World News

After a ride went viral, a London cabbie offers some life lessons for the road

4:34pm October 10, 2023

by Jaclyn Diaz

Michael Son sits behind the wheel in his London cab, a job he's had since 1965.

After almost six decades on the road in one of London's famous black cabs, this driver provides some priceless life lessons.

Who is he? Michael Son, 80, lives in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex, England, and has driven one of London's ubiquitous black cabs since 1965.

His encounter with passenger Dan Barker recently led to minor internet virality. The attention from this ride led the public to discover just some of the remarkable things Son has experienced in his years on the road.

In Barker's memory, Son said it was his last-ever ride as a cab driver and it was tradition that drivers give their first and last ride for free, so he wasn't going to be charged.

In Son's recollection, he had made a wrong turn and offered to give the ride for free. Barker said he was touched, regardless. Before getting out, he grabbed a photo of Son and shared his experience on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Son has mostly retired, for the record, and did say it's a 300-some-year-old tradition for cab drivers to give their first ever ride for free, at least.

What's the big deal?

Barker's post received more than 3.4 million views, according to X. Though their versions of the interaction differ, both men were wholly unbothered by it and marveled at how a simple, nice interaction took off.

What's even more odd, though, is that when Barker posted this, a person responded and suggested that he donate to a cab charity. When Barker clicked on one called the London Taxi Drivers' Charity for Children, Son was in one of the photos on the website, standing next to the U.K.'s Queen Camilla.

"It's such an odd coincidence to get into somebody's cab in the first place, when they tell you that this is probably going to be their last-ever ride, let alone to then suddenly Google a charity and have them appear on your computer screen," Barker told NPR.

Son has been involved in the London Taxi Drivers' Charity for Children since the 1980s. The group brings special-needs and disadvantaged children to events like circuses and parades, and raises money to buy medical equipment. Son has served as the group's honorary chairman and as a member of the board.

The work with his charity has led Son to rub shoulders with the British royal family on several occasions. Queen Camilla is one of the organization's patrons. For his decades of work with the charity, Son received the British Empire Medal in 2019.

Becoming a London cabbie is no small feat. To be certified, Son had to pass a test called "the Knowledge," referring to a driver's familiarity with London's streets and buildings. When he started training to be a cab driver, London was much smaller. Even back then it was incredibly difficult and took months, Son told NPR. "Now it's just grown exponentially and to try and learn it must be awful," he said.

Here's what Son told NPR about his years on the road:

1. Driving a London cab is a gift.

"You go to places you otherwise couldn't and you see people you would never have met," he said.
In Son's case, he's met a fair share of celebrities including Katharine Hepburn. "She was iconic," he said. "And we just talked, which I felt quite privileged to have spoken to her."

2. He's gathered some life lessons.

"I think you've got to be good to people. It's a cliché now. But you've got to be nice. You got to be affable, and just listen to people, listen to what they say," Son said. "The world is small. And all the more reason to be nice to people and to be honest, because you never know when you're going to meet them again."

3. He's got more than a few strange stories.

A few months ago, Son picked up a couple of older American women. One of them started to talk and listed all of the things she wanted to see in London, including Buckingham Palace and other popular sites.
"And then the other lady never said a word until we got nearer to the center of town and then she said, 'Yeah, well, I want to see Hugh Grant. He's my favorite Englishman.' But I said, 'He's not an iconic statue. He doesn't have visiting hours.'"
Son told her: "I wouldn't hold your breath."
He dropped them off and continued on, driving near one of the railway stations in London.
"And there was these two people standing on the street corner, waving to me, flagging me down. So I've just gone over to them. And who do you think it was? Hugh Grant and his wife."

So what now?