Phil Davis, the Jewish founder of the Magical Taxi Tour, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List for his work on the charitable initiative that takes children with life-threatening illnesses to Disneyland Paris each year.
Organised through the charitable trust of the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers (WCHCD), a livery company of which Davis is a twice Past Master, the Magical Taxi Tour has been Davis's crowning achievement since its inception in 1994. Just after the initiative's 30th anniversary, he is finally being recognised for his altruism.
Davis came up with the idea for the annual event whilst acting as Chairman of WCHCD’s Charitable Trust. With the opening of Disneyland Paris in 1992, he thought to organise a three-day trip to the resort and theme park for children with serious health conditions and their families, involving dozens of London taxis and charitable sponsors to make the 750-mile roundtrip journey a reality.
Phil Davis MBE. (Photo: Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers)
“This was going to be a one-off trip, but from the feedback that we got from hospitals, how the children’s conditions improved when they knew they were going to Disneyland, it gave them a target to work towards,” said Davis. “So I decided I would seek further sponsorship so we could continue the event, and we had a great response – ever since then it’s just got bigger and bigger.”
The first trip included 50 cabs and some 100 children; now doubled in size, the tour includes 100 cabs and 200 children each year, plus medical backup, ambulances and police escorts.
The taxi convoy departs for Disneyland Paris from Canary Wharf. (Photo: Nicky Bamber and Chris Mathison.)
Davis, a member of Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue, said he must raise £200,000 to fund the annual excursion, covering accommodation and food for upwards of 425 people across the weekend, but thanks to sponsorship from a variety of companies, petrol and spending money for the children are covered.
“So many people want to be on board that fortunately for us we’re not struggling,” said Davis. “After Covid I was really worried, because when you stop something it’s hard to build up momentum, get your old supporters back, but fortunately during Covid we kept contact with them, so we know that the trip is good at least for the next two to three years.
“We raise a lot of money in the back of taxis as well – when you look at the tip-up seats opposite you, we advertise our charity and there’s a QR code that takes you straight into a donate page on JustGiving,” Davis said. “Honestly, in nine months, we’ve raised £23,000 from people who sit in the back of taxis.”
Children smile en route to Disneyland Paris as part of the Magical Taxi Tour, founded by Phil Davis. (Photo: Nicky Bamber and Chris Mathison)
Davis, who remains a trustee of WCHCD’s Charitable Trust, said the trip has taken about 6,000 children to Disneyland since it began, but the stories of each child and their family remain with him.
“We had a child who we know was in palliative care, so he came on the trip and his mother said, ‘let him do whatever he wants in Disney.’ We came back on the Sunday night and on Wednesday morning the mother phoned me to say unfortunately, her son had died,” Davis recalled. “She said, ‘We knew this was going to happen, but after he’d been three times around Space Mountain, he came off with a smile that I'd never seen, and I have a photo of that, which is a memory of the weekend’, and that makes all the difference why we do it: it’s happy memories for the parents.”
Davis said receiving an MBE was a surprise “because a lot of people look for recognition and I don’t.
“Life just goes on – I'm quite happy just to keep doing this,” he said. “I wouldn’t expect anything for what I do, just a smile on the faces of the kids.”
