Driven to succeed: meet London’s youngest black-cab driver

Bahrain Mujagata completed the Knowledge in just two years and five months. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Bahrain Mujagata completed the Knowledge in just two years and five months. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian Driven to succeed: meet London’s youngest black-cab driver Bahrain Mujagata is just 21 years old and balances taxi driving with university studies and acting classes “I ’ve got T-shirts older than you!” The joke draws laughter from a table of black-cab drivers gathered in the Astral cafe on Regency Place in Westminster. Around the table, cabbies swap stories accumulated over decades behind the wheel: picking up the England World Cup hero Geoff Hurst, ferrying senior politicians around London, and navigating the capital long before smartphones and satnavs existed. At just 21, Bahrain Mujagata is an anomaly among them. In late 2025, he became London’s youngest licensed black-cab driver after completing the Knowledge – the notoriously demanding test of the capital’s streets – in just two years and five months. Most candidates take three to four years to qualify, according to Transport for London. Outside Charing Cross station, a security guard spots Mujagata and immediately pulls out his phone. “I’ve never ever seen a cabby this young,” he says, laughing as he takes a picture. “My family won’t believe this.” Mujagata has become used to the reaction. Customers have given him flowers, chocolates, tips and even Formula One tickets after discovering his age. Sometimes, people flag him down only to say hello. “Very many customers have noticed me before,” he says. “They don’t even take the cab. They’ll just stop me and go: ‘I know who you are.’ And I’ll be disappointed and happy at the same time because I thought I got a job.” View image in fullscreen Mujagata with fellow cabbies at the Astral cafe in Westminster. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian The attention reflects how unusual his decision is. According to Transport for London, the number of licensed black-cab drivers has fallen by more than a third over the past decade. Most drivers are 54 or older . Yet, for Mujagata, becoming a cabby never felt unusual: his father and brother both drive a black cab. Growing up, he watched his mother having to ask permission for annual leave while his father largely decided his own schedule. “The flexibility was the biggest thing for me,” he says. Mujagata studies computer science at university in London and takes acting classes on the side. Most afternoons, he finishes lectures, starts driving at about 4pm, and works into the night before returning for 9am classes the following day. Even if neither acting nor technology become a long-term career, he says, the Knowledge means he will always have a profession to fall back on. “I am always going to have my badge,” he says. “I could not work for two years and still come back and work in the third.” View image in fullscreen Mujagata achieved this feat while studying for his A