View Full Version : Thinking of becoming a cabbie!
Blighter
18-08-2009, 00:06
I'm thinking of doing the Knowledge and becoming a Black Cab driver...
For those that don't know much about it, you have to do something called "The Knowledge" - a test sort of thing which is spread out over 2+ years (depending on how much you study etc). Before you can get a license you have to know the ins and out within a 6 (i think) mile radius of Charing Cross... hard! (That includes locations like banks, clubs, companies, landmarks, squares, hospitals, etc).
I want to do it as you basically work for yourself - you can choose your own hours, work for as long or as little as you want! My collegue at Blacks has recently passed and is on about £50k/year for doing about 4 days work :cool:
Don't know why I'm telling you all tbh.. just wanted to tell someone!! :D
I spoke to a minicab driver outside when I was working the door at Prism in Leadenhall Street. He was doing the knowledge. He'd been trying for 6 years. I asked him how one did it, he said spend lots of time driving/pootling round London on a moped, he split the Big Smoke into 6 bits and was doing a bit a year. Apparently after about a year you start to see routes in your head, diversions spring to mind like second nature.
Blighter
18-08-2009, 00:36
Aye, my friend said the best way is to get a scooter instead of a car, and just go round and practise your "runs" while saying them in your head.
That way you also see your "points", such as pubs & clubs, offices, housing estates and it all starts to click into place :)
Good luck with it :) Relative of mine did it years ago and then switched to doing some chauffeuring before his retirement. Amazing how much geographical knowledge he had in his head by the end of it all.
What with AcidHell wanting a market stall and you wanting to do the knowledge, this place is turning into Eastenders!!
can't you just buy a satnav ? :p
Well I'm through to the final interview for a Forensic Computing job :p
Blighter
18-08-2009, 00:53
What with AcidHell wanting a market stall and you wanting to do the knowledge, this place is turning into Eastenders!!
DO DO DO DOO DOO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DE DE DA DA DE DAA DAAAA...
Gahh - going to be stuck with that tune all rudding night now! ;D
DO DO DO DOO DOO DOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DE DE DA DA DE DAA DAAAA...
Gahh - going to be stuck with that tune all rudding night now! ;D
Git daaaaahn them stairs ya slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!
£50k for driving a vehicle around London for a year, this country has gone to the dogs.
Thats £136 a day. London needs to be blitzed.
Blighter
18-08-2009, 01:22
More like £300 per working day.
£50k for driving a vehicle around London for a year, this country has gone to the dogs.
Thats £136 a day. London needs to be blitzed.
Problem is it's necessary for them to be paid that much to be able to afford accommodation. Cost of living is often too high in London.
Black Cab drivers spend at least 3 days a week playing golf in Hertfordshire.
And the other 4 days a week driving tourists round, the long way.
Not sure what it's like in kent. But in Bristol it is dead. My next door neighbour is really struggling. The pub and restaurant trade has slumped and the council have given out to many taxi licenses.
But good luck and hope it turns out well.
Well I'm through to the final interview for a Forensic Computing job :p
Nice one :) Let us know how you get on.
As for Blighter lad....is this something you actually want to do? Or are you just looking at the money and hours? I reckon it'll be a much tougher job than you think and do you really enjoy spending that much time driving?
SidewinderINC
18-08-2009, 07:54
Nice one :) Let us know how you get on.
As for Blighter lad....is this something you actually want to do? Or are you just looking at the money and hours? I reckon it'll be a much tougher job than you think and do you really enjoy spending that much time driving?
I don't think blighter drives at the moment.
I have a couple of friends who are cabbies and they seldom hit 50k a year, but it's steady income for sure. The time to make the most money is pub chucking out time as you're on tarrif 3 and it then starts to clock up a fair bit. However there are a lot of overheads too, leasing of the cab (or buy it if you can afford it - they're bloody expensive!!) licence, and taxes and insurance. You won't be rolling in money, but, you will have as much free time as you want. It's quite a stint gettign the knowledge and passing, but they all seem to use sat nav now which is a shame :/
You have to be 21 or older, so you have a couple of years to learn the routes :p
Knipples
18-08-2009, 09:03
Not sure what it's like in kent. But in Bristol it is dead. My next door neighbour is really struggling. The pub and restaurant trade has slumped and the council have given out to many taxi licenses.
But good luck and hope it turns out well.
