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

  • CECE 2018 conference Rome: the sector powers up for digitisation
    March 20, 2019
    Getting the human-machine interface for equipment automation right is a lot trickier than expected. David Arminas reports from the CECE conference in Rome For many contractors, digitisation is key for improving on-site operational efficiency. But it may be time to take stock of progress and examine what does and doesn’t work. That is not to say that the anchors should be thrown out to halt development. Far from it. In the past eight months, the CECE - Committee for European Construction Equipment – led
    Read More
  • Better excuses needed
    February 19, 2014
    A number of British drivers are now counting the cost for their feeble excuses for poor driving. One man was travelling at around 210km/h in his mother’s Mercedes, roughly twice the speed limit for the stretch of road, when he was spotted by police and stopped. When asked in court to explain his reasons for the inappropriate speed, he explained that the vehicle did not have cupholders and was therefore unable to hold his cup of tea. This was why he had to secure it on the seat, between his legs instead.
    Read More
  • Pan-European enforcement of driving laws due
    August 27, 2013
    Agreements are being reached that will see Pan-European enforcement of driving regulations. Drivers will now face being penalised for any offences committed in other European countries. The change is due on 7th November 2013. After this date EU Member States will commence the cross border exchange of data relating to road traffic offences. For this scheme to work, eight offences have been listed in the data exchange programme. These are; speeding, not using a seatbelt, red light running, drink driving, driv
    Read More
  • VDMA questions emissions future
    February 28, 2012
    The German construction equipment manufacturer's association, the VDMA, has stated that the new EU-exhaust emission directive presents a major challenge for its members.
    Read More

Highlighted Content