'Knowledge Point' black cab driver training school to close

The largest training school for black cab drivers is set to close next month after decades teaching “the Knowledge”.

The founder of Knowledge Point, Malcolm Linskey, blamed competition from controversial minicab hailing app Uber and rising property prices for the school’s demise.

Mr Linskey, 70, who started the school thirty years ago, said: “We’re going to be brushed aside. Demand has gone down since Uber arrived. Usually we have 350 students enrolling a year, last year it was 200.”

The school teaches drivers “the Knowledge”, a series of routes through the city’s 25,000 streets which drivers must learn to qualify as a licensed black cab driver.

Mr Linskey said the school would continue to produce teaching material in print and online, and run training sessions in community centres and church halls.

The closure of the school, on Caledonian Road, Islington, follows protests against Uber around the world, including in London, Toronto and Rome, while in Paris taxi drivers even attacked Uber drivers.

Ronny Keefe, a student at the school, said he was certain black cabs would not die out in the face of competition, telling the Financial Times: “Quality prevails. We’ll win out.”