Taxi!

Up very early to go and stand on a bridge across the A2 at Dartford. The reason: today was the start of this year’s Magical Taxi Tour, and I wanted to cheer it on its way.

This is the annual event that sees 100 London cabbies, in their own time freely given, take 100 seriously ill children and their families to Disneyland Paris for an unforgettable weekend of respite and fun.

The cabs travel in convoy, escorted all the way by British and French police, and accompanied by London Ambulance Service paramedics, a team of doctors and AA patrols and breakdown trucks.

It’s a huge enterprise to organise, means so much to the children, and gives them a much needed break from hospital treatments and gruelling medical procedures.

So well done all the cabbies and organisers, and also my daughter, who works for the black cab manufacturer and is driving one of the convoy.