Talk:Taxis of the United Kingdom

Control issues

You can have points on your driving license and have a criminal record and still become a taxi driver.Cola19 07:03, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Glasgow/Edinburgh/Leeds sections

Why mention these cities (very briefly) and no others in a hugely London-orientated article? The fact that the Scottish cities have taxis with advertising liveries is nothing special: Birmingham, for example, has some (at least locally) well-known cabs with South African flag livery. And as the Liverpool photo - with a silver cab to the fore - shows, Leeds has no monopoly on non-black cabs. Loganberry (Talk) 22:43, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

The article doesn't claim that Leeds has a monopoly on non-black cabs but I have clarified the wording. I fully agree; we need much more sourced material on non-London cities. Offers? TerriersFan 23:47, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Newmarket has many cabs which are black, but with yellow bonnets/boots and sometimes doors. I don't know if they are special "Newmarket colours" or simply the livery of a certian company. Also it may be worth pointing out that the distinctive "London Cab" design was updated around 2001, but these cars also sold very well outside London. Before then you'd generally only see a "London Cab" in London itself, and very rarely outside. Also the old FX4 models are now entering classic car territory and some are used by people as ordinary cars, as they are very reliable and by virtue of thier design go for zillions of miles and still work fine 82.153.230.138 (talk) 20:16, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Having a "Leeds" section and a "Luton" section is arbitrary without having sections for other major cities. The Luton fact is notable, the Leeds one isn't - lots of cities have a specific colour or livery for their taxis. London is special - the way taxis are regulated in London is different from everywhere else in the country, and this should be mentioned. So, can we either start adding sections for more cities, or delete the Leeds and Luton sections? Preceding drivel from §©ʁİƃƀȴıŋ’ Ƨł₥ȫȠ ^{talk|contribs} 17:09, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

When I get around to it I have info and photos for Brighton and Liverpool sections. The way forward is to add more cities not to delete what we have; that way we develop the encyclopaedia. TerriersFan (talk) 20:23, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

hippocampus size?

Something seems "dodgy" about the apparently enlarged hippocampus region in the brains of cab drivers, and the link for the citation is broken. I propose removal until further verification can be found. Supercam (talk) 23:14, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Knowledge boys

The section on "knowledge bows", under "The Knowledge" has rather an inappropriate tone and could use a rewrite. 86.160.82.130 (talk) 00:31, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

The image used has a preview that's rotated 90 degrees as opposed to the full sized image that has the right orientation. Can someone fix this? Jalwikip (talk) 14:01, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

It was my mistake, so appropriate that I fix it. The rotateBot has been requested to fix it - be patient the bot has a long queue. — RHaworth (talk · contribs) 22:06, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Needed a program to fix the hundreds of other cases on my machine so fixed it myself. — RHaworth (talk · contribs) 13:13, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

"an intimacy with their city which no technology can achieve."

On the one hand, this is blatantly POV and unsupported by any citation.

On the other hand, it's true and likely to remain true for some time.

I can't come up with a good rewrite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.211.255.172 (talk) 13:41, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

I think "intimate knowledge" was the expression the original writer was looking for. That said, I think the claim that no technology can achieve something is a ridiculous claim. It might be possible to say that it has not achieved it, but to say that it can't achieve it is to claim to know the future. I believe that enough geospatial data exists to make it possible for Satnav to rival a professional cabbie. Also techonology is capable of providing dynamic information - roadworks, traffic jams etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.7.61.207 (talk) 20:25, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Advertising

Am I the only one to think the Eastbourne part sounds like advertising tagged onto the end? There are other companies that can be booked by 'new-tech' means, this single company should not be singled out as a case in point... Skwirel (talk) 00:46, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

I have replaced that for now with a more neutral statement. I see no evidence on the Borough website that such a "new-tech" system, if it exists at all, applies to all taxis in Eastbourne. I suggest that, if true, the information should be added back once proper references can be cited, and without the advertising tone.
Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 12:35, 1 May 2011 (UTC)

founders of the Public Carriage Office

Does anyone know about the original founding of the Public Carriage Office in the 19th century? In particular, any names of the original founders, examiners and the like. But any detail would be appreciated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.236.112.147 (talk) 17:49, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

Knowledge of London Examiners

I recall seeing a documentary some years ago which said that all Knowledge of London Examiners were ex-police officers. Does anybody have a reliable source for this and know whether this is still the case? ShipFan (Talk) 05:43, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

The documentary was an episode of Modern Times called "Streetwise" from 1996. It's on BBC iPlayer as at Oct 2022, I watched it last night. It did indeed say the examiners were all ex-coppers. Grievous Angel (talk) 07:41, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

"Appearances"

The article currently says: "At appearances, Knowledge boys and girls must, without looking at a map, identify the two random points in metropolitan London that their examiner chooses." This doesn't say what information is given to the examinee. I suppose they don't have to resort to telepathy? --BjKa (talk) 14:36, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Original research

There is a tag for original research on the article - what does this refer to? I can't see any other markers or talk page discussion. Absolutelypuremilk (talk) 18:52, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

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Bigger brains Hippocampus

"...new research from the Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology has found that taxi drivers’ brains actually grow when they have to learn so much new information."

Here is the reference for the study of London taxi drivers brains. Can someone track down the published version? It ought to be included.

Woollett K and Maguire EA. Acquiring 'the Knowledge' of London's layout drives structural brain changes. Curr Biol 2011 (epub ahead of print).

https://wellcome.org/press-release/changes-london-taxi-drivers-brains-driven-acquiring-‘-knowledge-study-shows Humphrey Tribble (talk) 04:14, 19 May 2022 (UTC)

Winchester-Taxi

The east-german professional journal "Kraftfahrzeugtechnik" wrotes in 1971 about a so-called "Winchester-Taxi" that is built since 1966. It is quite similar to Austin taxi, however, to reduce the enormous mass, the car body was fiberglass. The engine was a Perkins-diesel, 43 hp. Furthermore, there ist described a Metrocab, also fiberglass body and once more less weight. Seems that it was not produced in measurable amount at that time? Greetings from Berlin, Max schwalbe (talk) 09:38, 18 December 2022 (UTC)