London taxis may be exported

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32430, 17 October 1970, Page 13

London taxis may be exported

Vienna’s 2000 taxi-drivers are alarmed at the number of attacks made on them by passengers. Seven drivers have been killed and many injured. So they are inquiring about a London-type taxicab equipped with a bullet-proof glass partition. It is difficult to visualise the London taxi in any setting but its own. With slight modifications it has looked much the same for the last three decades and more. The square, upright build, with partitioned - off passenger compartment, is instantly recognisable among the sleek-line cars in the rest of the traffic, quite apart from the sign “taxi” above the windscreen which is lit up when the cab is free for hire.

British Leyland, makers of the London taxi, have a sales office in Vienna and invited taxi owners there to try a demonstration model. According to a 8.8. C. overseas broadcast, this provoked a sharp reaction from Daimler-Benz, who have a virtual monopoly of the taxis in the Austrian capital. They claimed the London taxi was too slow, with too little luggage space and only two doors. However, this does not seem to have worried Londoners, who appreciate how easily the taxi manoeuvres in crowded streets, with its small turning circle of 25 feet. And, of course, a gentleman can wear a top hat without, bumping his head on the roof.