In the area where I live getting a taxi without pre-booking a while beforehand was a real issue 25 years ago. Fortunately the situation atarted to improve as the council granted more licences. However it now seems to have gone the other way with licences being granted too easily. In fact there seem more drivers than the work available. The fact that some new drivers seem to have little local knowledge is not to bad in these days of sat navs. However what does concern me is increasingly poor driving standards shown by many drivers. Speeding, tailgating, agression, pulling out of junctions when it is unsafe to do so, etc. seem all to common. I thought it might be limited to my area but when I visited Folkstone recentkly I saw three examples of dangerous/inconsiderate driving by taxi/mini cab drivers in just over an hour. Is it not time councils considered tightening up - maybe asking potential drivers to pass the IAM test?