Black Taxi

[Eastender]

Who do you get in touch with, to make sure a Black Taxi driver is authentic? Thanks

[saxy_jag]

As with any cab driver, you should be able to check with your local council.

[alavahalf]

The Hackney Carriage Licensing officer ... as Saxy says... google up your local council and search for a link.

[alavahalf]

Anyone can buy a Black Taxi and use it for their anything they want to ...

http://www.taxi-mart.co.uk/

Someone unlicensed may even cruise the streets (especially at night when other Taxis are busy) and pick up some unsuspecting member of the public in search of a Taxi...totaly illegal, but it does happen every day.

[Eastender]

Thanks for replies. I caught a cab outside the train station, just something about the driver made me think he was not a really cabbie. No id in back window and the cab broke down a few yards into the journey? never seen that before. I would have thought the other cabbies would have clocked onto him in the taxi rank. As you mentioned possible moonlighting.

[Buenchico]

A taxi rank is probably the safest place to get a taxi from.

I used to run a railway station. The taxi drivers on the rank each had to pay the rail company around £4000 per year for the right to use the rank, so they were always on the lookout for anyone who might try to sneak on without paying the fee (even though the 'intruders' might also be properly licensed by the local council).

I've also carried out a survey, on behalf of a local council, where I had to monitor the use of taxi ranks over an extended period. I was surprised to learn that, despite having to pay a lot of money for their licences, each taxi driver was only permitted to use the ranks in their own town. (They weren't allowed to use the ranks in neighbouring towns, even though they were in the same council area). So, once again, all of the taxi drivers were constantly checking to make sure that no unauthorised drivers (including other cabbies who might have been licensed by the same council) used 'their' ranks.

Chris