completing more than 100 trips per month, will receive new equipment,
the equipment that remains will then be fitted to the members that do the
most work in order of ascendancy...
Re Call Sign: as I edit the mag on my own and it takes me
most of the month, I'd never get away if there were 12 monthly issues!
However, the 11 issues per year is also to keep the cost down and has been
operational for several years from before the time I became Editor. Thanks
for the compliments Terry...Ed
FIXED PRICES
Re your Editorial on fixed prices in the June edition of Call Sign,
I would be more then willing to do a fixed price job. I do them in the
course of my working week and they are down on my attributes. I only work
on a part-time basis but still do my 40 jobs a month. I work evenings and
nights but if a fixed price long job was available during the day and by
prior arrangement, I would do it. And of course, I would go to Leeds for
£400...! Why has nobody asked us, what is the point of having it down as
one of our attributes?
Keep up the good work, the June issue of Call Sign was one of your best
yet.
Ted Andrews (Y87)
I think I should explain something here, Ted. When I said that no one
asked us, that referred to the clients who perceived us as being too
expensive on long trips and not anyone at DaC. We have some drivers like
yourself who are happy to do a fixed price ride based on an hourly figure
rather than the meter and we have some who refuse to work below the meter
- let alone our normal fixed price chart. A trip to Leeds using our usual
fixed price method works out at around £480, whereas the minicab firm
mentioned in the Editorial did the trip for £400 regardless of traffic or
diversions etc. The problem is that if David Adelman in the Sales
Department offered fixed price trips as in the percentage decrease of the
Leeds trip, there would be quite a few moans on how we are abandoning the
meter. However, I have now informed the person I referred to in the
Editorial that it is always worth phoning us for a quote and asking us if
we can beat a given price for a long trip. However, you should bear in
mind that the fuel consumption for a cab on a 400 mile return trip would
be about £65...Ed
ACCOUNT INFORMATION
Would it be possible to have a list of credit accounts sent to me
or put in the magazine, so that when I do my sums I know what money will
be paid into my bank. Some accounts do not pay waiting time and that can
make quite a difference to the total credits.
Keep up the good work...
Jeremy Fund (A9)
I asked on your behalf and it would be too difficult as we have several
thousand accounts. The number that do not pay waiting time are fairly
small but are generally the large usage accounts. It would probably make
an even bigger difference to your total if we lost them because we
insisted on waiting time payments. Speaking personally as a driver, I find
that any reasonably distanced job that had a fifteen or twenty-minute wait
is usually very well paid even without an extra-added amount...Ed
THANK YOU
I'd just like to say thank you for the flowers I received from ODRTS. They
were lovely and I was very touched at the thought. It's nice to know that
you are not just a call sign. I'm getting on well now and hope to be back
at work by the beginning of July.
R.A.Thomas (D59)
Pleased to hear you are recovering well. I notice that your call sign was
drawn out in the June issue as winner of the Talk of London tickets. I
hope you managed to use them.
Can I also use this opportunity to send get-well wishes to
the person who usually arranges for flowers etc to be sent to sick
drivers, Doreen Cousins. Get well soon Doreen...Ed
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FUEL PRICES
I could not agree more with your Editorial comments on the price of
fuel (June Call Sign). It is this constant pressure from the 'seven sisters'
ie the major oil companies - although after recent mergers there are only
five left - to increase profits and government greed which is holding back
drivers from converting to the cleaner LPG. Drivers are obviously concerned
that no sooner will they convert to LPG, than the government - losing
revenue from falling diesel sales - will just start making up the short fall
by increasing tax on LPG! Then the oil companies will start to add their own
increases to boost profits whilst blaming the government for the price
rises.
What I personally do when my usual garage at Clipstone Street increases its
prices, is that I fill up anywhere else that is cheaper until their prices
come down again. As this garage does not have any real passing trade as
such, I have found that they soon come down in price and become the cheapest
filling station in the West End again.
Like most drivers, I was disappointed at the recent meter
increase, particularly the lack of preconisation that night work is severely
undervalued. However, I know that the issue is not dead as negotiations will
take place with Transport for London (TfL) once it is fully operational. I
feel that DaC could take a small lead in this issue by increasing the £8.00
minimum to £8.60 after 8pm and £8.90 after 12pm.
Regarding job coverage I wonder if it would not be possible to
give a driver the option of local jobs only. Like most drivers, I have
evolved a work pattern that suits me and it usually pivots around my chosen
eating pattern. As I usually eat at Tinseltown in St John St at about 9pm,
this means that if I am near to, or indeed in the City after 8 pm, I will
not take an AD trip. However, if I could book in to do a local or perhaps
even two, I could cover more account trips at this busy time and the same
must apply to other drivers for similar reasons.
On the subject of AD's, I thought that if a driver was given a
True AD then the job was a True AD. This is not happening. I was recently
offered a True AD from Upper Ground only to be given WC1 as the destination,
so this was not a True AD. This is not the first time it has happened. If we
are told that True AD's will be true then that is what they should be.
