As a user of Twitter & the taxi forum, & a reader of some of the trade press, I spot a lot of lingo that is only used by us cabbies. I see new drivers who show up and not know what is meant by many of the abbreviations/lingo/slang, call it what you will, so I thought it a good idea to put them all in one place.

Places

Arsehole of the World - Deptford SE8

The Batcave - Westfield Shopping Centre (T6)/Lower Robert Street WC2/Area under Charing Cross Station (there seems to be a debate as to what EXACTLY it refers to)

Blackfriars Underpants/BFUP - Blackfriars Underpass

The Bone - Marylebone Station

Bullring - The crescent at the entrance to back of Royal Hospital Chelsea Embankment

CK's - Chelsea Kitchen (Fulham Rd)

CTZ rank (also Tez rank)- Selfridges rank 

CX - Charing Cross Station

Dilly - Piccadilly 

Dungeon, The - The Public Carriage Office

Dogs, The - Wimbledon Dog track

Euro/St P - Eurostar/St Pancras Station

Fen, The - Fenchurch Street station

Flyers - Airport

The Gas Chamber - Euston Taxi Rank 

The Gas Works - Houses Of Parliament

GHH - Grosvenor House Hotel

GSS - Great Suffolk Street cafe/shop

HC - Hurlingham Club

Hole In The Wall - Wilton Road entrance to Victoria Station

HPC - Hyde Park Corner

The Iron Lung - Toilet on Horseferry Road SW1

JL - John Lewis

KX/The Cross/The X - Kings Cross Station

K's - Kennedy's Fish & Chips (Goswell Rd)

LCA - London City Airport

LDC - Camley St Cafe

LHR - London Heathrow Airport

The Loo - Waterloo Station

Magic Roundabout - bottom of M41

MBON - May be old news

Mcliver - Liverpool Street taxi rank (by McDonalds)

OKR - Old Kent Road

Qs - Quaglinos Restaurant

QVS - Queen Victoria Street

Padders - Paddington Station

P G Tips - Palace Gardens Terrace

The Pipe - The Blackwall Tunnel

PPH (Pissy Pike Hill) - Paddington Station

RAFT - Rail Air & Freight Terminal (Gatwick Express)

Roundhouse - Camden Roundhouse

RAH - Royal Albert Hall

Royal Lobster - Kings Cross Station

ROH - Royal Opera House 

Scabacus - Abacus night club/bar

Stage Door - Main Entrance to Waterloo Station

Steps - Large steps entrance to north entrance at Waterloo

Sweetings - 24 hour cafe on Queen Victoria Street

The Bays - Bayswater

The Vic - Victoria Station

T6 - Westfield Shopping Centre 

Tez Rank (also CTZ rank) - Selfridges Duke St rank

TFP - The Feeder Park (Heathrow)

TT - Tiger Tiger

The Tennis - Wimbledon annual tennis tournament

Tom's - Burger Van on Clapham Common

Twickers - Twickenham Stadium

Up The Stairs Euston - Queue of people all the way onto the stairs at Euston rank

The Wedding Cake, QVM - Queen Victoria Memorial

Wharf/The Island - Canary Wharf

WW - Winter Wonderland (Hyde Park) when it's on 

 

Other Abbreviations

Arnie (To do an Arnie) - as in "I'll be back", I'm coming back to work, not going home.

A Churchill - A meal. Churchill gave cabbies the right to refuse a fare while eating

B&B - Badge & Bill check (by PCO, TFL, Police)

Bag of Sand - a grand - £1000 (although very unlikely you'll ever get this)

Bill - Taxi license

BTF - Back to front (from the back of the queue to the front time)

Bill & Ben - "10"

Blue Book - Books containing runs knowledge students have to learn

Blue Lights - Police dealing with accident/crime

Blue Trees - Policeman with speed camera hiding behind a tree

Bottle - 2

Broom - passing a job you don't want to the driver behind you on a rank

Bullseye - 50

Burst/On The Burst - people emerging from a venue at the end

Butterboy - Cabbie who hasn't been in the business long

Butterfly - A Cabbie who only work in the summer.

Cabbed Out - A place is full with cabs

CabUp - Cabbie Updates

Carpet - 3

Ching - 5

CBJ - Clipboard Johnny

Cock & Hen - Man and Woman passenger or "10"

Code Red - Heathrow needs taxis badly & you are to bypass the feeder park

Cooking/Roasting - A driver referring to a very long time spent on a rank 

Copperbottom - A Cabbie who drives for an excessive number of hours

Cricket Seats - Tip up seats

DAC - Dial A Cab

Den of Thieves/Fagin's Kitchen - Stock Exchange

Dried Up - No work

Droshky - A Taxi

EB or E/B - Eastbound

FP - Fixed Price

Fubar - F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition

Full House - Maximum number of passengers on board

Gavroched - When the traffic in Upper Brook Street is so bad it is possible to get out of cab, read menu in the porch of La Gavroche restaurant, and get back into cab.

GBx - Golden Bollox (Jammy Git)

Grow Bag Aerial - Aerial used on a minicab

Guvner - Bloke what owns the cab you rent

Hands Up - People needing cabs

Hanging Up - Cabbies sitting with light off and picking work they want

Hairdyer/Oil/Oil Slick - Copper with speed radar gun

Hickory - Taxi Meter

im 'n' er - Man & Woman

Jacks - 5

Kojac with a Kodak - Copper with a radar gun

KOL - Knowledge Of London

Legalled/Legal - Being paid exact fare (no tip)

Long'un, a oner - £100 (job)

Louis Vuitton, Loius V, L.V. - Good job on board

Low Loader - Old Cab

Mash Up - Traffic is atrocious

Mexican Wave - lots of punters with their hands up in one place

Monkey - 500

MRA - Mini Roundabout

Musher - Owner Driver

Neves - 7

NB or N/B - Northbound

OFL - One For Later - referring to places that will have work later on in the day

On & Off - arriving at a rank/place & then straight off with a punter

On me Jack (Jones) - I'm the only one here

On Point - first taxi on a rank

Peeps/ppl - People or punters

Penguins - Men in black ties/black tie event 

Pete's On The Finz - Tea hut at Finsbury Square run by Peter

Plate - Expensive plastic on back of taxi

POB - Passenger On Board

PONR - Point Of No Return

Pony - £25

Port - Airport

Putting on Fowl - Over the space provided by rank

Q - Queue (or people or taxis)

Roader - Long Distance Job

Roader (said sarcastically) - A VERY short job

RTG - Radio Taxis

Ruof, rhymes with loaf...4....Four spelt backwards, back-slang

Runner - Punter who doesn't pay the fare

Running well - A rank that has cabs, but is moving fast with fares

SALT - Single Alternate Lane Traffic

Scab - Illegal minicab

Score - 20

Sherbert/Sherb - A Taxi Cab

SB or S/B - Southbound

Set - An accident

Showing Out - punter with hand out looking for cab

Single Pin - Single passenger

SNAFU - Situation Normal All Fouled Up

Soz - Sorry 

Spare - Part timer who only shows up when it's busy

Stalking - Working with meter off

Suit - City Gent (from back when they wore bowler hats)

Toes Up/Foot up - a warning to slow down, there's a speed radar trap

TLC - Tweetalondoncab

VHT/VVVVVVHT - Very Heavy Traffic

WB or W/B - Westbound

Wrong-un - A punter you have on board you know will be trouble/not pay

The Yard - Name for the old Public Carriage Office location

Zeiger - Meter