Just when I thought i'd found myself a new job :(
I could never be a cabbie. I ride my scooter in London and its taken me almost two weeks to get my route right to my new job near Oxford Street. I'll be back in the City soon though.
Blighter
18-08-2009, 11:24
Nice one :) Let us know how you get on.
As for Blighter lad....is this something you actually want to do? Or are you just looking at the money and hours? I reckon it'll be a much tougher job than you think and do you really enjoy spending that much time driving?
Not for my entire life, maybe till I'm around 25.
I just want a job to het money to save and then move to Australia.
I thought this might he a good idea as it's not bad pay, but the most appealing thing is the flexibility. :)
I get the impression you're looking to make a 'quick buck' and a swift exit, and you've just pretty much confirmed that to me. Are you sure this isn't just a passing fad?
Do you seriously think you'll be able to learn to drive (assuming you can't already), learn the knowledge (you can easily spend years doing this), pass, and then earn enough to emigrate, all within six years?
It's certainly not impossible, but it won't be as easy or as flexible as you think it will (you'll have to work damn hard). If you really think you can do it, then by all means, but think hard first. I really don't want to have to say 'I told you so' in six months when you come back with some other grand scheme. :)
Whatever you decide, good luck with it. :)
I think you need to take off those £50k rose tinted specs :)
You might not even like driving once you pass your test and yet want to spend hours in the seat driving around one of the busiest places in the world. Flexible it may be, but you'll be putting in some really crap late night/early morning hours and there's no guarantee of hitting a big wage.
Blighter, I have a friend who's currently stuck in Nigeria. He's a wealthy oil baron who made his fortune in the Caspian Region. He's getting old now and would love to emigrate to a stable country such as the UK. Unfortunately, due to recent conflicts in his home town, and the Middle East banks, he's having problems authorising his funds, and has no choice but to transfer to a UK bank account, and use that when he lands in the UK.
If you would like, I can organise for him to deposit the relevant funds into your account. He has stated he will leave $800,000 in the citizens account as great thanks. All you need to do is pay for his flight to the UK and expenses. Because of his medical requirements he will require £10,000.
PM me for details. :)
Von Smallhausen
18-08-2009, 14:26
Are you 30 stones plus ?
Would you take a tourist who unwittingly needs to travel 3 miles around a 30 mile detour and would you incessantly talk about the state of the UK and how immigration has ruined everything ?
If so then you will make an excellent London cabbie.
I hate taxi drivers. They block junctions, don't indicate, cut me up, stop suddenly with no warning.
But then I'm sure they hate me as I'm white van man.
Satnavs don't work very well in London because of the big buildings blocking out satelittes.
A Place of Light
18-08-2009, 18:52
I'm thinking of doing the Knowledge and becoming a Black Cab driver...
You'll never get insurance.
That thought had crossed my mind, but as a non-driver I didn't want to put foot in mouth by saying it and being wrong.
A Place of Light
18-08-2009, 20:11
That thought had crossed my mind, but as a non-driver I didn't want to put foot in mouth by saying it and being wrong.
Taxi insurance is expensive even if you have full taxi NCD.
Add zero NCD and a young driver to the mix and if he could even get a quote it would be huge.
semi-pro waster
18-08-2009, 20:12
I've got a certain amount of respect for the length of time that cabbies have to put in gaining "the knowledge" but couldn't they do, say, that length of time plus maybe an extra month. I only ask because they could use that extra month learning how to indicate, how to stop correctly at junctions, when is appropriate to do a u-turn and generally how not to drive like pillocks. I do appreciate that being able to do a u-turn in rush hour while reading a paper, carrying on a diatribe at your passenger and swearing in the direction of people who happen to have the temerity to legitimately be crossing the road is an impressive skill but it doesn't exactly endear them to me.
I'm sure that most are lovely people, but the ones I see on a daily basis tend to drive like a frontal lobotomy is a prerequisite.
That said good luck if you want to be a cabbie but don't underestimate the effort that will be required, if you just want to earn a decent wage then there are easier ways to do it I'm sure. Kreeeee, good luck with your interview as well.
Blighter
18-08-2009, 21:48
Well it's not so mug a quick wage I'm after, but the flexibility. I just thought doug this would be good as it's soo flexible, but good pay at the same time..
In an ideal world I'd love a flexible job (don't care whether I have to do odd hours), and one where the pay is enough to live on semi comfortably.
