APPEARANCES: Taxi YouTuber reveals INTENSE detail required in Knowledge of London oral tests

Image credit: Tom Hutley

A popular London taxi driver and YouTuber has given an insight into what a Knowledge of London (KOL) oral exam looks in his latest video.

Tom Hutley, a cabbie with over 50,000 subscribers on the YouTube platform, released his latest video showing KOL students call the routes they would take in a mock exam at well known Knowledge School.

Hutley himself also puts himself in the hot seat and takes part in a mock exam to demonstrate the level of fluency and recall KOL students have during the process of learning the capital’s thousands of streets and places of interest.

What is the Knowledge of London?

As the iconic black cabs can be hailedinthestreet,taxidrivers must have a thorough knowledge of London within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. Tens of thousands of road names and places of interest must be learnt. This is why taxi drivers have to learn and pass the world -famous Knowledge.

The KoL was introduced as a requirement for taxi drivers in 1865 and completing the test usually takes students three to four years.

How do you get tested on the Knowledge of London?

Each appearance usually consists of four questions about the shortest route between any two points in London. An appearance takes about 20 minutes, and you'll get a score from A-D.

Depending on your score you will accumulate points; when you have enough you will progress to the next stage, when appearances will become more frequent. However, if you get too many Ds, you may be put back to a previous stage.

At Stage 3, appearances are about 56 days apart, at Stage 4 they are about 28 days apart, and at Stage 5 they are about 21 days apart. On average you will have to score on four appearances to accumulate enough points to progress to the next stage.

A final ‘Suburban’ test has recently been condensed to include fewer routes out of central London into the suburbs to speed up the final testing stage. Upon completion of the ‘Suburban’ test, the KoL student will then be handed their bill and badge to allow them to ply-for- hire as a licensed taxi driver.

There are currently just under 20,000 licensed taxi drivers in the capital.