'eres something I never understood.

Unless I'm wrong .....why is London the only place where you can hail a taxi in the street ?    

I always wanted to hail a cab  , leap in and shout , "Follow that car my good man  ! "      And the driver says "  Cor blimey Guv, you're  a toff and no mistake "  .  

But you certainly  can't hail a cab here.     

Even if you could they wouldn’t speak like that! 
you’ll need London for that speak guv!

I think its the difference between true licensed cabs and private hire vehicles. The latter have to be pre-booked.

private hire must be pre booked. taxi's can be hailed. private hire cannot use taxi ranks either

and depending on council, taxi's can sometimes use bus lanes (if the sign says taxi) but private hire cant, but usually do, as they seem to think they are exepmt from all traffic laws

We have black cabs here but no one ever hails one  and shouts  "Follow that car !!  "           They wait at taxi ranks  in the city centre , airport , rail station . 

I was working in Bond Street , London  once ..... thought I was in a film set ,  bloke in a pin stripe suit , bowler hat  strides by me , raises a rolled umbrella at a cab which pulls in , away he goes .      ( Didn't hear him say " Follow that car "  though )    

You can certainly pick up a taxi from the taxi rank in just about any city airport or station without being booked.

ProDave said:

You can certainly pick up a taxi from the taxi rank in just about any city airport or station without being booked.

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taxi yes, but private hire are not supposed to

Yes  but can anyone hail a cab  in the street  outside London ?  

Evans Electric said:

Yes  but can anyone hail a cab  in the street  outside London ?  

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I think technically yes.. for a licenced Hackney Carriage, (AKA Taxi)...

As Prod D said..  most major airports & Railway stations have an official "Taxi-Rank" outside..

for non-pre-booked.. Hailing of a lift home...

But just generally picking up around the average city street outside of London...

There probably isn't much call for it...??  :C

So the Taxi drivers who can,  most likely stick to the most lucrative pick-up points..

e.g..  Airports / Stations.

Whereas, if the average man-on -the-street, (or girls on a Hen-night), want to go out for a night of jolly with their mates...

They probably pre-book a mini-cab/private hire/Uber cab, to get them home after closing time...

rather than hoping to hail a Taxi that may or may-not be there...

I think its Supply & Demand..

Guinness

As said only a Hackney Carriage can pick up on the move, they used to have the for hire illuminated , but I think that is a thing of the past now.

 Private hire are very strictly controlled and it is illegal for them to pick an un-booked fare up.

Andy™ said:

as they seem to think they are exepmt from all traffic laws

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There is some unwritten highway code only applicable to them that them themselves do not know the rules to but it does permit them to make any manoeuver they see fit without using any kind of signal, prior observation or consideration to anybody else on the road and allows them to stop and park whenever and wherever they see fit.

It is similar to a set of rules that apply to everyday drivers but for them it only comes into force when the hazard lights are turned on. 

Similarly to BS7671, part 2 of said rules sets out some definitions, mainly used by the telephone jockey back at the ranch.

"I've nothing available for 20 minutes" = you're not getting a taxi for at least 2 hours

"We're on our way" = we're not

"he's just turning into your street now" = the taxi is at least 10 miles away from your pick up location

"it'll be about a tenner" = it will be at least double that amount.

Evans Electric said:

Yes  but can anyone hail a cab  in the street  outside London ?  

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Yep, and have done so many times in Plymouth.

binky said:

Yep, and have done so many times in Plymouth.

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Ah!  Really  !!  

Evans Electric said:

Ah!  Really  !!  

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Yep, civilised place is Plymouth - most of the time  :^O

I thought they all sailed off  to take over North America from the  Indians       :C

that was loony protestants not the local Janners :^O . Oddly enough, when the popultion of Plymouth was around 4000 people, 3000 were involved in the cod industry. They would sail to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, spend the summer catching cod and salting it before returning before the winter storms. It's where Portugal gots it's taste for salted cod from. 

Only been to Plymouth the once. Had to get my head examined at a place called 'Freedom Fields' or something like that. Didnt go by taxi though, ambulance from Barnstaple.

Freedom Fields is now an ALDI and housing estate, so that was a fair while ago! 

it was early 80's only place to get a CAT scan at the time. Came off motorcycle in N Devon and head not quite right for a while......

binky said:

that was loony protestants not the local Janners

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Ah  yes  thats right  ...  wern't they an ostracised  sect or something ?     Didn't they  come to Plymouth from the East coast somewhere ?     Were they  Puritans ?  

Is Janners  what you call Plymouth folk  ?      If it is  ...where does that come from ?