Attire etc
When I walk out of Brunswick House, I see Dial-a-Cab drivers standing by their taxis, some looking very smart in a nice cotton shirt and trousers while others looking like road workers in unfashionable shorts, tee-shirt or polo shirt and smelly old trainers.
   These are the men and women who raise their voices and tell me they are the professionals in the trade of transporting people. Yes, I agree the smart and polite ones are portraying an image of a professional body, but at the other end of the scale ie the beach bums, are the ones riding on the backs of those trying to improve our status.
   We are now going into a time when our clients expect - and can get - well dressed drivers and clean polished vehicles to transport their staff. It is no longer the case that because we hold a badge, they have to give us the work. There are now large private hire companies that have taken over the running of their clients complete transport system, this means they will cherry pick the best jobs for their cars and farm out the rest.
   It should be Dial-a-Cab that are approaching these clients and offering to run their complete transportation needs. This transportation includes taxis, cars, bikes and maybe coaches; we could cover our own work and have selected car and bike company's to do other work.
   I am sure that the same people as before will comment that I am against the cab trade; they could not be further from the truth. These are people that just like to scream; perhaps they are getting on in years and have no care about how the cab trade will be in 5 or 10 years. Maybe they are like our old milkman's horse years ago, with a huge pair of blinkers so that he couldn't get a clear view of the horizon.
   We must now come away from the old boys club; you are in big business and must act as businessmen and women in this cut-throat world. It's no good saying "I think I'll go out and do a couple of jobs this week". Our clients are giving us plenty of work, but it all needs to be covered, otherwise the predators are waiting in the wings with their fangs bared.
   As a DaC driver, you are earning far more on average than drivers on the other circuits; we 

now have the figures to prove that fact.

Mobile Phones
Deutsche Bank have ask us to instruct drivers that they will not stand for our drivers using hand held mobile phones whilst they are transporting their personnel.
   If a police officer decides that due to you holding your cellular phone you do not have control over your taxi, you are now breaking the law. I would not like to see a driver lose any account and get points on his license just because his girlfriend maybe phoning him to go for a drink later.
   I have written in previous issues of Call Sign warning drivers that they must not use handheld mobile phones whilst completing a data despatched journey. If any client complains about a driver using his phone in this way, the Board will expect me to issue a complaint against the driver via our disciplinary procedure.
   Deutsche Bank have also instructed us to tell drivers that if they are taking any female employee home after 18:00 that they must wait until the passenger is safely in their premises. I know that really I do not have to tell you this, as any caring driver would do that anyway.

New Terminals
Many drivers have phoned me asking when are they going to be fitted with the new terminals. The Board has decided that the persons to be fitted first are the ones completing the most jobs per month. To give you an idea, the person at the top of the July list completed 374 jobs.
   We have also said that if a driver buys a new taxi and they are completing over 100 jobs a month, we will fit them with a new terminal during the new installation.
   Things you must not do on the new terminal whilst driving:
*You must not use the mapping system.
*You must not use the qwerty keyboard to send a message to the control room.

To use these facilities could be very dangerous whilst driving. In addition, if any driver is caught using the qwerty keyboard to send messages that are not  related to the current job he is completing, the control have the facility to disable his or her keyboard.
   We have some rather silly, childish drivers, who think it is funny to send cryptic or childish messages to the Call Centre. Every message sent slows the system down. So when you think of all the Q position, advise arrivals, no shows and temporary off messages that are sent every minute, you may realise why your terminal sometimes run slower.
   When I look at log sheets I sometimes cannot fathom out why a driver needs to do a Queue Position every 20 seconds, is it just that he is lonely? If you multiply every QP request by 100 or 200 hundred and then add the jobs that are being rejected, you will then realise how many messages go up the aerial lines per minute. It is not the computers that are at fault; it is the drivers who are misusing them.
   Don't forget that EC5 is now physical between midnight and 6am.

Roy Taylor
As I write this article, I have just received the sad news that Roy Taylor (L 84) aged just 56, has died. I have known Roy from the time we were at Shirland Road and I was the Night Dispatcher. Roy was a very kind and caring person, a person who I remember running miles to pick up my wife and daughter because I was working and no other cab would do it as a job.
   Roy was one of the first persons to assist Bob Heath and myself when we formed the charity Dial-a-Dream, which turns dreams into reality for terminal ill children. He raised money by holding quiz or variety nights and played in charity golf tournaments.  If you needed help Roy, would always offer. He was a man who would rarely speak ill of anyone.
   His first love was his family, followed by his golf, caravan and of course a pint of beer. In the last few years his family had suffered some tragedies, but Roy always fought back.
   The world will be missing a man who helped so many and brought humour in to many of our lives.

Tom Whitbread