Taxis

In London the famous Black Cabs can be hired immediately on the street, while minicabs need to be hired in advance. The minicabs are in general cheaper if you are going across London and will often be able to give you a set price when you book, while Black Cabs have a meter running to work out the fare. If traffic is heavy the trip will become more expensive, due to longer waiting time.

Useful Taxi numbers and information

You can get a Black Cab at a designated Taxi rank or hail one on the street or by pre booked.

Private Hire Vehicles (PHV’s also known as mini cabs) can only collect passengers who have pre booked with a licensed operator. Mini Cabs must also have a special disc on their windscreen and rear windows showing their licence status. All PHV’s are licensed annually by Transport for London (TFL)

TfL also has a text message based facility that sends you the telephone numbers of 3 licensed mini cab companies local to the area you are sending the text message from. Just text 'Home' to 60835. (Text service is charged at 35p per enquiry plus the standard network rate. Unfortunately this service is not available to 3 and Virgin customers.)

There are plenty of unlicensed minicabs about - don't accept a ride from someone who slows down next to you on the street and asks if you want a taxi, or from a person hanging around on the street who offers to get you a cab. These people tend to hang around London's major attractions.

Women travelling alone in a minicab should exercise caution, especially late at night. A decent firm should have some female drivers on its books, so ask for them.

Here is a list of local and reliable Mini Cabs firms that can be pre booked either on line or by phone:

Addison Lee
Bookings or General enquiries
Tel: 08448006677
Email: info@ addisonlee.com

Abbey Cars
142 Cromwell road
Kensington SW7
Tel: 02073704554

London Black Taxi
Tel: 077793366612