The most famous taxi time line: London Taxi part 6

The most famous taxi time line: London Taxi part 6

A London cab driver’s licence

A London cab driver’s licence is issued for a period of three years. In 1843 it became compulsory for cabmen to wear a metal badge showing their licence number, which they still do to this day.

London’s cabs are identified by a computer-generated rectangular white plastic licence plate, mounted on the boot lid. This plate is issued annually and bears a unique licence number as well as the number of passengers the cab is licensed to carry and the vehicle’s index number. The practice of displaying an identification number goes back to the 17th century. Between 1654 and 1714, Hackney Coaches displayed a hackney registration number on the carriage doors. After 1714 a metal plate showing the hackney registration number was displayed on the rear of the hackney coach. When the Metropolitan Police took charge, a mark was stencilled on the rear of a cab each time it passed its annual inspection, showing the year the licence was issued and the initials of the current police commissioner. This practice continued with motor cabs until the 1950s, when the stencil was abandoned and replaced by a plate with numbers indicating to the month of issue. This was replaced this century by the current white plastic plate.