Money in Your Pocket
As you will have heard or read, Dial-a-Cab are the first London licensed radio taxi circuit to lower its subscriptions. To gain from this offer, all you need to do is fit the Society's logo onto the two front doors of your taxi and have them affixed all the time you are working. When you are travelling around London, millions of people will view our striking design and realise how many taxis they are able to call upon for their journey.
   I have for many years advocated that this is the best and cheapest way to advertise for our shareholders. Nobody is allowed to put up a billboard in the front of Buckingham Palace, St James Palace or the House of Commons, but when you drive into or just past these premises, that is what you are doing. It will also enable other subscribers to recognise you if you are in trouble and they are more likely to stop and help.
   When waiting outside a theatre or other large venue, it enables our clients to recognise you quicker, so it should cut down on waiting time. This being the case, you would be able to cover more work and your earning potential should increase.
   But as with any offer, there are always conditions and people who will try and cheat the system. Our conditions are simple: To gain the reduction in subscriptions, you have to display the logos all the time you are working. If you are caught claiming the reduction and not complying by the rules, your subscription will be taken to the higher level and remain there. You will also be subject to a possible complaint.
   We will soon be facing a lot of competition from various places, so let's get the work now and keep it. You know it makes sense...

Forty Job Minimum
At the beginning of May, Shelagh and myself sent out 105 complaint forms to drivers who had not completed 40 jobs originating from our data system. 
   All of these drivers had not completed the 40 jobs over 3 or more months and we still have a lot more drivers to contact. The 40 jobs equate to 1.2 jobs a day

or 2, if you work a 5-day week; that is not a lot to ask you to complete for your Society.
   The excuses are varied, but few are valid. Many drivers have told us that they have cut their working week down to 3 days and expect other drivers to cover the work while they are absent, so that it is still there when they want to return to work. Even when they do work on those 3 days, they are doing more street work and not helping out with account trips. These are the same drivers who would complain if street work dried up, that there wasn't enough credit work.
   We are not London Transport, if a driver has 4 days off in a week, his taxi - and our terminal - is parked up against a wall. We cannot call in a man on overtime to take the cab out so that the fleet is kept up to strength.
   When we fit the new terminals, that will allow us to have some spares, so then we could possibly take on extra drivers to make up the shortfall. But what happens then when they all come back to work to get their holiday and Christmas money? It is a difficult balancing act, but you, the DaC drivers, can solve it. Our clients have faith in Dial-a-Cab's drivers, we are the most respected taxi circuit in London, so let's retain that respect and give our clients the service they expect.
   The Chairman of a Newcastle licensed radio taxi circuit was in my office last week and he informed me that he had travelled all over England and Scotland looking at taxi firms. He is now modelling his company on ours, as he says it is the best run taxi company in the British Isles. That is wonderful praise from someone who knows the trade.

Westminster Account Information
There is a lot of information that drivers deny knowing about when they receive a complaint, so let me list a few rules  connected to the Westminster account.

1. Westminster Council will only pay £8.00 plus any night, weekend or Bank Holiday charge.
2. You must ask for the first £1 of any journey undertaken by a Westminster disabled passenger. If for example, the meter fare is shown as £7, then you ask the passenger for £1 and bill Westminster for the other £6.
3. On a Westminster disabled journey, if you get the job through the terminal, you must not swipe their card through during the trip to give them an extra £8 on the existing journey.
4. If you get a Westminster Hail & Ride, you can only swipe the card through once, the
   passenger cannot have the card swiped through twice on the same journey.
5. On a Westminster trip, you cannot stop the meter and clear the journey when it reaches
   £9.00, then swipe the card again to carry on the same journey.
6. The Westminster account does not have a minimum fare.

All of these rules are set in the Westminster contract and any driver found breaking them is liable to be put on complaint.
   If you are cancelled on any account ride, you receive what is on the meter, unless stated by the dispatcher. You do not receive the minimum £8.00.

And Finally...
It is a procedural offence of 'gaining an unfair advantage', if when offered a non-rejectable job through the terminal, you engage your meter then clear it and book back into a zone again.
If you have not already received a questionnaire and a verification form for subscription deduction (due to now having logo's), please make sure you return them as soon as possible so that we can charge you the correct subscription rate.

Tom Whitbread