Call Sign January 2000

course in their day-to-day work. I would rather have seen a ceiling on the amount of credit work covered ie 150/200 jobs covered per month, then the bonus on top. At the moment the Incentive Scheme only seems to benefit the drivers who do a small amount of credit work each month and not the drivers who do a huge amount. Would it be possible for you to reward the drivers who cover more than 150 jobs a month? I look forward to hearing your reply.
Tony Lawyer (C51) ...via email
You sent this letter before receiving the November issue where you would have read Brian Rice's response...Ed

SON OF A HELICOPTER
I would like to make some comments on the Mike Son Special Projects article (Nov Call Sign) re customers enquiring about getting to Scotland, Cardiff or wherever. Surely a cab (we are still called Dial-a-Cab) should be the first and second thought. Only then should there be mention of a plane or helicopter.
Secondly, I agree that we should all be polite and tidy. The Board all look very nice in their DaC blazers, but what about we drivers being issued with blazers or smart cotton jackets and a couple of polo shirts? Wouldn't this create the right impression?
Lastly, I would like to say that we are not hired for our looks - certainly not in my case! We have other attributes that limousine and van or bike drivers can't live with. These are the skills we should be selling - our ability to adapt to traffic conditions without recourse to maps. We are constantly trusted with young children. We know the 'in' clubs, pubs and restaurants etc.
I was once told by a titled account client that the type of person who finishes the Knowledge and works daily in London is far superior to any chauffeur - and he should know having had a driver for twenty years plus being driven by company cars most days. But he uses Dial-a-Cab by choice.
Jon Trevor (W94)
Nowhere in Mike Son's article does he suggest that we convince clients to use a helicopter instead of a cab. The service would be aimed at those who requested a helicopter...Ed

CECIL BITE BACK!
I find the explanation to my letter given by Mike Son to be incredible and in one respect, totally incorrect. I started my data base in June 1996 and it was completed by mid September. During that period I also dealt with dozens of anomalies including absurd prices. From there on I spent only a small amount of time adding new prices as they were agreed by the Sales Dept. As far as the copies being corrupt, on backing up data of this nature, I always immediately reopen the file from the back-up disk. I always made at least two copies and made sure they were stored in different places. In this case, one was left in the office safe. Furthermore, if and when it was discovered that the back-up was corrupt, how is it that no one contacted me to see if there were any previous copies? I always make sure that I do not overwrite until the current copies are OK. Why did it take almost three years before another data base was started? How much have the drivers collectively lost by not having the prices regularly reviewed? There must have been three tariff increases in the period. Why were they not updated?
Cecil Selwyn (V76)

Allen Togwell replies:
Mr Selwyn, why is it you persistently refuse to accept explanations, I have already discussed the matter with you at length but you continue to miss the point. During your time on the Board with no official role, you occupied yourself by collating a data-base of fixed prices. At that time we had absolutely thousands of fixed prices on the system, many of them obsolete going back quite a number of years. I suggested to you to only list currant users, but you insisted on typing onto a spread sheet every fixed price we had on our files which you copied from a printout obtained from the Admin system. The printout which was A3 size and over 4" thick was in no chronological order, not even in client order, yet you chose to make the job more difficult by adding totally unnecessary data. Plus you did it manually, when in fact the whole thing could have been transferred automatically from an Ascii file. I'm sure you would agree that you are not the fastest typist in the World and as the work you did took up the space of several floppy disks, one can imagine how long it took you to complete together with the cost, compared to that of a junior clerk. Up until a short while ago, practically every client with fixed prices had their own negotiated terms. This is no longer the case. When Mike Son took on the project, he agreed to my suggestion that we only list fixed prices that have been used during the past twelve months (less than 20% of the total) the remainder to be deleted. Having listed them on a simple spread sheet, he re-costed them using one set of parameters. Which means that with the exception of one or two clients, every fixed price is now charged at the same rate. Having brought all the charges up to date, they will remain that way until the annual fare increase, whereby every fixed price will be increased by the percentage as set by the PCO. So Mr Selwyn, I will repeat yet again what I have already told you: even if the work you did was ever found, it would be of absolutely no use to us whatsoever.

PARKING IN SOUTHWARK (CONTINUED)
I too have suffered the deceit of the Southwark traffic wardens. Whilst waiting for a passenger in a shop in Walworth Road, I was told to move on by a traffic warden. This I did by reversing into a side street. Several weeks later, I received a summons from the Parking Offences Office demanding payment. I returned the summons with a covering letter stating that no parking offence had taken place, no parking ticket was issued to me and that I wanted the matter investigated as I suspected that I was not the only person this had happened to. I have heard nothing since and do not expect to. These people are obviously bent on getting their daily quota of parking tickets issued by fair means or foul.
Pat France (A81)
Well done Pat. I guess it takes a woman...Ed

CODE 77 - THE FINAL WORD?
Thursday 25th November, 9pm in the City, I'm ready to go home and there are 57 jobs available. But the perfect end to the day has been ruined by the decision to scrap the 'going home' facility.

Who and what is responsible for this decision? Over the few weeks it was in force, I spoke to many drivers and the vast majority seemed in favour, but once again the silent majority has missed out to the vociferous few. Why are we the members not consulted on such a decision? I feel something of this magnitude should be dependent on the result of a ballot. If the membership vote against, then so be it, but to have it scrapped in this way seems at best undemocratic, at worse scandalous.
I found the going home facility to be a real incentive to work for the Society. I would readily cover anything that came my way, but with this bonus taken away, I feel the temptation now to let the Society work for me.
So its 9pm in the City, there are 57 jobs on the system but there are 157 on the street. I may just as well take a street job. At least I can reject it if it's going more than 6 miles in the wrong direction!
R. G. Connor (G96)
Brian Rice replies:
The BoM instituted Code 77 with the best of intentions, to help the driver home while also covering another credit ride. In reality, what happened was that members were sitting in the City zones with their Code 77 on. Other drivers that were working would not bid for a job in those zones because they considered that any work there would not be 'special', otherwise a Code 77 would have taken it. Consequently, coverage actually deteriorated. Mr Connor, I do accept your point, but you are only concerned with your own well-being (nothing wrong with that) but I have to consider the well-being of the majority of the membership and of course the Society. If we had continued with Code 77, I believe we would have lost work, thereby affecting everyone. May I suggest that if you feel that this subject deserves a ballot, you make a proposition for the forthcoming AGM to have the Code 77 re-instated, it would certainly make my job easier. The BoM is damned if we have it and damned if we don't.

CASH WORK SUGGESTION
I have had an idea regarding the dispatching of some cash work. I, like many other drivers, do not mind running for cash work but you are never to sure whether the job is cold cash or an account customer paying cash. Only when you accept the job are you then told if it is an a/c client paying cash or not. Whatever the case, could this a/c paying cash not be put on the trip offer and this way I am sure more drivers like myself might be tempted to run for that cash work. At least if it is an account customer, you know that there is a fair chance they might still be there and will wait if the job is running late.
Tony Conway (M42)
Call Centre Manager Keith Cain replies:
I do not think it can be done automatically. It would have to be placed in the destination field by the call taker. Having the entry time or pre-booked time on the trip offer, a driver can judge how long to pick up. I suggest that unless a driver can arrive at the pick up within five minutes of accepting the trip, they should always do a delay advise. Then the passenger will accept or reject the offer. I have always used this method when accepting cash rides whether they be for account customers or not and it has worked for me.