[The News Bot]

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[paffren]

He was there for an interview for a cleaning job (IT related though ) according to the BBC. They got the first name right though as he and the man they were supposed to interview were both Guy. I thought he bluffed his way through it very well.

[LicensedTaximan]

Whether he was being interviewed for a cleaning job or not is still unclear, but given that the story didn't originally mention that plus he was reported to be a taxi driver anyway I need to clear up some possible and probable confusion. This bloke is probably not a taxi driver or a cabbie. The term taxi driver or cab driver refers to a licensed driver (hackney carriage) whether a London one or not. If he was a driver carrying fare paying passengers you can bet your sweet bottom dollar that he probably was a phv driver, in other words a private hire vehicle driver from outside the London area, and if he was from the London area he would have been an ex London minicab driver now licensed by the pco (public carriage office) as a phv driver which I can assure you is not a hackney carriage driver aka taxi driver. I'm not by the way having a go at anyone on these forums or the guy in question on the programme, but more to educate those not associated with the taxi trade and to explain the difference between the two types of driver. The press, nationally and locally insist on calling anyone who carries fare paying passengers as taxi/cab/cabbies, this is totaly and utterly incorrect.

It is something of an insult from my point of view because a bona fide licensed taxi driver (in London anyway) has to do "The Knowledge of London" which is comparable in terms of studying to doing a university degree, phv drivers do not have to go through anything like this, reading a map is apparently the prime requisit!!! So to have the term taxi driver erroneously used to describe those that are not is wrong, and I might add an insult by using that term incorrectly to those who are. While i'm on my hobby horse I also object to the term black cab as i'm not and my taxi isn't, it's metalic grey. If all taxis in London through the cof (conditions of fitness) had to be black and eighty percent or more of the actual drivers were black then the phrase would in my eyes be acceptable, but that is not the case.

I'm not usually so pedantic as this but because of the studying and training that takes place to gain ones licence as a London taxi driver, and the obligation to have to purchase a purpose built vehicle at £30k or more, although the reward of doing "the knowledge" is to have the right to be hailed and pick passengers up from the public highway (which phv drivers by law must not do, but we know on occasions they do) plus all the resonsibilities that go with the job. The annual vehicle overhaul by a taxi garage of ones choice, which when everything is repaired replaced and checked is then presented to the PCO and hopefully passed the first time for another year with a new hackney carriage plate. These costs are down to the owner which costs the driver a small fortune. Then there are the spot checks on the vehicle when on the road by a CO (carriage officer) and sometimes where you live as well, plus let me assure you a whole lot more. The differece as you can now glean between a proper taxi driver and a phv driver, who by the way do have a choice of car types or people carriers unlike us is complete by its' stark difference and licensing system for the publics saftey. Maybe now you can understand why proper taxi drivers get fed up to the back teeth with the press and tv lumping us all together and using all the wrong terminology for the wrong driver. In London at least the difference is as wide as the reaches of space and beyond.