History Of The London Taxi Driver’s Green Badge Plus Why Do Most Cabbies Have Nicknames

We Start With A Brief History Of London’s Taxi Trade 

The horse-drawn ‘Hackney Carriages’ began providing taxicab service in the early 17th century. They acquired the name from a certain breed of horse used to pull the carriage. 

In 1636 the number of carriages was set to a maximum of 50, an early example of taxicab regulation. 

In the same year, the owner of four hackney carriages established the first ever ‘Taxi Standing’ in The Strand, approximately where the Savoy is located today. 

From 1662 hackneys were regulated by the Commissioner of Scotland Yard. In the early 19th century Cabriolets (cabs for short) replaced the heavier and more cumbersome hackney carriages. 
By the late 19th century he new Hansom Cab was the fastest carriage dominating the London Streets. 

The knowledge of London was introduced into the trade in 1865 and ever since then, London taxicab drivers  have been required to know destinations and be able to decide routes immediately in response to a passenger's request. 

The modern taxicab service As we know it today took off with the appearance of petrol-powered taxis in 1903, when a new uniquely numbered badge was issued. 

In 1907 meters were first introduced to calculate the fare and were set at 8d (8 pence) for the first mile. 

Every one of today’s 21,000 licensed cab drivers is issued with a badge containing a unique number. Today, there are two types of badges: Green which is for drivers who have completed the world famous Knowledge of London... and Yellow, for drivers who have taken the option of training to cover just a certain sector of suburban London. 

When the trade changed from horse drawn carriages to motorised vehicles, it was felt necessary to introduce a new system of badges. 

The very first Motorised Taxi badge...number 1...was issued to James 'Jimmy' Michael Howe a veteran Hanson Cabby for many years, when in 1903, he became the first London Taxi driver to pick up a passenger in a petrol driven vehicle (a French-built Prunel) provided by the Express Motor Company. 

Fares were set to be identical to those of the established horse-drawn cabs.

Although horseless vehicles had travelled through London's streets for decades, they were still something of a rarity in the early 20th century. 

Electric cabs had been trialled a few years earlier, but proved completely impractical. 

Howe's Taxi was the first to be powered by petrol, and the only one in London for several months. Two years later, the number had risen to 19.

His wife, fed up with him working all hours and hardly ever being at home, run off in 1913 with a man who’d advertised in their local paper for a wife. She even took all the furniture with her. 

Howe never saw her again till seven years later, when she appeared in court, charged with committing bigamy. 

James(Jimmy) Howe appeared in court himself three years later where he was sued for damages by a utility company, after his Taxi fell into a hole in Uxbridge Road, damaging their equipment.

Howe died on Christmas day 1933 at his home on Wellesby Avenue, Hammersmith, aged 64. Dozens of fellow cabbies drove to the funeral to pay their respects. "We called him 'Up-Hendon'," one of them told the press, "because if you asked him where he was off to, he'd answer 'just going up Hendon-way'".

Postcard showing the first motorised Prunel cab on the rank out side St Georges Hospital.

Surprisingly there has only been just under 80,000 Taxi drivers registered with a green badge in the 117 years that it’s been in use. Equating to approx 28 new badges issue a week. 

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT:

Cab drivers have always given each other nicknames, born out of the fact we get to know so many different drivers, many with the same Christian name, by giving someone a nickname it then becomes easier to pinpoint certain characters without having to know their surnames. 

In my 46 years of driving a London Taxi, I can only remember a few of my colleagues who I’d refer to with their proper name. 

Here is just a few of my favourite nicknames in no particular order: 

Get A Life, Almost Human, Wing-Nuts, The Vicar, Spare Parts, The Haddock, Dizzy, Putty Nose, The Goose, The Judge, Captain Birdseye, Tootles, Lumps and Bumps, The Boston, Dicky the Snail, Storming Norman. And then of course, we have Sponge Bob Square Pants...once seen never forgotten!!!

Myself, I’ve had a few different nicknames over the years.... started off as Young Jim, then Maida Vale Jim, Fish Finger Jim (because of my passion for fish finger sandwiches), to today’s ThomasTheTaxi. Just some of the ones that are publishable 😜