With or Without?
The dreaded overhaul period came round recently and I did
something that I haven't done for many years, I went to work for those
four days. Normally I don't bother and just use the excuse to go away
for a few days, but this year Linda and I decided to go to Venice and
as March isn't considered ideal weather over there, we left it for
April and hence my having to work during the overhaul!
The cab was an almost-new TX1 kindly lent to me by Mann
and Overton. It had most of what you would need to go to work in
reasonable comfort, but there was one thing missing - a data terminal.
For four lonely days I did something that I had gotten out of the habit
of doing - I worked the streets. And let me add just one thing - I
hated every minute of it...
Let no one say that there isn't any work out there;
trapping street work isn't too difficult (considering that it was
March), what was difficult was trying to hide my face so that yet
another driver wouldn't ask me where my logos were! Oh yes, just one
other thing, it takes forever to take the same money that I can earn by
doing account work...
I'm used to only doing around six hours a day with the
magazine accounting for the rest. But in six hours of street trawling,
I had no chance of taking anything close to my normal money on DaC -
which isn't a great deal anyway in such a short period. However, at
least with a radio I know that there is a minimum that I can take on
most trips. On my first day of being radio-less, I started at my usual
6pm and didn't take a street job of more than the usual DaC minimum
fare until almost 11pm.
My 'new' experience made wonder why everybody isn't with a
radio taxi organisation and also made me realise just how cheap
licensed taxi fares are. That may well be our biggest problem when
private hire are eventually licensed; they will be happy to work for
amounts that we can't afford to work for. Those lower costs will be
passed on to clients - many of whom will be using both public and
private hire. If cost is paramount, then we face a dogfight. But if it
comes down to service, then no one can beat us. And if my experiences
of street work are anything to go by, then those licensed taxi drivers
who
make the choice of not joining a radio circuit are welcome to what's out there.
Credit Union
I can understand the reluctance of anybody when picking up
their daily dose of junk mail to immediately go out and apply for loans
following the 'exciting news' informing you that you have been accepted to
receive a loan of up to x thousand pounds should you require it! The
information may well be genuine, but I bet the queue consists mainly of
those who had a need for the cash at that particular time whether the junk
mail had arrived or not.
What I find it somewhat more difficult to understand is why
every single subscriber to Dial-a-Cab isn't knocking the doors down to the
Credit Union office and asking to become a member. After all, it's not as
though it costs you anything; neither is the DACCU asking you to put your
house up as collateral for a loan. It really does puzzle me that so many
DaC members overlook such a useful work tool.
All you do is fill in a form to sign up - nothing else. Then
should you decide that you would like to save a small amount each
week/fortnight/month (whatever period you get paid by DaC), it can be
taken off your credits automatically - no standing orders or direct debits
- it is so simple. A tenner a week is nothing, yet at the end of the year
you have £500 that you wouldn't have had and you also get interest on it.
But that's just a small part of it. Current DACCU regulations say that you
can then borrow up to three times that amount as a loan and pay it back at
rates that may sound similar to those advertised by banks, but will
invariably be better because as anyone who has ever been into a bank to
apply for a loan will know, the advertised rate only applies to everybody
else! So with very little outlay, you can pay for your tax bill, overhaul
or holiday...
Now new credit union ruling is about to overtake us and the
day
is fast approaching when DaC members will be able to buy a new cab via DACCU or perhaps pay for their daughters wedding! Yet you are not compelled to save or borrow or do anything if you don't want to. So why is it that two thirds of DaC subscribers are not members? As I said, it really puzzles me. Read Terry Lynn's article in this issue for details of a special way to make it easier for you to join.
Licences For Sale
No one can fail to be disturbed by the police revelation that
they had uncovered a 'taxi licences for sale' forgery racket, or by the
rumour that a taxi garage may be knowingly renting cabs to these people -
something I sincerely hope is untrue. Even though the number of forgeries is
said to be about 100 (or 0.5%), that is far too many when you realise the
damage that just one non-licensed person posing as a "taxi driver"
could do.
However, I 'd like to look more at the licensing of the taxi
rather than the driver. The bomb outside TV Centre shocked us all. Even
though the cab was unplated, most newspapers still referred to it as a taxi
and that is something unlikely to ever change.
However, I was speaking to a driver last week and he made what
I considered to be an excellent suggestion. When someone gets into a
licensed taxi, they know we are licensed by the plate on the back - or do
they? How many passengers hail you and then ask you to wait while they make
sure you have a plate on the back. Let's make it easier; how many this year
have done it? One? I doubt even that! Yet we make great store of that
licence and rightly so. But looking at the subject logically, you don't
really know that you are in a licensed taxi, you just assume it because it
looks like a taxi and has a meter in it. I know that there is a licence
number inside, but let's be honest, if you were running an unlicensed
'taxi', it wouldn't be difficult to produce an in-cab number that looked
reasonably genuine.
This drivers suggestion - and it is so logical as to defy
belief that it hasn't been considered - is to also display a licence in the
front of the cab. Then when you are hailed, it can be seen that it is a
genuine licensed taxi. Your comments would be welcome...
