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Father Christmas - A 2000 Early Warning!
The little boy sat up in bed as he heard the floorboards creak,
the adrenaline going through his body made it tingle. After all, this
was Christmas Eve and Father Christmas was due to arrive and leave him
the presents that he had waited for over the past few months. Dare he
peek outside the door, would it break the magic and make Santa
disappear?
But there was no choice, he just HAD to look! So over
he crept to the door, peeking through the gap he could see a figure
making its way along the landing. But hold on... he didn't have a long
red robe and flowing white beard and where was his sack of presents?
This man had a little black leather bag, a two day chin
stubble and jeans that hung like a builder's giving a half-view of his
bum.
Sadly, the little boy realised that Father Christmas still
hadn't arrived and this was just Dad back from a long day on the cab.
The dream of magical presents disappeared, he just knew that it would be
like last year again with all the video games that Dad liked and nothing
the little boy could take to show his friends.
When you returned from your late shift over Christmas
eve/morning, I hope that you tried not to wake the children up and ruin
what was a very happy holiday for them.
And I sincerely wish you and your families a very happy new
year...
Cabot Square
We have had many enquiries from drivers regarding the ranks
at Cabot Square and exactly when they are allowed to book onto E14C on
the V6 Data system. The first rank is just east of the Morgan Stanley
building and the second is the feeder rank directly behind it. If you
are not physically on either of these ranks, you should not book into
E14C.
If you book onto E14C from any other place or rank, you
could leave yourself open to a complaint from another driver who is
correctly positioned on a Dial-a-Cab designated rank.
Terminal 1 (Heathrow)
Driver's Operations have been
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asked by the persons who man the taxi desk at Terminal 1 for our
drivers assistance. If you pick up from the outside taxi stand when you
have a booked job, would you check whether your passenger went to the
Taxi Booking Desk. If they did not and came straight out to meet you,
please inform the taxi desk that you have picked up. If you don't inform
them via their phone, they will carry on looking for the person and
displaying their name on their board.
40 Jobs a Month
As you will have seen in the last Call Sign, we have taken to a
complaints meeting some drivers who have not fulfilled their minimum
quota of credit journeys per month,
I am in the process of building up a matrix of the drivers
being highlighted by our computer as low credit workers. If these
drivers continually fall below the set amount, they will be given the
option to resign. Then, in future months, if their circumstances improve
and they can adhere to the Society's rules, then they would be eligible
to reapply for membership to ODRTS.
Valentine's Dance
Some of the young ladies in our Call Centre are trying to
organise a Valentine's Day dance and give the profits to 'Dial-a-Dream'
the charity that makes terminal ill children's dreams become a reality.
They hope that the venue will be the Tower Hotel with a price for dinner
and dancing of about £30.
Before they can make a firm booking, they need to know if
they can sell enough tickets, so if you are interested you can contact
Sam Livermore, Lucy Tully or Jamie Ann Wise in the Call Centre, or you
can leave a message in my mail box in the driver's reception and I will
pass it on.
Norwich Union
On the 8th of November, someone backed into my taxi. There
wasn't a terrific amount of |
damage but due to the point of contact, the front wing cracked. The
other party exchanged details with me and I was pleased that they too
were insured with Norwich Union. I assumed that it would speed up the
settlement.
So I went to the old Nelson's garage in Richmond Road, Hackney where
they looked over the damage. and said that they would complete the
repair as soon as Norwich Union gave the OK. I waited for 2 weeks after
the forms were sent in, but no reply. So I phoned my broker and enquired
when I would hear from Norwich Union. He was surprised that I had not
already heard, so he phoned and was told I would be phoned back straight
away.
After another 3 days of hearing nothing,, I was then given
a number to call which I did on five occasions over a week. I spoke
continually to a Sarah Smith who said she could not get an assessor who,
she informed me, was from an independent company. I said that if they
were an independent company employed by a large company like Norwich
Union, they should respond to every call with urgency as they could lose
a lucrative account. Could it be that she, the assessors and Norwich
Union didn't care as it is now a month since the accident and the cab
has still not been examined. I sincerely hope that that is not the case
because the NU have many cabs insured with them and no renewal is more
than 12 months away.
My taxi is also due off the road in 6 days time for its
yearly overhaul, so even if they were to inspect the taxi immediately I
would now not have it back until well after Christmas whereas at least I
could have had some use out of it in between, had they treated me as
they should treat all their clients - a priority...
Norwich Union have been given all these facts but still
nothing has been done. This is the first claim I have had for over 15
years, but it seems that loyalty and good driving appear to mean nothing
to this insurance company.
So when insuring your taxi, unless you are the only cab
driver in the world who can guarantee that they won't have an accident,
look for a company that treats its claims as a priority, because you are
self employed and without your taxi you are not earning.
Tom Whitbread |
