Morgan Stanley
We have had some complaints from MS regarding drivers not complying with their requests on efficiency. They have instructed us that drivers must not wait more than 15 minutes from the time they arrive or from the pre-booked time, without first gaining permission from our Call Centre - who would have contacted the account holder following a drivers 'no show' request.
   When a driver arrives, he should contact either the account holder's reception or our Marshal depending on the time of day. Then you should return to your taxi and await the passenger. During this time, if you have been given a destination, you can ascertain the shortest route. Please do not wander off to have a conversation with other drivers or use toilet facilities belonging to other clients.
   The above should be common sense or good business practice, but the number of complaints I receive makes me wonder if it is such common practice.
   If a person does not want to travel on public transport, it is not a taxi drivers God given right that they must use a licensed taxi. You have to earn that right as I have constantly stated over the past 10 years. During that time I have been insulted because I dare to say that our image needs to improve.
   There are many subscribers out there who are wonderful ambassadors for our society, driving around in clean, polished taxis with their own presentation being clean-shaven and dressed in shirt, trousers and shoes. This goes a long way to help retaining accounts.
   Often, when I talk to drivers after receiving a complaint, I find that with a few seconds of thought, the problem could have been avoided. I know the pressures that we are under from traffic and irate passengers, but a moments thought and not lowering yourself to the level of a rude passenger, will give you the upper hand.
   If a passenger wants you to go a particular route, then take them that way; it may well be the longer route but it makes them feel good and probably puts more money into your bank account. But we have drivers who have to scream and shout that they have done the Knowledge and will not be told to go the way the client prefers. Screaming and shouting by either side is not conducive to a good relationship and only antagonises the other side to find a way for revenge...

Attributes
We have forms in Driver's Reception that drivers can use to change their attributes; these attributes denote to the data system what type of work the driver is willing to accept. The forms must be completed fully, signed and dated, if any part is not completed then no changes will be made. When you have completed the form, hand it to the 

person on reception and we will endeavour to make the changes  as soon as possible. These will be during normal working hours, Monday to Friday.
   There is now an attribute regarding the Goldman Sachs account, which is shared with ComCab. The attribute for this is J, so if you do not wish to participate in this account, come to the office and fill in the above-mentioned form. Otherwise it will be assumed that you are happy to do J trips.

Logo's
The Board has asked me to enforce the rule that if you are claiming for having Logo's fitted to your taxi and are working without them, to issue a complaint. This is gaining an unfair advantage - if not entering into the realms of fraud by claiming £240 a year to which you are not entitled.
   I get reports from many different sources ranging from Board members and Marshals to Subscribers regarding cabs without logos. The most common excuse comes from subscribers who still have magnetic logos and who say they forgot to put them on when starting work; I suppose it is fortunate that they do not forget their trousers or moneybag! The 'forgot them' excuse has now worn thin, so after you have received this issue of Call Sign it will no longer be accepted, as I have now brought it to your attention.

Roller Bonds
We have recently had Subscribers requesting the return of their roller bond when it has not yet reached the set amount. It is embarrassing for staff to refuse when subscribers come in and plead poverty or whatever excuse they can think of at the time. When the girls look, many of the drivers do not have the Society at heart, as the amount of account work that they do is minimal.
   The money that you pay into your roller bond helps pay yourselves before the client either receives their invoice or has paid DaC. If you had to wait until we received payment, then you could be looking at up to eight weeks from the time that you actually did the trip.
   If your roller bond has matured, then you need to have the request for payment in by Wednesday lunchtime. Payment will then be made the following Monday; you can request payment by cheque or have it sent straight into your bank account.

Radio Signals.
During the week beginning July 8, we had Bob White fly in from 

America to do a survey on all of  our transmitting equipment. This is the gentleman who designed and produced the Comms  Controllers that have been sending data to your cabs ever since we went over to our present despatch system. He and Tom Carter, the gentleman who part wrote the software along with his wife Debbie, worked all week analysing all aspects of the transmitting side of V6. Bob has now returned to America to collate his data and come up with ways in which we can improve our output of data through our existing channels.
   One of the points he immediately picked up on to help improve our signals was to reduce inconsiderate drivers being able to do queue positions every 30 seconds. When looking at the logs, it seemed as though these drivers were suffering short-term memory loss - a very serious illness, any person with it should not to be ridiculed!
   Why in heavens name does any driver need to sit and press the QP button every 30 seconds for up to 10 minutes? The list included ex Board Members! They should certainly know better from the time when they held responsibility...
   In addition to the QP problem, he picked up on unnecessary Advise Arrivals. Some drivers do an AA and then go into a reception or ring the doorbell. He also mentioned the number of drivers rejecting journeys; I will not embarrass you by stating how many in one 24-hour period alone!
   Bob told us that addressing  these points alone would improve our signals by approximately 30 to 40 per cent, which would then cut down drivers getting the 'resend' message.
   He is also looking to see if there are different available sites for our aerials to be positioned to give enhanced signal coverage over all of London. There are many other aspects he is looking at to help alleviate problems; hopefully he will be back to us with some results in the near future...

Mistakes.
Did you notice the reporter for a well-known trade paper who did not know how to spell Dial-a- Cab. They spelt it Dail-a-Cab and that was in the headline!
   As Call Sign Editor Alan Fisher will tell you, we have many arguments - some of them heated. But as a person who does not give praise very easily, I must admit Alan does a bloody good job of editing and getting some of the articles grammatically correct for our many readers throughout the world. His big failing is sneaking up behind you with his silly little tape recorder, hoping for an exclusive on a little bit of scandal! (Was that praise I see before me? Exit stage left ...Ed)
   Be lucky, drive safely and remember your family when road rage rears it ugly head.

Tom Whitbread