In this blogpost, I won’t mention the “cab rank rule”, though I will devote the content of this blogpost to the characteristics of the London cabbies. In a nutshell, I think London cabbies are absolutely brilliant! I’m in an unusual situation of virtually having to use up all my quota of journeys in a fortnight. I am given a set number of journeys per year, and I’ve been going to and from Primrose Hill and the St Mary Axe and Holborn sites all year using a private hire cab. It costs me a huge amount of money, but now I have the luxury of spending my ‘ComCab’ card all at once as I’ve saved up so many journeys.

As a profession, I really admire London cabbies who are far superior to private hire cab drivers. It’s not that often they better nous than a satnav; take for example the cabby who avoided Euston Road tonight because of gas works and took me down Hampstead Road to avoid us being stuck in traffic for many minutes. I am talking about the two attributes which they seem to have, as a result of having survived “appearances”. Firstly, I understand examiners weed out any candidate who is prepared to lie to a candidate with questions like ‘Are you sure?’ Cabbies have told me it’s always best to acknowledge when you’ve reached the limits of your knowledge, and simply say when you don’t know something, even though customers like certainty. Secondly, examiners ensure that future cabbies are not easily wound up by the general public by asking provocative questions sometimes, I hear.

You can see how both attributes would be sought after in a City lawyer too…