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It's on the Meter - World Taxi Challenge
It’s on the Meter -World Taxi Challenge is an expedition to break the Guinness World Record for the longest ever journey by taxi. The expedition’s three man team is using a 1992 Fairway Driver London Black Cab to drive an estimated 45,000 miles around the world.

The expedition officially began at the British Transport Museum in London on 17 February 2011 and is expected to finish at the same point on 9 May 2012 having circumnavigated the globe. The team aims to raise £20,000 for the British Red Cross and as of March 2012 had raised £14,531.41

History
The expedition was conceived in 2008 when the team were “in the back of a taxi one night, perhaps slightly drunk, watching the meter ticking up and up when we thought, "What's the highest the meter has ever been?”"

Instead of forgetting the idea the team researched the previous record which stood at 21,691 miles (34,908 km) and was set in 1994. The team then planned a new route from London to Sydney with an estimated distance of 32,000 miles, bought a taxi for £1500 on eBay and began securing sponsorship.

The expedition departed from the British Transport Museum in London on 17 February 2011 with support from Boris Johnson and Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

The team broke the previous record in August 2011 in Tibet having travelled through 34 countries.

The expedition arrived in Sydney, Australia, nine months after setting off from London having travelled through forty-one countries and three continents.

Upon arrival in Sydney the team announced that they had secured a sponsorship partnership with Smartphone Taxi ordering-app company GetTaxi and would be extending the expedition back to London via the USA, Israel, Russia and Europe.

The vehicle was shipped from Sydney to San Francisco over the Christmas of 2011 and the team continued the journey from California to New York before air-freighting the car to Israel in March 2012.

The expedition is due to ship from Israel to Greece before continued back through Russia, Europe and Spain and finishing in London on International Red Cross Day on 9 May 2012.

Route
The route was designed to take “the longest route ever, because taxi drivers always take all the longest way around,” and encompasses over fifty countries.



The expedition started in Covent Garden, London before driving to Dover, England and ferrying over to France. The expedition then passed though Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and into Finland where the team drove to the Arctic Circle and saw the Northern Lights.

The expedition then travelled through Russia (where the team were arrested in Moscow), Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, France, Monaco, Italy and San Marino. The original route took the team down to Sicily to catch a ferry to Tunisia but due to the conflict in Libya the route was revised to instead pass through the Balkans.

The team passed through Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Greece before arriving in Turkey in April 2011. Due to the demonstrations in Syria the team further modified the route and next travelled to Georgia and Armenia before heading back into Turkey and down into Iraq. Whilst in northern Kurdistan their radiator burst but a replacement was built in Arbil auto bazaar and the team continued into Iran.

Near the Iranian city of Qom the team were detained and questioned by the secret police after mistakenly camping next to an artillery installation. At this point Archer and Purnell travelled by air to Dubai in order to obtain Pakistani visas and Ellison (who had already secured a visa in the UK) continued through the Baluchistan desert.

The team was reunited in Pakistan and continued through India, Nepal, Tibet (where the previous record's distance was broken) and China, arriving in Laos in September 2011. The journey then continued through Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia before the vehicle was shipped from Singapore to Darwin, Australia.

On arrival in Australia the vehicle was subject to strict quarantine fines but upon its release travelled through the Northern Territories and down the East Coast, arriving at the intended destination on 10 December 2011.

At this point the team announced that they had partnered with a new sponsor, GetTaxi and now intended to drive the vehicle back to London having circumnavigated the world. The car was shipped from Sydney to San Francisco and the team returned to the UK for a Christmas break.

After lengthy delays the car was released from Oakland Port in February 2012 and the team drove across the USA, arriving at New York in March 2012. The car was then air-freighted to Israel from where it will be shipped to Greece before continuing north to Moscow.

The final leg is due to head through the Baltics and Eastern Europe before passing through Germany, France, Andorra and Spain. The car will then be shipped back to the United Kingdom and is due to arrive back at the start point in London on International Red Cross Day on 9 May 2012.

The mileage of the entire journey is expected to be approximately 45,000 miles, more than double the previous record. As of March 2012 the taxi fare had reached £65,000 and is expected to reach £85,000.

Vehicles
The expedition vehicle is an extensively modified 1992 Carbodies Fairway Driver taxi named Hannah, after the song Hard Hearted Hannah which tells of a woman who hates men and loves to see them suffer.

The vehicle is powered by a Nissan 2.7 litre Turbo Diesel engine which the team claims is the only part of the car not to have broken stating that this is because it is "Japanese-made whereas the rest of the car was made in England".

The car was purchased for £1500 on eBay and modifications include the addition of winch, snorkel, roof rack and roof box. The car's brakes, suspension, cooling and electric systems were also overhauled and updated. Inside the partition between the driver and passengers was removed, a front passenger seat was added, the rear-facing rear seats were removed and a "sick" sound system was installed.

The mileage of the car when purchased was estimated at 300,000 miles and the team states that it breaks down, "every other day". The car is a licensed taxi in Gloucestershire and the custom-built meter which has been running since the start of the trip is expected to reach £85,000 by completion of the expedition.

The team does not have a support vehicle however was joined for the USA leg of the expedition by a United States Yellow Taxi. The team met the driver, previously a resident of Texas, in Pakistan and joked, "If you buy a Yellow Cab you can join us for the US section". The driver took to the team up on the offer and purchased a Ford Crown Victoria which was named Skinny Margarita after an old advertisement attached to the roof.

Personnel
The expedition was conceived and organised by Johno Ellison, Paul Archer and Leigh Purnell, three friends who met whilst studying at Aston University.

The team was also joined by Texan Jon Anders who drove Skinny Margarita for the US section of the route.

Throughout the expedition the team has picked up around one hundred passengers and although they do not normally charge them for their ride they sometimes ask them to donate fuel or some trinkets to decorate the car.

Charity
The expedition aims to raise both awareness and funds for the British Red Cross. The team decided to choose the Red Cross due to the fundraising work they carry out both in the UK and Worldwide as well as they worldwide support they could offer the team. The fundraising target of the expedition is £20,000 and as of March 2012 they had raised £14,531.41

Book
The team are in the process of the writing a book about the expedition which is anticipated to be released in Spring 2013.

The team has also contributed articles to various magazines and blogs and Johno Ellison's account of the team's arrest in Russia is due to be published in upcoming travel book From the Grand Canyon to the Great Wall due to be released in Summer 2012.