Sunday, 25 December 2011

Cambridge local area information

Travel Information

The services listed on these pages are local contacts judged to be useful for staff and students of the University and are not advertisements.

Taxi Services

Taxi Licensing Office: (01223) 457888
(This is not the number to ring when booking a taxi - see list below for taxi telephone hire.)
See TLO's statement [http://www.cam.ac.uk/cambarea/travel/taxis2.html] regarding the licensing of taxis and drivers for public safety (January 2005).

Taxi ranks (for Hackney Carriages)

  • Drummer Street
  • Parkside (the new National Express coach stop)
  • Railway Station
  • St Andrews Street

Nightime ranks

  • Outside Boots (Sidney Street)
  • Market Hill

Taxi telephone hire

Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:41 0 comments
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Friday, 16 December 2011

PMR Radio, an interesting thought

A colleague of mine came up with an interesting idea today, he said that if every Taxi was fitted with a PMR Radio or every driver carried a handheld PMR radio it could make driving a Taxi in London a lot easier which when you think could be quite a good idea. It would mean that drivers could relay information to each other about when taxis are required a certain ranks or any other location and due to the short range of PMR only the drivers in the local vicinity would receive the message. This idea could also help doorman at hotels that are off of the beaten track to locate taxis with ease without even walking out onto the street, this is such a simple idea that I am surprised that no one has thought of it before.

Posted by Tracey Wilson at 10:07 0 comments
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Changes in London taxi drivers’ brains driven by acquiring ‘the Knowledge’, study shows

Acquiring ‘the Knowledge’ – the complex layout of central London’s 25,000 streets and thousands of places of interest – causes structural changes in the brain and changes to memory in the capital’s taxi drivers, new research funded by the Wellcome Trust has shown.
The study, published today in the journal Current Biology, supports the increasing evidence that even in adult life, learning can change the structure of the brain, offering encouragement for life-long learning and the potential for rehabilitation after brain damage.
In order to qualify as a licensed London taxi driver, a trainee must acquire ‘the Knowledge’ of capital’s tens of thousands of streets and their idiosyncratic layout. This training typically takes between three to four years, leading to a stringent set of examinations which must be passed in order to obtain an operating licence; only around half of trainees pass. This comprehensive training and qualification procedure is unique among taxi drivers anywhere in the world.
Previous studies of qualified London taxi drivers, led by Professor Eleanor Maguire from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London), have shown greater volume of grey matter – the nerve cells in the brain where the processing takes place – in an area known as the posterior hippocampus and less in the anterior hippocampus relative to non-taxi drivers. The studies also showed that whilst taxi drivers displayed better memory for London-based information, they showed poorer learning and memory on other memory tasks involving visual information, suggesting that there might be a price to pay for acquiring the Knowledge. The research suggested that structural brain differences may have been acquired through the experience of navigating, and to accommodate the internal representation of London.
To test whether this was indeed the case, Professor Maguire and colleague Dr Katherine Woollett followed a group of 79 trainee taxi drivers and 31 controls (non-taxi drivers), taking snapshots of their brain structure over time using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and studying their performance on certain memory tasks. Only 39 of the group passed the tests and went on to qualify as taxi drivers, giving the researchers the opportunity to divide the volunteers into three groups for comparison: those that passed, those that trained but did not pass, and the controls who never trained.
The researchers examined the structure of the volunteers’ brains at the start of the study, before any of the trainees had begun their training. They found no discernible differences in the structures of either the posterior hippocampus or the anterior hippocampus between the groups, and all groups performed equally well on the memory tasks.
Three to four years later – when the trainees had either passed the test or had failed to acquire the Knowledge – the researchers again looked at images of the brain structures of the volunteers and tested their performance on the memory tasks. This time, they found significant differences in the posterior hippocampus – those trainees that qualified as taxi drivers had greater volume of grey matter in this region compared to before they had started their training. This change was not apparent in those who failed to qualify or the controls. Interestingly, there was no detectable difference in the structure of the anterior hippocampus, suggesting that these changes come later, in response to changes in the posterior hippocampus.
On the memory tasks, both qualified and non-qualified trainees were significantly better at memory tasks involving London landmarks than the control group. However, the qualified trainees – but not the trainees who failed to qualify – were worse at the other tasks, such as recalling complex visual information, than the controls.
“The human brain remains ‘plastic’, even in adult life, allowing it to adapt when we learn new tasks,” explains Professor Maguire, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. “By following the trainee taxi drivers over time as they acquired – or fail to acquire – the Knowledge, a uniquely challenging spatial memory task, we have seen directly and within individuals how the structure of the hippocampus can change with external stimulation. This offers encouragement for adults who want to learn new skills later in life.
“What is not clear is whether those trainees who became fully-fledged taxi drivers had some biological advantage over those who failed. Could it be, for example, that they have a genetic predisposition towards having a more adaptable, ‘plastic’ brain? In other words, the perennial question of ‘nature versus nurture’ is still open.”
In the research paper, Professor Maguire and Dr Woollett speculate on the biological mechanisms that may underpin the changes to the brain that they observed. One theory, supported by studies in rodents, is that when learning that requires cognitive effort takes place and is effective, there is an increase in the rate at which new nerve cells are generated and survive. The hippocampus is one of the few brain areas where the birth of new nerve cells is known to take place. Alternatively, it could be that the synapses, or connections, between existing nerve cells grew stronger in the trainees who qualified.
Dr John Williams, Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the Wellcome Trust, comments: “The original study of the hippocampi of London taxi drivers provided tantalising hints that brain structure might change through learning, and now Eleanor’s follow-up study, looking at this directly within individual taxi trainees over time, has shown this is indeed the case. Only a few studies have shown direct evidence for plasticity in the adult human brain related to vital functions such as memory, so this new work makes an important contribution to this field of research.”
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:53 0 comments
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Contributors Wanted

