There has always been busy transport links to and around the city of London. These routes and the means in which we travel them have evolved massively over the years. Where most of us would have had to travel by horse and cart taxis or foot, now almost everyone can afford to buy a used car. London is a huge city that has grown through centuries; it appears that London may have grown too fast as these laws seem to have been forgotten about!
1. It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs.
Why someone would be transporting a rabid dog across London in the first place should be the burning question here. But regardless; we can all rest assured that there won’t be an aggressive dog with a dread disease traveling with us after that late night shindig.
2. It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry corpses.
This is perhaps a little more understandable; you’re out with your mate, who has entered the big sleep. You’re stuck in a part of the city you don’t know and mobile phones are hundreds of years away from being useful. What else would you do? Anyway times have changed...but the government’s view of you traveling with a dead body has not
3. Taxi drivers are required to ask all passengers if they have smallpox or the plague.
This law’s hilarity is in the fact that the driver can’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter if the passenger looks half alive or is a gentleman in a three piece suit, they have to roll down the window and say something that most of us would consider rather rude.
4. Anyone found drunk while in charge of any horse, cattle, carriage or steam engine could serve jail time.
Well a steam engine pile-up would probably have results similar to a car pileup…albeit the crash may be a bit slower. It must have been quite a sight to watch someone clumsily leading a cow around the busy streets!
5. It is illegal to have sex on a parked motorbike in London.
Context is an important thing, especially when it comes to sex on motorbikes. It turns out having sex on a motorbike going 30mph is fine, but side stand equals a no… We’ll never know how this rule came into being, but we’d dearly love to! We wonder where the law stands on Reliant Robins?
6. In the UK in general, a man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle.
Always handy to know in case of emergency, it is interesting that there are no rules regarding woman’s options in this scenario!
And finally; this law is no longer in place but it deserves a place on this list for its sheer absurdity:
7. Nineteenth-century English law made it illegal for ladies to eat chocolate on public transport.
This is a pretty shocking law even for the 19th century! The fact that men were presumably able to eat chocolate wherever and whenever they pleased must have riled any chocolate craving women! Imagine male travellers taking great delight in eating their fill in front of weary looking ladies on the tube…
