The Knowledge of London

If you are thinking of doing the knowledge of London then you will need a set of blue book runs, these can be anything From £50 up to over £80. A lot of people sell them on paper or in “book” form but thwese are not very practical and the reason they sell them like this is probably because they know you will need to buy more as these become ruined. The best way to buy the runs is without a doubt in digital form, this means you can constantly update them and every time you go out you will have a nerw fresh run to work with.

Doing the taxi knowledge can seem like an uphill struggle at time so anything you can do yo make the journey less hassle and less stressful has to be a good thing. Click Here and get your copy of the blue book runs in digital format now.

There is no simple answer to this as it will differ from person to person. The Knowledge will take anywhere from 3 years to 5 years as it really depends on your commitment, time available to do it and obviously how quickly you can learn and retain the information.

One of the biggest factor in the amount of time it takes to become a London taxi diver is the amount of time you can get out there and learn the runs and pick up the points. Obviously if you can only get out at weekends then it will be harder to do the knowledge than if you can get out 3 or 4 times per week.

There is no point thinking you can rush through the knowledge and pass within 18 months because it won’t happen. It’s not hard to become a London cabbie it’s just the sheer volume of runs and points needed to be learnt. There are lots of stuff out there to help with doing the knowledge and you can spend money hand over fist buying this and that and then the other. Most of the stuff you will be told you need you won’t actually need it. All you need is a large laminated map of the 6 mile radius, the blue book and maybe alist of runs. If you really want a great tool that will save you time and money then get the Download The Full Pack Here and get ahead of others. This is not a fast track to becoming a London black cab driver it’s just a very good aid that will help youand save you money because it has everything you need on it. So for the price of a few beers you will have a nice little tool to assit you to reach your goal of becoming a London Taxi Driver.

So How Hard is it to become a London taxi Driver?…how long is a piece of string.

CLICK HERE for the full pack

There is a new online knowledge shop open where you can get instant downloads of runs, points, blank maps, list of restaurants, embassies etc etc. This looks great because you don’t have to wait for a disc to be sent or worse still paper versions. The thing with discs is they always get scratched and before you know it you need to uy a new one… more expense. Then there are hard copies or paper versions, well these are ok but if they get wet they are ruined if someone nicks them off your bike when you stop for a toilet break you are stuck. Also how messy do runs get when you go out, you start making notes here and there and before you know they are not even legable.

The restaurants and embassies all have address and post code making it easy to find if you are looking for a particular restaurant or embassy. You might want to spend a bit of time just pointing for these so this is ideal. The points are amazing, over 30,000, more than enough for anyone to be getting on with. CLICK HERE and have a look at their online knowledge shop, they are even giving some free stuff away, we all like free don’t we?

Points are simply points of interest or landmarks, some of the points are very obscure and hard to find others are more obvious. The thing you need to remember is that you are very unlikely to be asked the obvious points when you are on an appearance. An Appearance is when you are tested on what you already know. We’ll talk more about those later.

You are probably thinking what is the point, no pun intended, of learning the points, well there are a couple of reason really. Whilst looking for points you will learning more of London and also if a fare get in and asks you to take them to the grave of Giro the Nazi dog it wouldn’t look good if you didn’t know it. What you need to remember about doing the knowledge it’s like doing your driving test, once you have passed you will probably not need to know half of what you have learned.

There is a site that was the original Knowledge of London site and is still going and that is www.taxiknowledge.co.uk they have a lot of useful information with regards to the knowledge and there is a new online knowledge shop where you can a huge list of over 30,000 points and download them instantly. This takes all the hassle out of trying to find points, you can find them much easier than going through a book, sinmple search and your computer will find.

Welcome to Taxi-Knowledge where you can find out all about the knowledge of London or how to become a London taxi driver. The knowledge is basically the “training” you need to do to become a London taxi driver and get your Hackney carriage licence and the Green badge. The Green badge is means you can work in London and the suburbs whereas they Yellow badge only allows you to work whichever suburbs or sector you have done the Yellow badge for.

Most people will go for the green badge but this does take a lot longer to complete, from start to finish a green badge can take anything from 3-5 years or longer in some cases. Whereas the yellow badge can obtained within about 18 months - 2 years or less.

We hope to show you everything you need to become a London black taxi cab driver and we will also show places of interest and point you in the right direction for what you need to get you through the taxi knowledge. Nowadays there are lots of web sites regarding the knowledge but most of these are either not worth a visit or they are tying to sell you stuff you don’t really need. We will also list some of the knowledge schools that are out there where you can go and meet fellow knowledge boys and girls. Most people think their wives/husbands/partners will be supportive and most probably are but when it comes to calling over, we’ll discuss this later, they will soon get bored and you will get irritated with them. When you are doing the knowledge you can, and most do, end up eating, sleeping and shitting the knowledge. This is where schools help and they can also be good places to find call over partners.

You have probably heard about the map test and wondered what exactly is involved. Well it’s pretty straight forward really, you will be given a list of points and for each point there will be a multiple choice of answers, you simple have to decided which is the correct location. You need to read these carefully because they might just change a postal area. Below are a couple of examples examples:

Click Here to get over 30 blank maps

Imperial Cancer Research Fund?

