TAXI!
SIR,—II is true to say that most cab-riders are un- informed on much appertaining to the taxicab trade and the Spectator article, save for the points outlined here by myself, does present what must be an interest- ing and generally informative account of a little- known subject.
It is a long time since the last cab with an open driving platform went out of service. All cabs now have an enclosed driving cabin, in most cases fitted with heating and air-conditioning. Anew model, now in an advanced stage of development, goes a long way towards conformity with modern trends in vehicle exterior design, having four doors instead of the traditional three, and is substantially lower, wider and more streamlined than those currently in service.
The law affecting the cab trade is admittedly notoriously complex and in many respects out of date. Those who, like myself, have spent a lifetime in this trade still hope for rationalisation in these legal matters, so long debated and still not resolved. Your contributor is in error in saying that a cab-owner is compelled to put his cab to work on the Lord's Day. What the Act (London Hackney Carriage Act, 1831) says is that a driver or proprietor of a cab who plies for hire on the Lord's Day shall be 'compellable to do the like work as is compellable on any other day of the week.' Again, in the matter of tipping, your con- tributor (wishfully thinking, perhaps) states it is illegal for a cab driver to demand or receive a tip. What, in fact, the law says is that it is illegal for him to exact or demand more than the proper fare. Not the same thing by any interpretation!
The calculation that two drivers are available to each fleet-owned cab ignores the fact that a large proportion of owner-drivers employ other drivers to work a double shift with them, leaving the proportion available to cab-owning firms no greater than three to two. The proportion of drivers who do not work a cab as a full-time occupation is not readily calcul- able, but is nevertheless an important factor in the problem we have in maintaining what the public needs, that is, a properly balanced service.—Yours faithfully, 105 London Road, SE1
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