 And often I used to use the green shelters for you to sort of climb over it to get in. Or because of the benches, you literally like climb over the table to... Did you use them much? No, because I lived too near home. We're a lot of drivers who lived outside Romford and Chingford. I mean, they couldn't go home for lunch or go home for a cup of tea though they used to use. I remember used to get a baby monitor so you could go and have a cup of tea and you'd still be able to hear when the dispatch... Yeah, I'm not sure I should have done that. That was just another bit of radio, isn't that count? He's doing other people out of work. I'm sure others had families around there. You didn't stay in for long, it was just like toilet breaks and... Statute of limitations on that, I'm sure. So you passed your test, you got your green badge, you've done your first job. How did the fare react to getting it for free? I think you just ran away before, James, with the point. I remember Jack, your mate Jack, he was in traffic and the fare was moaning about the fact that he was stuck in traffic and he just turned around to get out. I mean, you can't do that, can you? You could, it's your cab, your rules I suppose, isn't it? Yes, it's... You see, the trouble is you don't know why you're picking the person up. He could just been, or her, just been diagnosed with cancer and just wants to get out or vice versa, just been cleared of cancer in a happy mood. You just don't know why people are using you and so you wait for them to talk to you. Did you ever have any weirdos? I remember one story. Are you driving along? There's something on the back of your head and there was a bloke in the back who was just stroking the back of your head. Did you remember that? Yeah, I was a good looking fella in there. I was a pretty boy. Did you get a tip? No, I just want to get him in and out on the way. There's so much I want to ask you and it's brilliant. They all say once you get your badge you should get an exercise, book them right, all these things down, but you never do. I wish I had done though, after all these years. Well, if you remember it and you helped me. And the radio circuit would have an annual, I don't know what you'd call it, an AGM or a Bino? No, that's an AGM. How you could have proved it and you vote for wants to be on the board of management. Yeah. And you know you're just going to get one fella, he's going to get up and say to the staff, I think he was using too much toilet paper, because you've given a, what do you call it? Accounts. Accounts of what's going on. We had to attend these meetings, if you didn't you got £50. Oh right, so it was mandatory. We would say some fella just used to get up and his wife doesn't let him speak at home, so he comes up and he rabbitting on. Because he went up half understand, there was a microphone and you said whatever you wanted to say. Right, because everyone had shares in it, you know you're all part of, I've forgotten what it's called, is it like a co-op? Yes, because for tax reasons for somebody who has done that. I can't remember the names. And it did things, right, so you got your badge in 66? No, I got it in 1st of July 1968. Oh, forgive me. 1st of July 1968, that's when you did your first job. First job. From Cabinoy Street to Elson Road. And then did it change over the 70s? Did it get easier or harder? We did because we had a three-day week in the 70s. And what is that? That's when the miners went on strike. And then Teddy said, well, do you need a coal to do all the lights and electricity? And then they found to keep it going, well it didn't have enough coal so we made every work, well, it was a three-day week. I think it was Monday to Wednesday. There was other work going on but most of the offices had to shut down. And so it was really quiet the rest of the week. Very, very quiet. I think the other worst time was in the 90s when the base rate was 15%. In mortgages. And if you wanted to buy a cab or something like that, it was this ridiculous high amount of boring so people never bought cabs. Didn't do a lot of things. Yeah. That was hard. But then it came out, it's so different then. Most of the fellas lived in council faves and their wives had good jobs. So it weren't, especially me, my wife had a good job. I don't know what I would have done. Yeah. Or change a job. Yeah. But you could keep here an hours. Or work long hours, yeah. That seems appealed to you about the job that you could just get in the cab whenever. Yeah, but you still got to do your hours. You still got to take your money. And that's a bit of a myth when you say, it seems as if you work when you lie and you have some time up. Well, you come seeing the kids, take the kids to school, but then you still have to go for, say, work in the evening to take your money up. Yeah. It's very hard to understand that. Yeah, because you don't know how much work you're going to do when you go out. That's right. Or if someone would say, look, can you pick me up at 11 o'clock in the morning and take me to wherever. But you had to stop an hour before because you never know where you're going to end up. I mean, if it's 10 o'clock, you're pulling King's ranks. This person says Richmond. It's like Sod's Law. You're not going to get back in time to pick the person up. Right. So you had to turn work down to get the good job. Well, not a good job. A lot of it was just going round to the local stations. You had to stop an hour off, good hour off before. Yeah. Which I found very difficult to explain to people. Yeah, because you've got a guaranteed job. But that means you've got to make sure that you're free for the guaranteed job. So you're not ahead. Airport jobs, were they always good? Yes. But everybody wanted them. Everybody was honored. And then when you go to the airport, it was really regimented, wasn't it? That when you got to Heathrow, you didn't have to go into a very strict queue for the ranks there. You usually average two hours, and I couldn't be bothered to wait two hours. I used to come straight back. Yeah. Can't think of stories to tell. Yeah, no, that's all right. It's just the basics of it, of how it works. I wouldn't be able to tell anyone how that worked, even. Just on a basic, how do you get a taxi level? Or quite how regimented it was to your license from the carriage office. You know, really strict, wasn't it? Yeah, very, very strict. You didn't mind, because you knew the rules. If you had a peering court for a witness, you had to work a badge. Yeah. Well, that was the law. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because it was looked after by the National Robinson Police then. I wish it was put back by the policemen. Because now it's transport for London. Yeah, civil servants run it. Right. It was difficult when you were off the road, wasn't it? Yeah, it was really like a... Yeah, or damage to the cab. Yeah. That would be quite hard, wouldn't it?