Here's a story for you. My dad is a London Taxi Driver and has been for over 40 years. A friend of his (another cabbie) came across this video and showed it to my dad. When he watched it for the first time something caught his eye but he wasn't totally sure about it. So he watched it again, and again and again. It turns out that the driver picking up from Victoria Station at 3:38 and 8:24 in the video is his Grandad Mick, so my Great Grandad. What are the chances of that eh??? I've since watched this video a thousand times. I just about remember my Great Grandad Mick as he died when I was very young, but what an amazing video and a story to go with it.

I drove a cab in London from 1973 until 2012 . I started at 21 and finished on my 60 th birthday , good times , great fellow cab drivers . I believe it has now changed out of all recognition . Happy days .

@samsum3738

3 жыл бұрын

@Ronnie the Cabbie Driving a cab in the 70s was another world . No bus or cycle lanes , few parking restrictions , no road closures , no mad one way systems , no cameras , it was a civilised way to earn a living . Then the planners moved in . Oh dear .

@samsum3738

3 жыл бұрын

@YAN LIMB i never met her as i was a night driver , but i heard her spoken of and i believe she drove a cab in the daytime .

@bigbelix

2 жыл бұрын

that would make you 69 today ;^)

My late father Albert (Mick) Noyes was a London taxi driver around 1958-1961, in SXY239.

@samsum3738

3 жыл бұрын

My father started in 1937 and finished in 1982 , their paths must have crossed many times .

@glynisroberts5029

3 жыл бұрын

So was my late father. He started in the 50s and retired in 1987. He passed The Knowledge first time.

really enjoyed that. wonderful old london. seeing what is was like just before i was born '64. and seeing what my mum and dad used to see.

@reghollisquimdribbler737

3 жыл бұрын

Seeing what it was like before it was ruined.

@MarkUKInsects

3 жыл бұрын

I was born a couple of years before that. One thing I don't miss about the London of that time, and you can see in many parts of the film, is how all the buildings were covered in black soot.

@pigknickers2975

3 жыл бұрын

@@MarkUKInsects yeah, I was born in Briston in 68 and thought all of London was black.

A few shots of London General at Kennington. I worked on the breakdown crew '66-68. Got my drivers license there, Good times. But reading through this I always heard "This games fucked" Lol, well over 50 years ago. It might well be so by now. An oil magnate, Nubar Kilbenkian owned a light grey FX4 with plush red leather interior. I shuttled half dozen two tone BRG and Black FX 3's down to Silvertown docks when the yanks bought the old London Bridge and bought up these old cabs to run back and forth over it once it was rebuilt in Havasu Arizona.

So nice to see old taxi driver and taxi cab .I have been taxi driver since 1990.still doing .west Yorkshire.

@brimstone5931

3 жыл бұрын

Have you seen the new Electric Black Cab? It's instantly recognisable as a typical black cab still, I love the way they have stayed faithful to the original design.

Geezer on the bicycle looks like the bloke on "the royle family"

My Grandfather was a London Taxi driver during the forties and fifties. I tried to find more information on his driver number and vehicles he used. It seems the records from that era have all been destroyed. This is an interesting insight though.

Brilliant prog. Learnt a lot there. I googled the Austin FX3's, always wondered what came before. The FX4 never looks out of date.

Gave my badge up last March due to c19 ,the game has had it, a part of london that will disappear

@cw-wy6bm

3 жыл бұрын

I sacked it a few years back. Now work security at wharf. The reason you'd see us at heron quay in all weathers like idiots was because of the uber drivers wanting to go through no entry add that to dozens we get driving into Cabot carpark/loading bay thinking there above... I literally just laugh at the passengers now and say you get what pay for!

@colinmayes5892

3 жыл бұрын

SatNavs and Uber .. progress apparently

@kneetrembler3249

3 жыл бұрын

Giving mine up in a few weeks Liverpool council ruining it for us

God be with the days.

Poster of girl with her chebs out at 5:21 Suprised the censor didn't notice that one.

@oo0Spyder0oo

3 жыл бұрын

probably because it's artwork and that brit tv isnt as prudish as the yanks are with nudity.

@laveritaforza108

5 ай бұрын

Those were the days ..

Slight difference between the FX4s and the horse drawn cab. The horse drawn cab was more reliable and cheaper to run.

@highdownmartin

3 жыл бұрын

Had four new tyres on mine. That cost more than I paid for the cab. 1978 ex Worthing cab Ran it for three years 37 mpg all the time and dead reliable. BMC 2.5 diseasel. Luvverly.

Man do I need my 1960 fix ! Can't be doing with this Covid 19 , not to mention everyone walking round with their earphones in, and their smart phones in their hands, and don't forget the other fashion accessory, a plastic bottle of water ! Strewth,, what have we become ?.

How i wish for great Britain to be great again.

Music sounds like a carry on film...

@samsum3738

3 жыл бұрын

I was waiting for Sid James .

@noelgilmartin1821

3 жыл бұрын

@@samsum3738 Half of them look like him anyway, lol

@outsidethepyramid

3 жыл бұрын

ooh err missus

Taxi drivers training school with a professor teaching. Nice!

