Called off the Langham Hotel rank (a 5-star no less) to be asked by the doorman if I could take his Japanese guest to a red light district “Soho is your best bet” I say in my best Mandarin, and show him a telephone box in the said district with its ubiquitous adverts. Not understanding how girls have become hi-tech in offering their services he wanders off into the night.
Monthly Archives: December 2020
Bills, badges and blights
Cabbies refer to their authorisation to ply for hire as their ‘Bill and Badge’. The badge is pretty self-evident as it hangs around their necks. Their bill or paper licence is thought to refer to the ‘bill of health’, which is very pertinent in today’s pandemic.
Another nod to the health of Londoners is that it was once supposedly illegal for people to hail a cab while suffering from the bubonic plague. This is still partly true, as the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act of 1984 requires a person suffering from a notifiable disease to inform the cab driver, who may then decide whether to ferry the passenger. If he does so, he is then required to notify the authorities and disinfect the cab before taking another fare.
More drivers than vehicles
Since Oliver Cromwell first licensed cabbies there has always been more drivers than available vehicles, in recent times some cabs were ‘doubled-up’ which allowed the cabbies to pay a reduced rent. In the past, all vehicles and the horses were owned by the proprietor who rented them out to many drivers. Today (much like the author) many badges have been retained but not used to ply for hire.
As the only restriction to becoming a London cabbie, irrespective of the licenses in issue at the time has been The Knowledge, therefore there has always been an excess of drivers. Last year, for example, there was 20,136 licensed cabs and 23,159 cabbies.
In the past, in London, the gulf between drivers and vehicles was even greater. For instance, in 1986 there were 14,000 licensed cabs and 19,000 licensed drivers while by 1996 there were 17,000 licensed cabs and 22,000 licensed drivers.
Recent records show the disparity has reduced and averages in the region of about 10 per cent more drivers than available cabs.
Available cabs plummet
But since the coronavirus pandemic, the number of taxis licensed in the capital has plummeted from 18,900 on 7 June to 15,000 on 8 November according to Transport for London.
The London Taxi Drivers Association believe that only 20 per cent of cabbies are plying for hire, which equates to about 4,500, while rental firm, Sherbet London, has hired a car park to help store 400 unoccupied cabs, representing two-thirds of its fleet, its chief executive Asher Moses has estimated 2,000 taxis are standing in fields at the moment, so they are exempt from insurance and road tax.
London in Quotations: William Wordsworth
Our haughty life is crowned with darkness, / Like London with its own black wreath.
William Wordsworth (1779-1850), Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg
London Trivia: More Brixton riots
On 13 December 1995, riots broke out again in Brixton, hundreds of youths attacked police, ransacked shops, and burnt cars after the death of a black man in police custody. About 50 police officers in riot gear formed a line across Brixton’s main road to stifle pockets of trouble and prevent anyone entering the area. The violence continued for 5 hours, 22 people were arrested and charged with theft and criminal damage, 3 police officers hurt.
On 13 December 1867 Clerkenwell Prison was bombed by members of the Fenians, the blast killed bystanders in Corporation Row, the perpetrators were later executed
Britain’s first ubiquitous use of speed bumps preventing exceeding the speed limit, were installed on Linver Road and Alderville Road, Fulham in 1984
Taking just 5 months to build Crystal Palace was in 1850 the biggest building on Earth, vast enough to accommodate four St Paul’s Cathedrals
In December 1952 smog killed over 12,000 windless weather and cold led to 100,000 admitted to hospital with respiratory illnesses
St. Mary Axe recalls a legend about a princess who travelled abroad with her 11,000 handmaidens; all were killed by Attila using 3 axes
The ‘local palais’ lyrics in the Kinks’ Come Dancing was the Athenaeum, Fortis Green Road replaced by a Sainsbury’s store in 1966
Cultivated for over 900 years College Garden Westminster Abbey is the oldest garden in England, its surrounding walls are dated 14th Century
The spiritual home of Sunday football at their peak in the 1960s, Hackney Marshes had 5 areas offering 120 pitches, the largest in the world
The deepest car park is under Bloomsbury Square 60ft deep and 7 storeys 450 car capacity built in 1960 and ruined Repton’s landscaping above
The Bank of England issued its first banknotes in 1725 with a £100 note an amount that could rent a furnished house in Pall Mall for 5 years
Half a million years ago the Thames flowed from the Midlands through Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, East Anglia entering the sea at Ipswich
Trivial Matter: London in 140 characters is taken from the daily Twitter feed @cabbieblog.
A guide to the symbols used here and source material can be found on the Trivial Matter page.
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