Did you know that there are two types of cab on Southampton city's roads?

One is the licensed white Hackney Carriage Taxis, which can be found in around the city centre. These are the cabs which you can safely hail at the roadside or pick up at a taxi rank. The cars and drivers are wholly insured to pick up passengers in and around the city.

The other sort of cab are the Private Hire taxis, also known as minicabs (which can be any colour). These must be pre-booked and must never pick people up from the roadside as they do not have insurance to do so.  If there were to be an accident, the passengers who were picked up at the kerbside would not be covered for any injury.

A very worrying new piece of legislation highlighted by sky.com means that Private Hire drivers could loan their cars to anyone whilst they are not driving them. The article explains that this could put people, and especially women at risk, since they would have no idea that the driver was not a licensed private hire car driver. As it stands, minicabs and private hire cars can only be driven by a person who has undergone medical, background and criminal record checks by the council, and given a license. However, under the new law, drivers can loan their cars to anyone, with the idea that this helps drivers by allowing their partners and family members to use their cars - rather than having to own a second vehicle.