1980: Could You be a LONDON CABBIE? | Nationwide | Retro Transport | BBC Archive

"Bloody-minded, selfish, arrogant, greedy - is this your view of London's cab drivers?"

Nationwide's Glyn Worsnip reports on London's much-maligned taxi-drivers, are they as bad as people say? In order to find out, Glyn puts himself through their tough training course. He swots up on the 100,000 square miles of London that he'll need to know in order to gain "the knowledge", before taking to the streets in a moped to get a ground-level view of the city. The average cabbie takes 2 years to do the knowledge, but it can take as much as 6 years.

Former cab driver of the year, Alf Townsend, is on hand to give Glyn some pointers, and to introduce him to some fellow drivers having a well-earned cuppa at a "Green Hut" - a cabbie's shelter - where they regale him with (possibly tall) tales of memorable fares.

Finally, Alf bravely allows Glyn to take him to Muswell Hill Road in his cab.

Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 25 February, 1980.

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