JNugent wrote:
On 26/04/2016 16:23, David Walters wrote:
On Tue, 26 Apr 2016 07:14:45 -0700 (PDT), Steve Lewis wrote:
You can go to the trouble of finding out the phone number of a taxi
firm in your current locality. Or you can just use the Uber app that
you have already installed on your smartphone.

But that wouldn't help in the situtation being discussed where private
hire requires 24 hours notice and I require a cab in my bit of suburban
North London right now for an emergency so need a black cab.

Although if private hire did require 24 hours notice there might be more
black cabs about serving the short notice requirement.

No London green-badged cab driver can afford to hang around in the
suburbs where there isn't enough work to keep him busy.

However, there is the London yellow-badged driver, licensed only to ply
for hire within certain London suburban areas (known as sectors). They
are available in the whole of outer London:

http://www.theknowledgetaxi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/suburban.jpg


Why would someone ring for one of those when they could equally well ring a
local mini cab firm, which would be much cheaper, and provide a less
polluting vehicle (probably a modern hybrid car, not a rattling, smelly
diesel)?