A hackney carriage is a taxicab licensed by a local authority to ply the streets looking for passengers to pick up.

London’s stringent Public Carriage Office licensing authority has always been at the fore front of legislation demanding particular qualities of licensed taxicabs which have led to the evolution of a London Taxi. These include a max 28 foot / min 25 ft turning circle in order to be able to safely maneuver round the entrance of London’s Savoy Hotel and most recently, a wheel chair accessibility requirement.

London’s Black Cabs have mostly, but not exclusively been built by a company called Carbodies now known as London Taxis International (LTI), in Coventry since 1948, and are almost as well known as London’s bright red AEC Routemaster RML buses.

This model is a 2.7 litre / 164 cui Nissan powered TX1 built from 1997 to 2002 the retro lines recall the classic Carbodies FX4 / LTI Fairways design that dates back to 1958.

Recently the Bristol Hackney cab licensing authority issued an edict declaring that all of Bristols 780 Hackney Carriages would be Bristol Blue Glass blue by May 2011. There were attempts to appeal this decision in the courts on grounds of the repainting costs incurred by cab drivers, but the legal process proved too expensive to fight the decision.

Hope you have enjoyed this Bristol Blue edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me tomorrow for a look at an award winning Brazilian in Switzerland. Don’t forget to come back now !