For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.
A road less travelled (07.08.12)
When announcing the hydrogen taxi scheme recently the Mayor could hardly have envisioned starting a scenario straight from the script of BBC television Twenty-Twelve.
“A vision to promote innovative zero and low emission technologies in the capital to clean London’s air and tackle pollution” was announced.
In the spirit of zero emissions five hydrogen-fuelled Olympic taxis have been operating during the Games shuttling VIPs and guests of the Mayor between venues.
The one flaw in this well-meaning initiative was that due to its proximity to the Olympic Park, the hydrogen service station at the Lee Interchange has been closed for security reasons. This has meant that the closest fuelling station is in Swindon 65 miles away.
Twice a week the five clean emission cabs are hoisted onto the back of a dirty diesel-fuelled car transporter to make the journey to be refuelled and brought back to London.
The irony is that if the cabs were to complete the 130-mile round trip unaided they would not have enough fuel to drive the VIPs around London, necessitating a return to Swindon.
As a further dent in the green credentials of London a fleet of hydrogen buses that operate along the South Bank in London has also been affected by the closure.
On 17 August 2010 Waterloo Bridge, then known as the ‘Strand Bridge’, was opened. It was pulled down in 1936
HMP Pentonville built in 1842 at a cost £84,186 12s 2d was intended to be a holding prison for convicts awaiting transportation
If London was a country it would be the 8th biggest in Europe in monetary terms and the greenest city of its size in the world with two-thirds covered in green space or water
Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum has a collection of over 45,000 objects including a collection of English delftware drug storage jars amongst which is the oldest known dated piece in the world
Winston Churchill attended the scene of the Siege of Sidney Street and narrowly escaped death when a stray bullet was fired through his hat
A pyramid to cover Trafalgar Square was proposed by Irishman, Colonel Frederick Trench, MP to commemorate the triumph at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805
The Grosvenor Hotel (now Thistle Victoria) was one of the first hotels in London to have a lift called at the time ‘a rising room’
Boxing legend Sir Henry Cooper trained in the gym above the Thomas a Becket pub previously at 320 Old Kent Road, Walworth
The Tube’s world-famous logo, ‘the roundel’ (a red circle crossed by a horizontal blue bar), first appeared in 1908
In 1661 the first postmarks in the world were struck at Post Office Court near to where today’s Bank of England now stands
In 1661 the world’s first postmark was struck at the General Post Office located in Prince’s Street opposite the Bank of England
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