Street Knowledge Test outside London

[NEW GUIDE JUST FOR LONDON - CLICK HERE]
The Street Knowledge Test Outside of London (goto paragraph 2 for London). Not all LAs will require you to take this exam so you will need to call your council and check if you need to do it (most councils have some form of practical test now), I also recommend you ask what the waiting list is like to sit the taxi test. It can be a few weeks in places; so your best booking it soon. There is more to taking the knowledge test than just memorising routes from A to B… Read on.

Pretty much everyone knows that the London’s test, also known as ‘The Knowledge’ is the hardest. Compared to any other UK council it is a league for its own. I hope to cover the subject further in the future [Article Now Written - Click Here]. For anyone wanting to be a London cabbie i can recommend the learning program: 'Become A London Taxi Driver' Look for their DVD called 'How to be a London Taxi Driver' - it contains all the extra info London drivers will need and is highly regarded by many taxi drivers.



After, or indeed before booking your test you will need to revise, if your 100% confident you know your area well I would still advise doing a bit of revision. If you’re not great on local geography you will need to put in a fair bit of study. Your council will be able to provide you with a syllabus of what is contained on the test.

Common things you will find on the syllabus are:

1)A list of routes you will be expected to memorise. You will be expected to write down every street that connects the starting point to the destination. In most cases if you can’t remember a road name they will accept a landmark like a pub or a church etc. Often you will only need to memorise main roads.
2)A list of locations; estates, pubs, train stations etc. You will be expected to know the names of the roads these are on.
3)Taxi Bye-laws. Example question: Can hackney carriage and private hire vehicles form ranks?
4)Highway code.
5)Disability awareness.

Here is an example of Halton councils syllabus if you wish to see example questions: http://www2.halton.gov.uk/pdfs/business/knowledgetestsyllabus

The Knowledge Practice:

To pass the knowledge you will need an up to date ‘fold out’ A-Z Map, they are huge and very detailed. You may also want to buy a normal book type A-Z map for when you pass. You can get cheap maps from www.amazon.co.uk I put the map on a wall and use highlighter pens to highlight the best routes. I found the best routes by using Google maps, or Microsoft MapPoint 2006. Then it was just a case of spending some time each day going through the routes and testing my memory of them – One Important point to mention is that the route you choose does not have to exactly match the councils test answers but it has to be pretty close to it, so you won’t fail for choosing a slightly different way.
Get a copy of the highway code. You could dig out your old copy but I recommend you buy a new one as it is updated all the time. Give it a good read, maybe keep a copy in the toilet, it makes great bathroom literature :)
Get on the councils website or call them to obtain a copy of Taxi Bye-laws and information on how best to be of service to disabled customers. They normally give you all this info on your first interview anyway.

That about covers it for now, remember to practice as much as you can. Test your memory every day and look at the map every day. Passing the knowledge is not quite as daunting as it sounds, some councils are not super strict with the test and they may give you hints if you need help. Most people will pass on the second sitting of the test. Best of luck!