Bloody Stupid Collection - Cancelled as Too Shite

[New POD]

6 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Erm... on paper, yes.

In reality... well, the story goes that one of them is legal. But it never carries any passengers, since it spends all day driving up and down to the PSV test centre on the Boucher Rd, wearing the plates from the other taxis. Ring-a-ding-ding.

According to a colleague who formerly worked in the taxi licensing section, the hackney trade in Belfast is rather over-represented by gentlemen who - how shall we put it - are able to add a certain lively first-hand knowledge when conducting tours of 'Troubles Sites' for tourists. The West Belfast Taxi Association, the body which operates black cabs and their drivers in the city, also enjoys remarkable latitude in terms of self-regulation, such as securing an agreement for no upper age limit on cabs, which I'm sure is in no way linked to their knowledge of where licensing officials live, and where their kids go to school...

Every now and then the police do carry out a sweep to weed out the most flagrantly unroadworthy cabs. According to one (possibly apocryphal) tale, PSNI officers stopped three taxis at the bottom of Donegall Pass one Saturday night - and the drivers just ran off, abandoning their cabs and bemused passengers. Cursory checks revealed the licencing plates didn't match the number plates, and the number plates didn't match the chassis numbers... while the names and addresses of the registered keepers didn't exist...

A bit like the one* white transit used by the whole of the UKs, tarmac laying and freelance scrap recycling community.  In fact they all bear the same number plate, registered, owned and insured and Taxed by one Mr P. Addy.