From Call Sign, November 2002
Memories of DaC’s Marie White live on as female taxi drivers celebrate 25 years of licensing

The first Parliamentary regulation for the Hackney carriages came 309 years ago in 1694 while Emmeline Pankhurst, the famed English Suffragette leader founded her militant group, the Women’s Social and Political Union, culminating in gaining the vote for women almost 100 years ago in 1903. Yet surprisingly, the first female taxi driver to be licensed in London came just 25 years ago in 1977, when Marie White ended the seeming taboo of females gaining the coveted green badge. Today that total has reached around 350 – although they have some way to go to catch up the male drivers who total 24,050!   Back in 1977, London was buzzing and so was the licensed taxi business - considered by many to be the last male bastion. So when news that a lady was on the Knowledge first broke in 1976, drivers scoffed.
   “She’ll never do the Knowledge,” they echoed, followed by the old chestnut, “…what if a geezer asks to meet a bird – how can they possibly ask a lady driver to find ‘em a lady of the night?”   
   But Marie White wasn’t to be fazed; her husband Jack was already a taxi driver and nothing was going to put her off. But she had one problem, she didn’t like the idea of going around on a moped, so she did the first 10 months in an Austin Mini and often spoke about the number of times she was stopped by the police who were wondering why she kept stopping and starting. She once admitted to Call Sign that she was afraid that someone might accuse her of looking for “male clients!”
   Then exactly 25 years ago, Marie White achieved the impossible – she passed the Knowledge and became a licensed London taxi driver with badge number 25292. She and Jack both worked days and were the first-ever married couple to both drive a London taxi.
   Speaking to Call Sign many years later, Marie smiled at the memory of male faces when they saw a woman driver pull up. “I remember one gentleman whistling through his teeth to attract my attention when I was going in the opposite direction along Bayswater Road,” she said, “then when he saw me he apologised and said the whistle was aimed at the cab and not me personally”
   Marie came to Dial-a-Cab in 1983 via London Wide – the pre-runner to Computer Cab. She became the first woman to stand for a place on our Board of Management and was successful, replacing Alun Roberts in 1988. For almost two years she was responsible for the Society’s Welfare scheme.
   Her husband Jack had died some years earlier and the sight of Marie with her pet terrier in the front of the cab became a common sight as she just couldn’t bear to leave it at home alone.
   Sadly, Marie White became ill and died of cancer in 1993. However, as the first-ever lady taxi driver, her legacy will live on for as long as there are licensed taxi drivers…

© Call Sign 2002