ask what car i drive so here is my badboy, Skoda Octavia 1.9 TD, i can get 55mpg on the motorway and its as reliable as the sunrise. The picture was taken in the Swiss Alps near the boarder of Italy (no it wasn't a fare from heaven, i just whent on a driving holiday!)
I get a few emails every week asking my opinion on this or that car, im no Jeremy Clarkson but if you want my opinion feel free to send me a message... Safe driving!

Dont become a taxi driver!

Only kidding, hope i didn't have you going with the title. Just a quick post to apologise to my regular readers for my lack of bloggadge (new word?) of late; I have had a lot of stuff going on in my life lately and there is no signs of it slowing but i will be getting another guide done soon, if anyone wants to request a guide feel free to do so.

I am also toying with the idea of moving my blog to my own hosting and tarting it up a bit for a more professional look.. And i want to get rid of all the ads as i hate making people see them but the clicks I get on ads are one of the few things that helps me a little towards paying the bills... but ideas and actions are two different things.

Its been a GREAT week on the taxis this week, most of the kids have been off for Easter so the roads have been dead and the work plentiful. If it was like this every week it would be the perfect job. However the grand national was on last weekend and i was dragged into a shouting match with some old battle axe in the middle of the street; I arrived outside Iceland to pick the hag up having noticed that she had waited 20 mins for me to arrive. Anyway, she thought it would make her feel BIG if she exercised a bit of power and put on a show for all the people in the street by shouting at the taxi driver (me!) and putting him down.. sadly for the hag she had picked the wrong guy to mess with.. I removed all her shopping from the boot and put it in the middle of the road and politely asked her for an apology or I would not be able to drive her today... making herself look a complete fool she backed down and apologised. Even better she was silent all the way home as she listened to me lecture her about treating her fellow man with some respect for 20 minutes.

Now i want to harp back to the blog title if i may, although i wrote in jest i have to confess that i have resigned my stately position as 'taxi driver' today, it wasn't a snap decision, i have been mulling it over for some time. AND it IS going to be hard to say goodbye to my second home in London and my partners p*rn0s being subsidised by the tax payer but i must march on with my chin up just like any one of out glorious MPs would do. The main reason i have quit is that i am chasing my dream career as a web designer, i have been designing sites for some time and i am now lucky enough to have a few clients on my books including my old taxi company! Needless to say my girlfriend is a little miffed that i don't have much time these days but im sure she realises im working toward a better future for us both (hmm...? Doubt it) There are parts of the job i will really miss and parts i am glad to escape... but I'm not one to dwell on the past so screw it its been a hell of a ride. I will of course keep up this blog up to date and you can email me or comment and i will get back to every one of you as always.

By the way... If any of you guys or girls want a site designing i offer sites from £49 (Now reduced to £19 for a limited time), i haven't got my web design site up yet (to busy making other peoples sites!)...Some weeks i made £500 from my self made taxi site so its well worth doing, you will need an operators licence though! If you want an example of one of my cheaper sites check www.taxiliverpoolairport.co.uk. I will be doing a guide on making extra money via yours and OTHER peoples websites soon; so stay tuned.

Its been good to get all this crap off my chest anyway. If you read this go get a cup of tea because you deserve it.

Thanks

Karl

What Taxi Operator to Work for?

Picking your taxi operator

Picking the best taxi operator to work for is only possible by speaking to other drivers and getting opinions. Otherwise it is a shot in the dark. You could try using the internet to find local taxi forums in your area but to be honest there is not a lot of info out there. There is nothing wrong with shooting in the dark, you have no commitment to the operator so if you don’t like the way they work you can move on to the next company - one thing to keep in mind is that you will have to get the radio fitted/ removed by each operator so it’s not quite as simple as just walking away; but it’s not far off. So get chatting to drivers, we usually love talking anyway so most will be glad to help you out. You may also want to become an operator yourself so you can take your own work. More on this in a future post.

Bad operators

When I talk about bad operators there can be a million reasons why they are bad. The most common thing to look out for is what is known as ‘feeding.’ This is where the phone operators give preferential treatment to friends or people who pay them a backhander; dishing out all the best work to them. Never touch a company who operate like this. Another thing you might want to avoid as a new driver is an operator who uses only radios to dish out jobs, you really want a job management system like ‘Autocab’ – you may have learn to use the in car computer terminal but it is so much easier than radio in the long run and importantly feeding can be traced and therefore less likely to happen. Make sure the operator spends money on advertising; some will take your settle money and spend little to nothing on advertising; so you will get no work. Most other problems with your operator boil down to a personality clash; by which I mean that they are often run unreasonable morons! The good thing is you only have to see them for 5 minutes a week.

