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Knowledge of London
The Knowledge
The Knowledge of
London is the course of study that any prospective Licensed London
Taxi Driver has to undertake to qualify for his/her coveted London
Taxi driver's license and badge. This can take anything from 2
years upwards depending on the candidate, and some say they amount
of information that a candidates brain has to consume is the
equivalent of taking a degree course.
Registration
To register to do the
Knowledge a candidate must first visit The Public Carriage Office
at 15 Penton Street, London where they will have to fill in an
application form listing any previous criminal convictions and
they then will be required to pass a medical, all being well they
will then be accepted by the Carriage Office onto the Knowledge.
The Runs
When accepted the
candidate will then be asked to attend an acceptance interview
where they will be presented with the infamous "Blue
Book" which is a book listing 400 routes through London which
the candidate must learn, including all places of interest,
museums, hospitals, police stations, cinema's, statues, monuments,
restaurants, government buildings and any place that a fare paying
passenger might require to go along these routes . After learning
these routes the candidate can then inform the Public Carriage
Office that they are ready to sit the written exam which if passed
will allow them to continue onto appearances (appointments at the
PCO for oral exams on routes).
The Appearances
After passing the
written test a candidate can then progress onto appearances, an
appearance is and appointment where the candidate is orally tested
by a Knowledge of London examiner on his/her progress, depending
on how well a candidate is doing depends on how soon they return
to the PCO for another appearance, these usually take the form of
56 days, 28 days and 21 days. When a candidate has progressed to
21 day standard they will be required to take another driving
test.
Once all of the above
is competed to the satisfaction of the PCO the candidate may
progress onto the next stage the suburbs of London.
The Suburbs
The suburbs are
exactly that, the candidate is required to learn all of the main
routes into and out of the suburban areas of London. This
basically consists of over 100 suburban routes and places along
those routes.
The Badge and License
Once a candidate has
successfully completed all of the above criteria to the
satisfaction of the Public Carriage Office and providing that they
have not sustained any criminal convictions whilst on the
Knowledge they are then presented with their "Badge and
Bill" and can go to work as a London Taxi Driver.
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