The growler was a type of four-wheel, enclosed carriage drawn by two horses used as a hackney carriage, that is, as a vehicle for hire with a coachman.
However, council licensing of taxis - both hackney carriages and private minicabs - requires drivers to produce an up-to-date enhanced criminal record check.
These soon replaced the hackney carriage as a vehicle for hire and with the introduction of a clockwork mechanical taximeter to measure the fare, the name became taxicab.
