The Knowledge of London

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.ukthey have a lot of useful information with regards to the knowledge and there is a CD you can get from them that will help immensely. One of the things you will get on the CD is over 30,000 points all there and ready to print out as and when you need them.

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:

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

Whe 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 amazing CD 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.

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.

When it comes to runs there are not really many choices because at the end of the day a run is a run is a run. Some people won’t even buy runs that they think are out of date. The thing with runs is that they are just a guide and once you get onto your appearances you will probably not be asked any of the actual runs in the modules. You could get some free runs from the likes of www.taxiknowledge.co.uk and then simply update them yourself.

All you do is print out the runs you wish to do and then go out and do them, when you find errors just correct them on the printed run. When you get home you just add those changes to the runs on your computer and you now have a bang up to date run. You can get runs that are already up to date, within reason, at places like www.wizann.co.ukwho also offer lots of other knowledge related information. The thing is though how much of this do you actually need to do the taxi knowledge and become a London taxi driver…probably not much of it.

What you need to remember is that when you set out to do the knowledge you don’t know, well many don’t, exactly what it is you do need. Obviously you will need the blue book runs or modules and you will also need a list of points but a lot of the other stuff people will try and sell you is just not needed.

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 CD 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 CD