Looking at Britain then you can see how wrecked it is today; the over crowding, litter, graffiti, crime, congestion, mass immigration and challenges of cultural diversity, let alone cost of living, and housing crisis.

@Thecrazyvaclav

3 жыл бұрын

The Watchman you must be a taxi driver, you sound like all the other London cabbies I've used

I opened a barn door in nsw Australia and there was a 1950 black can....

Surprised the luggage didn’t fall out of that left side...and in that UK weather, must have been chilly for the driver...

@highdownmartin

3 жыл бұрын

That’s why they’ve all got thick coats, scarves an ats

When the world was normal 👌

Many continental cities have horse-drawn carriage rides for the tourists. Wouldn't it be a money-spinner for London to bring back a few Hansoms?

@Roscoe.P.Coldchain

3 жыл бұрын

No to thick in this country, what with the doo gooders, probably have animal rights on his back 😂

@edwardoleyba3075

3 жыл бұрын

Brilliant idea but I guess the logistics of it would make it too expensive to operate.

He left the bicycle without billions of chains on it.....such a madness 😁

3:19. 121 Long Lane Smithfield...I wonder if anyone watching this lives at this place today...corner of Kipling and Long Lane...

😂🤣😂 I don’t what London cabs or cabbies are like these days but some of the cabbies here in Australia are bloody shocking especially in Sydney where a lot were lucky to speak English let alone take you where you want to go without needing directions. As for the cabs themselves I’ve been in my fair share of death traps over the years

magic. time travel

South of the river this time of night? Sorry mate no.

My God that’s Why I deal with classic cars because it’s the best thing to deal with

Cab drivers in London are being squeezed out of business by the corrupt TFL. Will be a sad day when the iconic black cab disappears of our streets.

@DrRock2009

3 жыл бұрын

All be out of a job anyway within the next 20 years as the autonomous “Johnnycabs” take over…

2:18 G..Granville, go and f..fetch your cloth

Sadly will soon be a part of Londons past. Thank Uber and Khan for that.

@bluebear6570

3 жыл бұрын

That´s called progress, which essentially means, we have to pay more for less. It´s about time we say goodbye to all this junk coming from the US and get back to our own traditions!

My uncle Sid had that Mary Poppins in the back of his cab once. She was going to Trafalgar Square. The fare was pidgeon feed back then. Gaw blimey it an arf changed.

Ok guv......on your bike

@haroldofcardboard

3 жыл бұрын

hahahaha. that kickstand looked like an accident waiting to happen!

You'd have to be crazy to do the knowledge and invest in a cab these days.

always led to believe they were black due to war cheapest paint and also grey and green was bought by military and other colours where expensive

Whaddya think I got, a blooming helicopter?

Taxi🚕🚖🚕🚖.

Come in pint pot

6

Amazing! He didn't lock his bike up or get stabbed. Diversity is our strength.

@samsum3738

3 жыл бұрын

When i started in 1973 , it was not possible to lock the cab , either inside or outside . Some men used a cable lock to the door handles on both sides when stopping for a meal or finishing work for the night . Also , as a night driver in London , everybody drove on their side lights and very rarely did i see headlights being used and then after about 5 or 6 years headlights became the norm .

WOW all the inspections process to become a cab driver. When people gave a shit.

And now they're all dead and the Taxes have been longman scrapped

Memorising road's name are called knowledge! 🤣 no need horse knowledge in these days🙊

Ah and now all you need is a Satnav and a very basic command of the English language... Progress?

Everybody was white that time.

@highdownmartin

3 жыл бұрын

No they weren’t.

@gsmp3744

3 жыл бұрын

Everybody was white in the taxi industry in London during these times.

@highdownmartin

3 жыл бұрын

My grandad was a London cabby. A Jew from Russia ,came over here 1915, nicking your jobs. But he was white, so that’s ok.

@highdownmartin

3 жыл бұрын

@aloha everyone wasn’t white in the fifties. A simple correction. Gsmpro is in incorrect. Also his implication is that white is better. If he wants to blame blacks for the state of the world then he is pretty blinkered. If he’s a white working class Tory then his party have been shittng on him for a long time and lying about it.

Why is the music so annoyingly irrelevant? It does nothing to enhance the story and appears to be randomly sprinkled throughout.

@whitemonkey7932

3 жыл бұрын

Because it's the way it was back then...Syd James and Carry On films. If you don't understand it then you are watch the wrong thing.

Load of rough looking taxi drivers.

@onepalproductions

3 жыл бұрын

@Jesse Link 3 STFU - whining prick.

Guaranteed his plates of meat still get a soaking!!

Engine overhaul a year.... what a shit engine

@johno4521

3 жыл бұрын

Not many car engines had oil filters in those days either, so the oil would have needed changing every 1000 miles...

@MarkUKInsects

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, typical of the time. My father was a mechanic and still has his books from his apprenticeship, Many of the service intervals in them would shock a younger car owner. One I remember was re-greasing leaf springs every 600miles.

@highdownmartin

3 жыл бұрын

All the old stuff would run forever. Basic simple relatively inefficient stuff But like steam engines, it takes a fuck of a lot of labour to do so.

And now weve got uber and the other shysters, bring back the old dudes brains in newer cars, where i live you cant get a white taxi driver, and they have the no knowledge test as they always ask me for directions