Lincolns Inn Fields WC1
Lincolns Inn Fields WC2
Lincolns Inn Fields WC3

The next example really show why you should not ruch through and make sure you read correctly:

London Weather Centre?

Clerkenwell Road EC1
Clarkenwell Street EC1
Clerkanwell Road EC1

You will also be asked to choose a correct run so you will have a run followed by multiple choice answers again. Examples below:

Finally you will be given a blank map with some points on, the points will be labeled, for example A, B, C, D, E and you will then have to place the corresponding letter on the map where you believe that point is. See example below:

All of the above was courtesy of www.taxiknowledge.co.uk

When you apply to the PCO to be accepted on the knowledge you will need to have a medical to make sure you are fit and healthy.  The medical form which the PCO give you has to be completed by a doctor whose care you have been under for at least 12 months. The medical will cover 7 major areas which are problems with your heart, whether you are diabetic if you have epilepsy, it will also cover you nervous system, sight, any psychiatric illness and also musculoskeltal.

You will not be able to become a London taxi driver if you have had heart problems or heart sugery or if you have a history of alcahol abuse. There are other conditions that can prevent you from becoming a taxi driver including if you have had a history of blackouts or had a stroke.

If you have any of the aboce medical problems there is not much point applying to the PCO to become a London taxi driver as you will be rejected. If you want more information and help on becoming a London cabby the CLICK HERE and get the complete pack which will help you through every step of the application process as well as giving you over 30,000 points, all the blue book runs and much mch more.

The “old” 400 runs that used to be in the blue book issued by the PCO were replaced with a shorter list of runs so now the blue book contains just 320 runs. This is a bit misleading because people think it must be that bit easier now as there less runs to learn. Well the simple fact is you still need to learn the 6 mile radius so whether the blue book has 400, runs, 320 runs or 100 runs you will still have to cover the whole of London.

The blue book runs are just a guide for you to learn and the blue book the public carriage office give you will just list the runs from point to point, they do not give you the actual run. The actual runs are the route you would take to get from point A to point B. A lot of people talk about having an up to date set of runs but the thing is that things are changing all the time so the only way to have up to date runs is to get out then and actually do them. One of the problems when buying the complete blue book runs is that a lot of people supply them on paper in book form. This can get a bit messy and pricey because when you want to go out and do a run you will tear the run out to put on your knowledge board, as you do the run you make a not of any points that have changed as well as road changes. Now you have a piece of paper with scribble all over it, not so good when you want to go and do that run again. This is where have them digitally is a great idea, simply print out the run or runs you want to do and then scribble away to make the changes. When you get home simply call up the run or runs on your computer and neatly make the changes, save the file and next time you go out you have a nice new neat blue book runs.

Just remember that just because the new blue book only has 320 runs does not meant it is easier or that there are any short cuts, the only way you will achieve your goal of completing the knowledge is to get on your bike and go out and do the runs. Also remember that the only way you will fail is if you give up.

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What is “calling over” when we are talking about the knowledge of London?, calling over is the repeating of a run over and over. So you would take a run and then call it exactly as you would run it for example. You should call over all the blue book runs and then move onto alternative runs. A lot of people think that they can call over the runs with their partner but this is not really going to work unless your partner is doing the knowledge as well.

The problem with calling over with a partner is that firstly they will get very very bored as they will just be listening to you repeating run after run and it will mean nothing to them. Secondly as they do not know the runs they will not pick up if you make a mistake, yes they might have the blue book in front of them but they will soon lose track of where you are. When you are calling over you really need a “call over partner”, a call over partner is exactly what it says on the tin, someone to call over with you.

You can find call over partners from websites such as www.taxiknowledge.co.uk or you can join a knowledge school where you can go and call over with people who are at the same level as you.

Remember with all the will in the world your partner will soon be falling asleep while you are trying to do your call overs so a call over partner is essential if you want to stay with your partner.

Click Here to get all the blue book runs and a lot more besides

If you are thinking of doing the knowledge to become a licensed London taxi driver then you are going to need the blue books runs and this is the first thing you will be thinking of when starting the knowledge of London. That’s fine and yes you will need the blue book runs but what about other stuff such as points, lists of embassies, blue plaques, theatres etc etc.

Most of the runs you buy will have points at the front and back so you can have a quick look before and after the run but what about when you have completed the 320 blue book runs... what then?. You will then begin “pointing” this is where you go out and spot as many points as possible. These include buildings, schools, hospitals, theatres, blue plaques, statues… the list goes on and on. OK so how do you know what points to look for or where they are, well from doing the runs you will automatically be picking up points as you go simply because you will covering the same ground over and over so you will naturally see points. What do you do when you have finished the runs though, what you need is ready made lists with points so you can either search for them alphabetically, if you know what you are looking for or you can search by post code. So if you plan on going to W1 you can simply find all the points in W1 then make a list and go and find them… simples.

For a comprehensive list of points and runs visit www.taxi-knowledge.co.uk they have some really good knowledge related products and all at very good prices. I would recommend the full pack because you get a lot of products, all in fact and you will save yourself money as well.