Costs associated with your operator

If you have your own car you will have to pay a weekly settle to the operator, this is the rental fee you pay for the radio and all the jobs that come through it, it pays for advertising and the wages of the phone operators (not to mention a big chunk for the owner). It varies a lot; average is around £70-£120 it can be much more though. If you rent a car from the operator you will have to pay rental, again, lots of variation but average is around £200 per week. The operator may offer you insurance if you own a car, on the whole it’s not worth it. In my case the operator wanted £70 a week insurance; I found it myself for about £40pw.

Check out this for some skilled taxi driving

Not sure if im working this weekend because i am sick as a dog, if im off i will try and get another guide on the blog. In the meantime enjoy this video!

The Taxi Medical

Another step in the process of your applications the taxi medical, it is advisable to do this early on because if for some reason you fail you will not be allowed to drive so don’t go buying a brand new jag just yet!

The price of this group 2 medical varies wildly I have heard figures from £28 to over £200 so if you can, shop around. You don’t always have to go to your own doctor but some councils will insist you see a specific GP. If you do pay £200; i would full expect the girl in the pic to be doing your examination. Book early as you can wait 2-3 weeks+ sometimes. The appointment should take around 30 mins, including time spent reading crappy knitting magazines from the 90s in the waiting room.

Basically how it works is like this; you get a form from your council (Click here and read the post to see your councils website and contact info) You need to then find a doctor who can do a taxi drivers medical. Take the form to him/her when you attend your appointment. If all goes well (or not) you hand over your cash, he slips it in his back pocket and takes his wife for a slap up meal that evening. You should then have a form authorising you as fit to drive; keep hold of this as you will have show it to the council in order to get your licence.

The medical test will start by you peeing into a glass so don’t empty the tank before your appointment – This is a test for diabetes. You will then have your sight and your hearing tested. Next your blood pressure and heart beat will be checked. You will be asked all sorts of questions relating to the tests, have you ever had this and that etc. If you want to see a medical form and read more details of whats involved click here (pdf file).

If you don’t pass your medical you will need to discuss your options with your GP, it may be something that can be resolved or it may not. I can only wish you luck.

All Quiet on the Cab Front

Been working a lot this week but it has been quiet, its getting towards the end of the month and things always slow down for us taxi driver the further it gets from pay day. Thats one of the hardest parts of the job; having the beans to stay out there when the going is slow.
It has given me time to think about the blog anyway so i am currently writing a guide on how to plan your working week; good/bad times to work etc. Hopefully you will be able to use this information to improve your profit. One thing to keep in mind though; when you do start working on the cabs dont worry if your earnings dont seem to be what you expected. It takes a few weeks to build up a real efficiency at the job, you will get faster with the computer/radio/sat nav etc and you will start to memorise common routes.
My apologies for not updating the blog in a few days, i will post up another guide very soon... promise!

Taxi Driving Test

The DSA Taxi Test is an increasingly common requirement of Local Councils and it’s just another hoop you have to jump through if you want your badge. The Taxi driving test was first introduced in 1999. The DSA recommend that you take Instruction and read up on the content of the test before you take it. You can sit the test as many times as you like but if you fail you will have to wait at least 3 days before re-sitting. The test lasts around 40 mins, the standard they expect is in the test is higher than that of the learner drivers test. Just like in the Learner test you will have to read a plate from 20 metres before the driving begins. If you fail the sight part you cannot drive but you can go on to the wheelchair section of the test where applicable.

During the driving section of the test you will be examined on:
1) Awareness and anticipation.
2) Correct use of speed.
3) An emergency stop, not all tests will include this.
4) Effective planning of prevailing road and traffic conditions.
5) A manoeuvre involving reversing.
6) Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Car related exercise.

Some tests will include a wheelchair exercise depending on if you have wheelchair accessible vehicle. It basically involves you proving via practical demonstration that you can safely install the wheelchair in the car.

If you pass the tests you will be issued with certificates which you will need to produce to the council before your licences is issued. The test costs around £60.

You will find a lot of detailed information on the test and how to book it at the transport office website: http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/taxiproviders/taxiproviders.htm