Why it’s not the end of the road for London cabbie test the Knowledge | News News

In 1976, David Burnetts could often be found riding his moped haphazardly through the streets of London. 

With one eye on the road, the other would be fixed on a map of the capital’s streets that was attached between his handlebars on a clipboard.

In a city that boasted thousands of hotels, routes and landmarks – he needed to learn them inside out if he ever wanted to complete his goal of becoming a black cab driver.

But first he had to sit the ‘Knowledge of London,’ a test which determines who has what it takes to become a cabbie in the capital.

Introduced as a requirement for taxi drivers in 1865, back when horse-drawn ‘cabs’ were used before the now iconic black cabs known as Hackney Carriages, it challenges wannabee taxi drivers to memorise thousands of roads within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. The most famous route still to this day is number one: Manor House to Gibson Square run.

It can take three years to complete the process, with some of those who have been successful being studied by scientists thanks to their brains overflowing with encyclopedic knowledge.

Today, the Knowledge may seem pointless to people who have grown up in a world of Uber, sat-navs and Google Maps – but for those in the black cab game, it still very much has a place.

‘The Knowledge garners huge respect’, David, 76, tells Metro. ‘People get in a cab with a sense of trust.

‘Of course, we’d be silly to completely ignore the usefulness of sat-navs, I have one in my cab. If I’m going somewhere out of town that I’m not 100% sure of then I will check the sat-nav to put my mind at ease.

‘But it can’t beat the speed and reaction time of a cabbie. If there’s a crash or roadworks, there’s no reconfiguration delay. The cabbie knows where to go instantly.

‘And if the signal goes down – as it often can in London – or if a device loses battery, what would an Uber driver do?’

David has been a London licensed taxi driver since 1978, witnessing the wave of competition from private hire companies first hand. Today, he runs Capital Cabbie Tours.

Becoming a cabbie had been quite the career change for the Tottenham-born former tailor – who left school at 15.

He had spent the swinging sixties working in boutiques in Kensington and Chelsea, and didn’t stop until he met his future wife – Maureen, Mo for short – in 1971.

Ironically, it was poor direction skills that led to the pair falling in love. 

‘I must have been 21 or 22 at the time,’ David recalls.

‘I’d gone out with friends to a disco in Bayswater and we went to the Lancaster Gate Hotel when we were meant to be at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. I bumped into Maureen when we arrived at the correct venue, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.’

However, Maureen’s father Alf – a respected London cabbie – had been less than impressed with his future son-in-law’s then-job in the fashion industry.

He gently recommended that the-then 22-year-old consider changing tack. 

David and Maureen married in 1975 and by the following year, he’d quit the fashion industry and embarked on a mission to become a cabbie.

‘This was the day without power steering or automatic gearboxes,’ David says.

‘It was quite intimidating taking the cab out for the first few times. I’d mostly learned the roads on bike before then,’ David says.

‘When I passed the Knowledge, after about two years, it was like a new world opened up.’

But is there still a space for the traditional black cab on the streets of London today?  It’s a widely contested topic where Ubers and taxis are becoming increasingly intertwined.

‘Fair competition is always a good thing in my eyes – but Uber is certainly not that. It’s not a level playing field between cabbies and private hire,’ David insists.

‘Companies like Uber are regulated in an entirely different way – that’s been widely documented. 

‘Tourism is back with a boom after Covid and I really do think people prefer the personal touch. They want to talk about the city and ask about buildings we pass and the history of each area we’re in. They might ask for restaurant recommendations or sightseeing options.

‘As a cabbie, you’re a representative of the city.’

Lisa Seymour agrees. The 44-year-old cabbie runs a monthly class for women embarking on the Knowledge exam.

Lisa, who lives in Deptford, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘when you’re learning, you do question yourself and think “why do I need to know all of this?” But once you become a cab driver, the penny drops.

‘Let’s say I pick up a passenger and spot gridlocked traffic. In my head, I’d be going through everything I learned for the Knowledge and envisioning the backstreets I could use to save time.

‘The best feeling can be when a passenger barrels into the cab and says something like “I’ve got a train to catch, I don’t know if I’ll make it.” And we get there and they say “I don’t understand how you did that, thank you so much”.’

Of course, completing the exam is no easy feat. It took Lisa three years between 2015 and 2018 to pass the Knowledge.

Following days of studying for hours on end, she says her dreams would often be interrupted by floating traffic lights, imaginary road signs or ‘no turn right’ signs appearing in her subconscious.

At the peak of her revision, Lisa would feel compelled to grab her car keys no matter the time.

She adds: ‘I would go out at night and check roads, points of interest or things like that. I’ve sometimes not been able to sleep and got my clothes on and got in the car to try remember things. 

‘I’d by in bed thinking “can I turn left there, can I?” and would just feel the need to go visually check myself. It takes over your whole brain but, once you complete it, it’s ingrained there for good.

‘It’s a bit like a puzzle. you just put the first piece down. Then you add the next piece, then you add the next, and eventually the map opens up and you realise and you go “oh, okay, I’m getting this”. Everything falls into place. The Knowledge is always going to be relevant.’

While on TikTok ‘hackney carriage’ has had over 217million views, YouTubers such as Tom Hutley are also helping bring the taxi trade to a new generation. With nearly 90,000 subscribers on his channel ‘Tom The Taxi Driver’, he routinely makes videos of his routes and offers tips to aspiring cabbies.

For David, he celebrates the people still keeping the industry going and recalls one incident in 1976, where he nearly threw in the towel while revising.

‘I remember an old fella with a flat cap lent out the window of his cab to speak to me as I stared at my map,’ he recalls. ‘He told me “you’re wasting your time, son. The trades over, cabbies are finished.”

‘That was nearly 50 years ago. I went on to pass my Knowledge and had a career I wouldn’t have changed for the world.  Becoming a cabbie is like being handed a secret set of keys to London, you see it in a completely unique light.

‘We need more youngsters out on their bikes studying for the Knowledge and keeping this historic trade alive.’

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Kirsten.Robertson@metro.co.uk 

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