A TAXI driver decided to stand out from the crowd by kitting out his cab with top tech to keep his passengers entertained.

Mark Bates of Virtual Taxi added a VR headset, PlayStation 4 and 17-inch television to the back seats of his private hire car to liven up long journeys for his customers.

The 53-year-old has been driving people around Swindon for 21 years and first toyed with the idea of backseat gaming a decade ago by setting up a PlayStation 2 in his old car.

He left the console behind when he changed from a private car to a black cab. Then in 2019, he decided to go all-out and splash £6,000 on a new vehicle fully-fitted with the latest tech after receiving inspiration from an unusual source.

He said: "It's my dream taxi - literally, the idea came from a dream and I decided to make it a reality.

"It's been pretty popular so far, the customers love it and think it's brilliant. I've never had such a response before.

"Most people don't realise what it is when they first get in, they're quite surprised.

"I've been doing really well over the last 18 months, though of course things have taken a bit of a dip since the lockdown started. But now that restrictions are easing and airports are open again, my bookings are picking up.

"This is a whole new paradigm for taxi drivers now and I've heard of several drivers retiring and handing over their keys, but I've got a unique vehicle and a good Google presence so I think for me, the future is bright."

Mark is hoping to take this concept and run with it, expanding the area he covers, increasing the maximum length of his journeys from 10 miles to 20 miles, fitting out more cabs with consoles and recruiting more drivers to turn his one-man start-up into a national company.

The PlayStation games can be played at any time during the journey and the virtual reality headset can be worn in the front passenger seat or in the back - though due to possible motion sickness, it works best when the car is at a standstill.

And if passengers beat his lap time on Gran Turismo, the get up to a tenner off their cab fare.

For more information, visit www.thevirtualtaxi.com