In the 1620s there was a proliferation of coaches for hire in the metropolis, so much so that they were seen as a danger to pedestrians in the narrow streets of the city, and in 1635 an Order in Council was issued limiting the number allowed.

[9] "An Ordinance for the Regulation of Hackney-Coachmen in London and the places adjacent" was approved by Parliament in 1654, to remedy what it described as the "many Inconveniences [that] do daily arise by reason of the late increase and great irregularity of Hackney Coaches and Hackney Coachmen in London, Westminster and the places thereabouts".

Licences applied literally to horse-drawn carriages, later modernised as hansom cabs (1834), that operated as vehicles for hire.

[12] The 1694 act established the Hackney Coach Commissioners to oversee the regulation of fares, licences and other matters; in 1831 their work was taken over by the Stamp Office and in 1869 responsibility for licensing was passed on to the Metropolitan Police.

[13] In 1836 the Clarence was introduced to London's streets: a type of small four-wheel enclosed carriage drawn by one or two horses.

As such they remained in use as the standard form of four-wheeled hackney carriage until replaced by motorised taxi cabs in the early 20th century.

A small, usually two-wheeled, one-horse hackney vehicle called a noddy once plied the roads in Ireland and Scotland.

[18] UK regulations define a hackney carriage as a taxicab allowed to ply the streets looking for passengers to pick up, as opposed to private hire vehicles (sometimes called minicabs), which may pick up only passengers who have previously booked or who visit the taxi operator's office.

[citation needed] Horse-drawn hackney services continue to operate in parts of the UK, for example in Cockington, Torquay.

The Austin FX4, launched in 1958, which stayed in production until 1997 under successive manufacturers is perhaps the most iconic and recognised of all hackney carriages and set the basic styling parameters of its successors.

Four-door saloon cars have been highly popular as hackney carriages, but with disability regulations growing in strength and some councils offering free licensing for disabled-friendly vehicles, many operators are now opting for wheelchair-adapted taxis such as the LEVC TX of London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC).

London taxis have broad rear doors that open very wide (or slide), and an electrically controlled ramp that is extended for access.

Some of these minibus taxis include a front passenger seat next to the driver, while others reserve this space solely for luggage.

These regulations set out the conditions under which a taxi may operate and have been updated over the years to keep pace with motor car development and legislation.

[37] In October 2019 the first fully electric cab since the Bersey in 1897, the Dynamo Taxi, was launched with a 187-mile range and with the bodywork based on Nissan's NV200 platform.

Drivers who own their cabs as opposed to renting from a garage are known as "mushers" and those who have just passed the "knowledge" are known as "butter boys".

Some merely require a driver to pass a DBS disclosure and have a reasonably clean driving licence, while others use their own local versions of London's The Knowledge test.

[citation needed] Oil millionaire Nubar Gulbenkian owned an Austin FX3 Brougham Sedanca taxi, with custom coachwork by FLM Panelcraft Ltd as he was quoted "because it turns on a sixpence whatever that is.

Users included Prince Philip, whose cab was converted to run on liquefied petroleum gas,[47] author and actor Stephen Fry,[48] and the Sheriffs of the City of London.

Today there are approximately 250 TXIIs in the US, operating as taxis in San Francisco, Dallas, Long Beach, Houston, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Newport, Rhode Island, Wilmington, North Carolina and Portland, Oregon.

There are London cabs in Saudi Arabia, Romania, South Africa, Lebanon, Egypt, Bahrain and Cyprus, and in Israel, where a Chinese-made version of LTI's model TX4 built by Geely Automobile is available.

SMRT Corporation, the sole operator, had by March 2013 replaced its fleet of 15 ageing multi-coloured (gold, pink, etc.)

[citation needed] By 2011 a thousand of a Chinese-made version of LTI's latest model, TX4, had been ordered by Baku Taxi Company.

The plan is part of a program originally announced by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Transportation to introduce London cabs to the capital, Baku.

There have been different makes and types of hackney cab through the years,[60] including: In October 2011 the company Eyetease Ltd. introduced digital screens on the roofs of London taxis for dynamically changing location-specific advertising.

[62] 2011 saw the launch of many digital hailing applications for hackney carriages that operate through smartphones, including GetTaxi and Hailo.