Alan, have a good break...
Eddie Lambert (V27)
I was told that the Call Centre have occasionally used AD to get work
covered but no longer do it. However, calltakers are only human and can make
mistakes... Ed
BRIAN CORNWELL
I would like to thank all of the people involved in writing such a lovely
obituary (Call Sign June/July) for our Dad, Brian Cornwell. Our thanks also
go to Brian Rice for attending the funeral along with so many other taxi
drivers and the ladies from the Shelter. Neither our mum or us realised what
a tight-knit community the taxi circuit is and it is very heart warming to
know that our Dad was thought so much of and so very popular. Dad would be
chuffed to know how supportive you have all been in our time of need,
especially David Lloyd, Tommy Searle and Fred Boyle - thanks chaps.
In order to raise money for Leukaemia care at Greenwich
Hospital, we will be running in the Flora Women's Challenge on Sunday 16th
July in Hyde Park. If anybody who knew our Dad would like to sponsor us,
forms are available from the taxi drivers named above, alternatively you can
send cheques made payable to Greenwich Healthcare Trust (Dr Ireland) FAO
Nina Cornwell, 9 Colyton Close, Welling, KENT DA16 1EW.
Thank you again for your support...
Nina & Emily Cornwell
Thanks for the letter, Nina and Emily. I'm sure your dad would feel very
proud of you for running to aid such a good cause. If anybody would like to
make a donation towards Leukaemia care at Greenwich Hospital, you can either
send a cheque to the address in the letter or leave it in the Call Sign
cubby hole in drivers reception and Call Sign will pass it on for you...Ed
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CALL SIGN
Just seen your fantastic, super slick magazine Sir! Now I can fully
understand why so many friends in the for-hire vehicle industry rant and
rave about Call Sign being the Rolls Royce of taxi publications. To say that
we ALL here at the Safety Council were extremely and totally impressed would
be the understatement of the century, Sir. Many, many thanks to you my
friend.
Most sincerely and respectfully in solidarity...
James L. Szekely Sr.
Director of International Taxi Drivers Safety Council
Huntington, West Virginia, USA
Thank you James, your sentiments are appreciated...Ed
ALBANY CHARITY OUTING
I would like to thank all the drivers that gave up their time for the
Albany Taxi Charity Fund children's outing to Margate. We had 115 Taxi's
which is more than we have had for many years. One year we were down to 35,
so once again a big THANK YOU to all those that turned up and hope to see
you again next year.
Jamie Owens (S67)
THE VIEWS OF SIDNEY NATHAN ESQ
What a BoM! What a magazine is Call Sign! What an Editor! (What are you
up to Sid...Ed?)
Firstly I must congratulate the Board regarding subs (or is it logos?) and
taking up my suggestion so quickly - well in nine months! I have enclosed a
copy of my Call Sign letter from October 99 where you can see my suggestion
and the lovely reply from our Marketing Manager, Mr Allen Togwell. Thank you
Allen.
I have suggested many ideas in the past. Some were ignored
while some have taken 25 years to implement! Here are some:
1. Make the AGM in January or February. "Not possible" was the
answer from Martin Gellman's BoM. Now, 25 years later it has been done.
2. Can drivers be supplied with little pillows that have disposable covers
(like airlines) for executive passengers or long haul clients? Clients can
then ask for a pillow from a driver who has it in his attributes that he
carries one. That makes for extra comfort and happy customers - far better
than the other circuits.
3. Call takers should put ALL details on the trip offer - such as
"entrance by Childs Place." That saves you driving around the
one-way block in traffic and saves the customer's time. Also, please put
which part of the road a number is if it is a long road - eg 456 Kilburn
High Road by Willesden Lane. Years ago on voice, we were afraid of somebody
'nicking' the job. On data, that excuse doesn't hold water, so give us the
information.
4. When are we going to have the new telephone numbers for our doors with
the 020 prefix?
The rest of my suggestions will be continued later.
Sid Nathan (K88)
Sid has threatened me unless I reprint his letter from October and I hate
violence!
"Can I suggest that the answer for making drivers put logos on their
cab doors is not by begging or even just asking us, but through the medium
of subscriptions (on our way to nil subs?). If and when the subs have to go
up, I suggest that if for example the increase is £20, then drivers with
logos will only be asked to pay an extra £10. You can then forget the £300
draw. What do the Board think?"
I like the idea of the pillows, Sid. We could ask passengers them if they
would like to sit on a 'Sid'...Ed
EBOOK COMPETITION
Good day, London. The name of the author of ARE YOU SURE is David Gawthorn.
As a cabby myself in the City of Toronto, I can identify with some of the
experiences of David which he wrote about in the first chapter of his book.
Leave it to a 'cabby' we've been there, done that... Hope I'm a winner!
Terry Crawford
Toronto, Canada (tcrawford@sprint.ca)
Sorry Terry, the competition is closed and the four winners will by now have
received their copies of David Gawthorn's excellent ebook ...Ed
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