The first minicabs in the UK were the London based "shilling-a-mile" Renault Dauphines.

I was driving a nine month old example, when my right heel went through the floor (which had rusted to metal lace) as I braked. I was halfway round Hammersmith Broadway in four lanes of rush hour traffic, with my foot firmly on the brake and very firmly attached to the floor.

A none too friendly cop removed my foot (which I couldn't reach) from the shoe and we pushed it to the edge of the kerb, whence it proceeded on the back of a truck to the scrap yard.

I came to the conclusion that they were able to run at a shilling a mile because the passengers, with their feet through the floor, were walking to their destination.

Don T.