Nice chip

Amen.

I love London cabs and especially the cabbies who drive them.

They are worth the price (which I don't find that expensive, for what you get) and then some.

I've been hugely entertained by several, one who ranted and railed the whole trip from St. Paul's to Bloomsbury about the Royal Family's shabby (in his view) treatment of Diana and how they were nothing but a bunch of bums living off the people of Britain.

Then another picked us up after the Proms in Hyde Park, saying we were the only sensible-looking people he'd seen all night and the Promers were a bunch of drunken bums, etc.

(^_^)

Contempt? Not at all, I simply can't afford to use black cabs.

The FX4 is a beautifully designed vehicle, a marvel of engineering. The tick tick tick sound of the engine is evocative, as nothing else makes a noise like that. The cabmen's shelters are fab, often hiding in plain sight in the busy city - how many people have noticed the one in Thurloe Place near the V&A? - and the sight of a taxi rank is part of the London scene now and (I hope) forever.

But for the fares, I'd use black cabs much more frequently.

Black cabs are very safe for women travelling alone at night and if you had few drinks on a night out.

As are licensed minicabs. The only contempt I've seen about cabs of any sort in this forum is that of WhiteCliffs for licensed minicabs.

Love the sight of black cab specially after theatre and few glasses of wine .

NO contempt for black cab drivers AT ALL; quite the opposite.

They've got me to trains on time when I hadn't left enough time! They battle daily with cyclists (incl Cameron and THE Mayor!); mad pedestrians; mad car drivers; mad lost car drivers; motorbikes; white van man/woman?; big red buses; long red bendy buses; foreign coaches/buses letting off their passengers in the middle of the road; etc.; etc.

Their "knowledge" takes hard hard work to gain; THE test and search into backgrounds is intensive; tiniest dent on the cab or dirt and the Met police order it off the road.

Expensive? That's relative and depends on circumstances. I wouldn't use them to Heathrow but that's because there are loads of alternatives. Quick trip across inner London; value for money.

Good article. Unlike in some other cities in Europe and the States, I've never had a London cabbie take me for a ride. I know parts of London fairly well. On occasion, the shortest route hasn't been taken, but the cabbie has always explained the reason--road works, peak traffic problem, etc. They are expensive, but there are times when they are well worth it.