Back to front

A cab driver in the Northern Indian State of Rajasthan has been given a special license by the local authorities, which permits him to drive at speed in reverse. This stems from an incident when his gearbox failed in 2003 and he had to drive home in reverse. The man then decided he wanted to distinguish himself from other cab drivers by becoming an expert in reverse driving and had the gearbox of his Padmini Princess cab (based on a 1950s Fiat) reassembled so that it has four reverse and one forward gear. T
July 16, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A cab driver in the Northern Indian State of Rajasthan has been given a special license by the local authorities, which permits him to drive at speed in reverse. This stems from an incident when his gearbox failed in 2003 and he had to drive home in reverse. The man then decided he wanted to distinguish himself from other cab drivers by becoming an expert in reverse driving and had the gearbox of his Padmini Princess cab (based on a 1950s 2729 Fiat) reassembled so that it has four reverse and one forward gear. The taxi now has 'Back Gear Champian' painted on its side so that would-be customers should have no doubts as to what to expect, while the driver has no doubt already been told that his spelling is incorrect. The cabbie regularly drives at up to 80km/h in reverse while using an ambulance siren to warn other road users. For his troubles he does suffer severe neck and back problems but says that this is a small price to pay. He has attempted to set a world record but has not as yet managed to have this officially verified.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cycling heavyweight
    January 27, 2017
    A German man from Schleswig-Holstein has set a new world record. With his 1.1tonne bicycle he has now had his name listed by the Guinness World Records for the world’s heaviest bicycle. The man rode his monster, self-built bicycle a distance of 100m to claim the record, beating the previous title holder which tipped the scales at a mere 860kg. Because of its immense size and weight, the bicycle did have to be equipped with training wheels at the rear to ensure it remained stable. Novel features for the bicy
    Read More
  • IAM and Brake comment on increased UK road crashes
    September 24, 2015
    Both the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and road safety charity Brake have expressed serious concern over official figures showing increased road deaths in the UK. The Department of Transport’s Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2014 Annual Report says there were 1,775 reported road deaths in 2014, an increase of 4% compared with 2013. The IAM has called for a raft of measures to reverse the disappointing increase in numbers of people killed and injured on UK roads. It added the number of people
    Read More
  • The use of telematics in construction machines is growing
    May 20, 2015
    Demand for telematics technology is growing, as equipment users begin to lean the value of these systems – Alan Dron reports With construction projects increasingly operating to wafer-thin profit margins, any technological assistance that can keep the accounts in the black is welcome. This is particularly the case with those projects where contractors can share a larger slice of the profits if they complete their work ahead of schedule. The downside, of course, is that they also share the pain if the
    Read More
  • Under the wheels
    February 21, 2012
    A woman in New Zealand managed to run over her husband not once but twice in a short space of time. The woman was backing the couple's car from down their driveway when she ran over the unfortunate man. She then drove forward, running him over for the second time. An emergency response crew treated the man at the scene before taking him to hospital where he is recovering from his injuries. He suffered moderate injuries to his head, chest and back but was still conscious and able to talk to the ambulance cre
    Read More

Highlighted Content