Touting is when a Private Hire Cab (or Minicab as they are also known), stops to pick up passengers on the street without prior booking. These taxi rides are illegal and dangerous as they are not booked through an operator and they very often do not have the right sort of license, which is required to be attained through TfL.
Over the past few years the issue of touting in the streets of London has become ever more prevalent and although many measures have been taken to stop them, it is still happening in large numbers.
The whole business of touting is unfair and unjustified. To operate a public hire carriage and license fee, one has to invest a lot of money and each year thousands upon thousands of potential jobs are taken away from them because of this illegal practice.
These rides home are unregulated and dangerous so the advice is not to use them under any circumstances.
Not only is the trip illegal, the entire trip is uninsured so in the unlikely event that there is an incident, there will be no taxi cover in place to pay for damages.
If you see a car touting for business on the streets please report it immediately – your actions will make travelling safer for those in London.