Originally Posted by muzski
It's very common and almost expected in mini cabs in Scotland that you would sit in front.
Same for minicabs in London, on the rare occasions that I've been in them.
It's something to do with it looking to the police like the driver's giving a "friend" (ie the passenger) a lift, so as to reduce the likelihood that the police will pull them over, and therefore reducing the likelihood that the police will discover that the driver does not have "hire and reward" insurance to cover running the car as a minicab.