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**Beginners Guide For those New to Taxi Driving**

People go on the cabs for many different reasons. Maybe you don’t have a choice, a lot of people turn to taxi driving when they are made redundant and they need an income fast. Maybe you want to be your own boss and decide when you work. Whatever the reasons there are a few things you need to do first. Practices between local authorities vary greatly so the below is intended as a rough guide only.

**First Step**
Your first step is to call your local council and arrange an appointment to meet with the licensing department; you may have to wait 2 weeks for the appointment so call them now! You can get their number from Google. In this initial appointment you may be asked to bring:

-Valid full UK driving licence (with paper counterpart).
-A passport or birth certificate,
-Money for your CRB (Criminal record check), street knowledge test, DVLA mandate etc. Your CRB should take 6 weeks (less if you’re lucky) to come back. Fees change all the time so check your council’s website.

From this point the council should pretty much guide you as to what you need to do next.

**Getting Your Badge**
Getting your badge is where most of the variation is. In London you will need 3 years of study to pass the knowledge and interviews. Some Local authorities require little more than filling in a form. Your council’s website should tell you exactly what is expected of you. I will cover some of the most common below...

**Medical**
Medicals are required in most areas, this normally involves an appointment with a doctor who is able to certify you to work as a taxi driver, the licensing department should have a list of places where you can get this done. You will have to pay for this, prices range from £45 - £120.

**Street Knowledge and Tests**
Lots of authorities require a street knowledge test which, again will vary in difficulty. You will probably need to revise before your test, try to get a big fold map and go over the routes you need to memorise with a highlighter pen. Pin it up on your wall so you have to look at it every day. The routes you need to remember should be available from the Licensing department.
Common things you may find on a typical syllabus are:

-A list of routes you will be expected to memorise.
-A list of locations; estates, pubs, train stations etc. You will be expected to know the names of the roads these are on.
-Taxi Bye-laws
-Disability awareness.

You may also find there are separate disability awareness classes or customer service classes you need to attend

**What Wages can I Expect?**
The variation doesn’t stop here... Earnings range from extremes of 4 figures to six figures; it all depends on the hours you put in and where you work, your business running costs and if you are Private hire or Hackney - Your best bet is to ask a local taxi driver, but they may be reluctant to tell you. If you are going to tease a figure out of me, the average weekly take-home is around £230 where I live.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your new career!

I hope you have found this quick guide useful, it took ages to write! The link below covers all these topics and loads more in much more detail. There are loads of links and resources that will cover all of your questions.

There is also a %10 off discount voucher for the Taxi-Mart Store for anyone who visits the site.

www.becomeataxidriver.org.uk

Cheers
Karl the Cabbie

In the present economic climate I wouldn't bother as many thousand of cabbies will point out to you!!
Good advice above, but you won't make much at all for the first five years, if anthing at all!!
Why is it when times are hard everyone wants to become a cabbie? Beyond me, but then its always greener on the other side of the hill!!