page_title: Mann & Overton
section_title: Scotland Yard
hierarchical_section_title: Mann & Overton / Scotland Yard
caption_attribution_description: English: Old "New Scotland Yard", Westminster Viewers of old black-and-white crime dramas will recognise the red brick building on the right as the former HQ of the Metropolitan Police - before they moved nearer to the Home Office. It was, for example, in the opening credits of "Fabian of the Yard". On the extreme left is the edge of Portcullis House, new offices for MPs. Español: Anterior sede de "Scotland Yard", en Westminster. Las personas de cierta edad interesadas en las historias de detectives y de misterios, y en especial los seguidores de la serie de televisión de la BBC titulada "Fabian of the Yard" (basada en los casos reales que tuvo a cargo el detective Robert Honey Fabian), probablemente reconocerán el edificio de ladrillo rojo a la derecha, y lo identificarán como la antigua sede de la Policía Metropolitana, antes de que la misma se mudara a su actual emplazamiento. En la parte izquierda de esta imagen, se aprecia un extremo del edificio llamado Portcullis House, donde se ubican actualmente las oficinas de los miembros del parlamento.
context_page_description: Mann & Overton Limited owned and operated a motor vehicle dealers business previously known as Mann & Overton's and established 14 May 1901 which came to specialise in the supply and financing of London taxicabs, first Unic then Austin Taxicabs, eventually holding the concession for the Austin taxicab chassis for the whole of the Metropolitan Police Area of London.
  Their base was at 177, Battersea Bridge Road, London, SW11 and their distribution area included the provinces. A major part of their operation was funding cars for drivers carried out from 1907 by Mann & Overton Finance Limited ultimately M&O's major asset, bought by the Lloyds Bowmaker finance group in 1977.
  Their non-finance vehicle retail and service operations were bought in 1984 and added to the group owning Carbodies, later known as London Taxis International, which since 2013 is in liquidation following unsustainable warranty claims.
  The most popular London taxicabs continue to be built to the essential Mann & Overton design and provided by their firm's successors.
context_section_description: The Public Carriage Office—then under the Metropolitan Police at Scotland Yard but now part of Transport for London (as Taxis and Private Hire)—regulates the design of London's taxicabs. The reason for the lofty appearance was a police regulation stating there must be adequate room for a gentleman wearing a top hat but no-one stipulated what length a gentleman must be from topper to bottom.
  Responding to pressure from the London public as well as the industry, in 1927 various design requirements were relaxed. The changes took effect in 1928. Minimum ground clearance went from 10 to 7 inches, four-wheel braking was permitted, the petrol tank no longer need be under the driver's seat and the turning circle was relaxed.
caption: Old headquarters, Metropolitan Police
  New Scotland Yard 1888-1967
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