THIS week’s From the Archive features a photograph of Holton Road, Barry, and the town’s ‘first taxi’ service.
In the absence of a public transport system, Barry Urban District Council awarded licenses to private individuals to provide horse drawn hackney carriages.
There was a wealth of regulations for these cab drivers including where they could ply for hire and an annual inspection of all carriages.
In 1897 Edwin Hooper was fined 20s or 14 days hard labour for not having the number of person he was allowed to carry painted on his carriage.
The first motorised taxi cab was given a licence in 1900, following a successful test drive around Barry with the councillors from the licensing committee in the back of the cab.
The Barry & District News would like to thank Cllr Shirley Hodges for the photograph and information.
If you have an old Barry photograph you would like to see included, with information about what it depicts, email sha@barryanddistrictnews.co.uk
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