ALTERNATIVE TAXIS
For some strange reason last year’s Alternatives were a bit thin on th’ground... that is mainly because there were very few stories about the good ol’ tuk tuk.
In fact the only actual tuk tuk story was in
December’s edition, about the start-up of a new service in Purbeck. Then we always end up featuring at least one story about the “waxi” – last year’s was in the September edition, all about the new vessel to enlarge the water taxi service in Falmouth. In June we reported that Glasgow’s remaining applications for rick- shaws had been turned down owing to safety fears, following the death of a soldier in Edinburgh two years ago. But then on a lighter note, the July edition featured a Russian-built moon taxi service which should be ready to accept fare-paying (! Only £100m fare...) passengers by 2015. I shall be at the front of the queue, naturally... Right – for sheer novelty value, thank goodness for our August issue! Grouped together on the same page were the best of the year’s spec- imens: firstly two ancient cabs, one of which is 102 years old and the other 115 years old (in fact, London’s first electric taxi)... mere youngsters! Then we get down to our winners: if one has to desig- nate a winner, we have chosen the Relax-a-Taxi – the London-based hackney carriage which was turned into a ‘hotel’ during the Olympics. Downright enterprising! The other all-time favourite in this group has to be the Smallest Mobile Jubilee Street Party, held in a Stan- more cab. Just check out the photo!
It
came complete with brass band music, bunting and a fold-out table for sandwiches and cakes. And it set
a precedent: 100 more taxis round the country were similarly equipped. Great fun.
Elsewhere this year...
Picture 1 best shows off the smallest Jubilee Party in Britain, which took place in Stan- more. Full story below.
In August, Conserva- tor Richard Horton cleans the Bersey Cab, London’s first electric taxi which
RUNNER UP
2012
2012 ) FIFI IS
AVAILABLE AT €50 A NIGHT
PAGE 58 PHTM JANUARY 2013
BRITAIN’S SMALLEST JUBILEE PARTY
The UK’S smallest jubilee street party was held in the back of a cab in Harrow. Colin Sinclaire, 58, known locally as Colin The Cabbie, decked out his taxi so he could share the cele- brations with his customers. His black taxi came complete with brass band music, bunting and a fold-out table of tasty treats including sandwiches
but I couldn’t afford not to work on the busiest weekend of the year. I didn’t want this to stop me from joining the fun, so I created what I named ‘Britain’s
smallest and EVER FALLEN
Friends’ Rachel and Phoebe may have coined the term back in 1997, but
their
‘Relax-A-Taxi’ idea is finally coming to fruition, it seems. One enterprising cab- bie has chosen to cash in on the sport- ing event by turning his hackney carriage into a portable hotel. David
Weekes’s
Relax-A-Taxi will be a breath of fresh air for the budget travellers who cannot afford inflated hotel rates. For just £50 a night, they will get a comfort- able sleeping space, bedside lamp, cur- tains
and ASLEEP IN A CAB?
cakes. The spread was put on at no extra cost to customers, and many made the most of the mobile Jubilee bash. Mr Sinclaire from Stanmore told the Wembley Observer: “I love celebrating a good British knees-up,
solar-powered radio, not
to mention an
iPad, portable fridge and teddy to cuddle at night. They will also be parked near a tube station so Mr Weekes, 49, can get home - and travellers can get out there and explore. “I just wanted to do something for
the
Olympics and came up with the idea of renting the cab out for people to sleep in,” Mr Weekes, who has been a cabbie for 20 years, told Metro Lon- don. A ‘room’ at the Relax- A-Taxi can be booked via
wimdu.co.uk
mobile street party’.” Employers GetTaxi were so impressed with his idea, they decked out a fleet of 100 cabs up and down the country in the same way. Mmm... Preparations are already in hand for the next time Britain celebrates a Jubilee which is likely to be Kate and Wills’ Silver Wedding Anniversary in 2036. Either that or the day that England win the Football World Cup. I know which is the more likely.
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