I don't really know what to do tbh, as I don't really want to get into computing as a career, and feel I can progress far in retail - but it's crap money.
:/
If you want to go to Oz, you'll probably need to have suitable skills/experience to get past their points system. I doubt a cabbie job, or a retail job, would help much, but that computing career you've declined just might.
Something to bear in mind there. You can't just walk up to immigration and expect a visa, so it's worth planning what you need to get in and head in that direction. :)
Last I heard Oz were short of Forklift drivers.
No seriously.
Blighter
18-08-2009, 22:53
If you want to go to Oz, you'll probably need to have suitable skills/experience to get past their points system. I doubt a cabbie job, or a retail job, would help much, but that computing career you've declined just might.
Something to bear in mind there. You can't just walk up to immigration and expect a visa, so it's worth planning what you need to get in and head in that direction. :)
It's not getting to oz that I'm worried about, I have family who are going to sponser me for accomadation and my uncles best mates are quite high up in a large software company, who said they will sponsor me for a job.
If that's enough to get through (apparently it is) then once I'm out there I won't need to work for them, and can get a job elsewhere :)
There's certainly a lot of outdoors in Australia.
That there is. 20m(ish) people on all that space. :)
Contacts eh? Care to share. :p ;D
That there is. 20m(ish) people on all that space. :)
Contacts eh? Care to share. :p ;D
Apparently if you cut 5 miles off the coast of Oz, that's 95% of the population removed.
Pumpkinstew
18-08-2009, 23:34
Generally speaking being white and holding a British passport will get you through the Aussie points system. It's a way of curbing immigration from SE asia.
Any kind of blue collar trade is massively in demand over there. Plumbers, sparks, chippies, brickies, plasterers etc but also AC engineers, HVAC and civil engineers and surveyors.
Medical professions are also in demand - but that's pretty well universal.
Cutting 10-20 miles off would be closer to the mark I suspect, but the general idea is close enough anyway. Most of them on the southern and eastern coasts.
I'm just too much of a chicken (and too many ties) to up and move like that now. Though I'd certainly like to spend a few (more) months out there someday.
A Place of Light
18-08-2009, 23:44
Last I heard Oz were short of Forklift drivers.
No seriously.
Every year there's a shortage of a particular occupation, and those applicants from said occupation get extra points to add to their total. A few years ago the shortage was hairdressers. for example.
Want to get into Oz? Become a refrigeration engineer. The whole country might as well have a giant air-con unit attached to it.
Yes, there are a few aircon units about. The same could of course be said for the US (Washington state and a few others axcepted). :)
If that's enough to get through (apparently it is) then once I'm out there I won't need to work for them, and can get a job elsewhere :)
Be careful on that front. If it's anything like the US immigration system then if you leave the company who sponsored your visa, and start with another company, then you have to re-apply for the visa and they can re-assess you and refuse permission.
Every year there's a shortage of a particular occupation, and those applicants from said occupation get extra points to add to their total. A few years ago the shortage was hairdressers. for example.
Want to get into Oz? Become a refrigeration engineer. The whole country might as well have a giant air-con unit attached to it.
Thats great but trying to get a job in plumbing and working your way up is impossible in this country at the moment. I would go into that line of work but getting the chance is impsossible atm.
Last I heard Oz were short of Forklift drivers.
No seriously.
Oh, really???
*looks at the 20-year-without-a-break forklift license in all categories up to 50,000 pounds including hazmat and nuke weapons handling*
Oh, really???
*looks at the 20-year-without-a-break forklift license in all categories up to 50,000 pounds including hazmat and nuke weapons handling*
:shocked:
Awesome!
Well, I was on a supply ship in the Navy...
"Oh, the aircraft needs a pallet of these sodas."
"Don't forget the pallet of Tomahawk missiles next to them..."
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6662/droolinghomersimpson.jpg (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/droolinghomersimpson.jpg/)
Mmmmmm Soda!
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6662/droolinghomersimpson.jpg (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/droolinghomersimpson.jpg/)
Mmmmmm Tomahawk missiles!
Blighter
20-08-2009, 10:09
:D
I know a few cabbies and none of them passed the knowledge in less than 4 years. And have you seen the spiders in Australia?! Emigrating there was a serious option when I was with MtE as he works for the Australian equivalent of BT but the spiders......I just couldnt!
And have you seen the spiders in Australia?!
