In message
-sept
ember.org, at 09:36:16 on Wed, 27 Apr 2016, Recliner
remarked:

I just tried to order a cab to my home in the suburbs of North
London using the Hailo app

Hailo is for hackneys, so "cab" there must be a hackney.

and it says there are no drivers currently
available. Perhaps that isn't the best way of ordering a Taxi though?

I'd try whichever outfit I got my last taxi receipt from.

Your last *minicab* (private hire) receipt from, is what you mean.

No, my last taxi (hackney) receipt.

David's point - and I've experienced much the same with Hailo - is that
there are not lots of taxis (Hackney carriages) floating around the
suburbs and districts ready to do ordered pick up jobs. (Around some of
London's districts there will be, but there's a lot of London out there.)

In Greater London, a taxi is a taxi, and a minicab is a private hire
care is a minicab, but they are very distinct things.

Yes, although the term "cab" can confuse some people, until you realise
it's short for "black cab" and not "mini-cab".

I think "cab" can mean either.

All that matters is what the poster quoted above meant. And Hailo
strongly implies hackney.
--
Roland Perry