Fancy writing for the London Taxi Trades top ranking website? we are looking for contributions from the trade to be included in this site, if you have something interesting to relate, or a story to tell, or you just want to get something off your chest then please get in touch. We want to make this site a major resource for the trade and Taxi using public alike, we feel that the trade in London needs to promote itself a lot better than it has done in the past and by using this site we can achieve this aim. Obviously we cannot pa for your contributions as we do not make any money from the site, in fact it costs us money to keep the site going, but with over 40,000 unique visitors per month we feel that our website could make a substantial difference to the London Taxi Trade. So if you are interested in contributing then please call Jamie on 0208 123 3390.
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:41 0 comments
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Minicab Rapist Jailed

Police today renewed a Christmas warning to women about the dangers of unbooked minicabs after a driver was jailed for nine years for raping a teenage partygoer.
Marcos De Souza, 32, was trapped because his DNA was held on file even though he had no criminal record. The Brazilian had lured the drunken 19-year-old into his car as she left a house party in Camden in February.
The victim was so drunk the sex predator believed she would never remember what was about to happen to her, Inner London crown court heard. But when she arrived home dishevelled, her boyfriend encouraged her to call police and De Souza’s DNA was found after tests. The sex predator was traced because police had taken his DNA when he was arrested after a previous girlfriend claimed he had assaulted her. The case was discontinued but his profile was retained on the national database.
De Souza was arrested two months after the rape when he went to report a car break-in. Investigators put his name into the database and were stunned to discover he was a wanted man and arrested him.
Jurors found him guilty at a retrial after a previous jury had been unable to agree a verdict. As a result De Souza, who had denied rape and claimed the young woman was a willing participant, forced her to relive her ordeal twice.
On his release he will face deportation and has to sign the sex offender register indefinitely. Outside court detective constable Richard Huggins, of Lambeth’s Sapphire Unit, said: “Mr De Souza’s conviction, particularly in the run-up to the Christmas party season when people are enjoying a drink, highlights the dangers of getting into unlicensed minicabs. Always book a cab using a licensed company as it is not worth the risk”
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:34 0 comments
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Taxi Treasure Hunts

Looking for something different to do in London?  need a Team Building day in London? or you might be looking for a light hearted break to a company conference or just a fund day out for a group of people, if so why not try a Taxi Treasure Hunt, we can cater for groups from 10 to 500 people.
You group is divided into teams and each team is allocated their own, treasure hunt experienced, Licensed London Taxi Driver who will become an integral part of the team, you are tasked with finding the answers to cryptic questions, there are photographs to take and items that will need to be collected.
So if you are looking for a good event for your staff or friends in London then please take a look at our website www.taxitreasurehunts.co.uk
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 09:26 0 comments
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Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Mounting an iPad in the Taxi

Recently I installed my iPad into my Taxi and since doing so I have been asked on numerous occasions where I got the mount from and what type of mount it is so I thought that I would write a blog post giving people all the information that they need to install their own iPad in their Taxi.
There are a few mounts now on the market for the iPad so I did a lot of research into what in my personal opinion was the best mount to use and also where to purchase the mount. Unfortunately the one that I consider to be the best by far is also the most expensive but as they say you get what you pay for in this life.
The mount I eventually purchased is made by a company called Ram Mount www.ram-mount.co.uk, there was 2 main reasons for choosing this particular mount the first being that I have experience of using Ram Mounts as I use one in my Off Road vehicle to mount a Samsung Q1 Ultra Tablet PC in the vehicle for using  Memory Map and it has proved to be very tough, sturdy and reliable. The second being that Ram Mount offer the most flexible mounting brackets of any company within the market place of which each component can be purchased separately as the system is modular.
Ram Mount offer 2 different types of cradle, one which you slide the iPad into similar to their iPhone mount and another which is a sprung loaded mount which can be used to mount the iPad whilst it is still in a protective case.


Above you can see the 2 different types of cradle that Ram Mount currently offer, these are just the cradles that hold the iPad but you also need to purchase the bracket to hold the cradle in place, the bracket comes in 3 separate pieces which need to be ordered individually. You can see the bracket components below.

 RAM-B-238 £7.09
One of these is bolted through the side of the dashboard


RAM-B-201-C £21.40
The arm connects the 2 ball joints together and allows the adjustment of the whole assembly.Tightening the large wing-nut gives the whole assembly its rigidity.

 RAM-B-238 £7.09
One of these is bolted to the cradle (RAM-HOL-TAB3 Only)

 RAM-B-202 £8.12
One of these is bolted to the cradle (RAM-HOL-AP8 Only)

The bracket that holds the cradle is the same as that used by ComCab to mount their terminals. The balls have a rubber coating on them which stops the arm from unwanted swivelling. Please note that the 2 cradles use different ball joint mounts and please make sure that you order the correct one for your cradle.
You bolt one of the ball joints through the side of the dashboard in exactly the same position as ComCab and then bolt the other ball joint to your cradle of choice, you then use the arm to connect the 2 balljoints together and adjust the whole assembly to your desired position before tightening the large wing-nut on the arm. Once installed the whole thing remains very sturdy and does not move at all, so far in 2 weeks I have not had to re-adjust my installation at all in my Taxi as it has not moved.
I will try to get some better pictures of the cradle mounted in my cab tomorrow and some of it broken down into its component parts, if anyone would like more information or advice then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Posted by Tracey Wilson at 10:42 0 comments
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