Admiral Sir Fayshun Sr. got bitten by a Redback out in Oz. He was sitting on the loo, and picked it up to show his mate. Just as his mate shouted "AARRGGHH REDBACK" and went to swat it, it bit him on the end of his finger.
I'm thinking of becoming a Black Cab driver...
Do you really need to change race? Surely positive discrimination hasn't become that bad already.
And have you seen the spiders in Australia?!
And if it isn't the spiders it's the clouds of flying things around every light, though at least they probably won't kill you - unlike a Funnel Web.
Tip - If you have a habit of leaving clothes on the floor when you take them off, I'd recommend un-learning that now. Favourite hiding place of the Funnel Web. :shocked:
A Place of Light
21-08-2009, 17:35
And if it isn't the spiders it's the clouds of flying things around every light, though at least they probably won't kill you - unlike a Funnel Web.
Tip - If you have a habit of leaving clothes on the floor when you take them off, I'd recommend un-learning that now. Favourite hiding place of the Funnel Web. :shocked:
I thought they liked to hang out under toilet seats more than anywhere else?
Oh joy, I'm so looking forward to my trip next March.
I have of course heard that of the ten most dangerous creatures on the planet, all live in Oz but oddly reading the ever reliable wikipedia on Redback and Funnel spiders hasn't helped!
In terms of becoming a cabbie, a 6 mile radius is huge, about 108 square miles. I imagine lots of pubs and the like change fairly regularly too, still if you have a head for directions unlike me you can definitely make reasonable money doing it. At least the people I know who drove mini cabs pulled in a pretty good haul but only by putting in a lot of hours...
Heard some of the sheep are harmless ...
Only some of them? What about the rest? :shocked: :)
Only some of them? What about the rest? :shocked: :)
Where do you think they got the idea for the film Black Sheep from?
Where do you think they got the idea for the film Black Sheep from?
New Zealand
*stops being a pedant*
I apologise :o :D
I was sure we has more more Discworld fans here :p
Blighter
22-08-2009, 00:24
Well I've scrappped the cabbie plan :p
Going to go the easy route
Step:
1) Save up enough for a 1-2 year working visa (you need min £1500 + return flight money in your bank when you apply for the visa)
2) Go and work for one of my uncles friends doing IT bits and bobs (handyman xD)
3) If it works out at their company, then stay till the end of the visa period
If not, then find something else (easier said then done I know)
4) Before my visa expires, apply for the permanent visa thing (the word escapes me) and either come back to the UK while it's processed, or NZ (you can't be in AU while you apply for a permanent visa).
So that's my plan.
New Zealand
*stops being a pedant*
I apologise :o :D
I know it was.. but didn't you know the writer thought the aussies had suffered too much already and that New Zealand deserved some horror ;)
this may be a total lie
Blighter
22-08-2009, 01:01
Ever seen Rabbit Proof Fence? I nearly cried at that :(
I know it was.. but didn't you know the writer thought the aussies had suffered too much already and that New Zealand deserved some horror ;)
this may be a total lie
;D
The worst I ever had happen to me while living in Australia was I fell off the banister on the front porch and disappeared into the red ant nest in the front garden...
Mum wasn't too happy with me coming screaming into the house with close on to 10,000 poisonous ants crawling all over me!!
Oh, and she wasn't too happy with me bringing my fuzzy friend into the house either. Not sure what it was but (I was 3 at the time) I seem to remember it resembled a 6" tarantula...
Pumpkinstew
23-08-2009, 17:47
I remember jumping off a bus in Tasmania while the driver had a smoke break. The last think he said was ' I'd like to remind passengers that there are 7 species of poisonous snake in Tasmania and this far away from a hospital thay're all fatal.'
Got the job, not bad considering it's the only place I've applied for :p
Had to go back and find out what job that was. Sounds interesting. Well done. :)
2) Go and work for one of my uncles friends doing IT bits and bobs (handyman xD)
3) If it works out at their company, then stay till the end of the visa period
If not, then find something else (easier said then done I know)
I was under the impression you could only be employed for up to 4 months or something at one place under the terms of the one year work travel visa thing?
Blighter
29-08-2009, 00:38
I was under the impression you could only be employed for up to 4 months or something at one place under the terms of the one year work travel visa thing?
6 months. The guys agreed to have me for 6 months, then after that I can work for my uncle as a tech consultant (he has his own roofing/guttering business)
;)
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