On being told by the Editor that his rota system of Board Member contributions to Call Sign dictated that the December issue was to include an article by me, it would have been nice to have offered an essay in keeping with the festive season. Unfortunately, when things need urgently to be said - particularly contentious issues - having a choice of finding the appropriate time is not always an option.
   Quite often when I write about the various complaints we receive from clients, the feedback I get from our members by phone, letters or e-mail indicates that a good proportion are genuinely concerned about the problem, equally there are many who feel the stories have been exaggerated to gain maximum response, or have little sympathy because they believe the passengers are equally to blame.
   On this occasion I am not just airing the grievance of certain clients, I also speak from my own experience...
   There are I'm sure, many of you reading this who are experiencing a downturn in earnings compared with the same period last year. Firstly, it should be remembered that the economy over the past four or five years has been exceptionally buoyant, creating for the first time that I can remember in our trade a suppliers market and making a 'kipper' period almost non-existent. Obviously, this was never going to last forever and when the bubble did burst, a number of our members, particularly those who have only had their Bill for a few years, were going to be in for a nasty surprise.
   The first sign that this was to happen was at the outset of the foot and mouth crisis. With fewer tourists visiting London, more and more of our members were grabbing account work, which, whilst it kept the DaC figures steady, many of our high earners were seeing their job figures gradually eroding. There then followed repeated warnings of a mini recession, resulting in a number of the top taxi users reviewing their transport costs and in some instances, giving a portion of their work to Private Hire. We then, of course, had the horrendous tragedy in New York that sent such a wave of uncertainty throughout all walks of life with companies laying off thousands of jobs etc. At the time of writing, I have not a clue what effect this is all going to have on our trade, be it in the short, medium or long term.
   I do not wish to sound pessimistic, but from the general feedback being received from the square mile and within the trade at large, the early part of next year could well see a 'kipper' on par with the pre-1970's. A number of the large corporates are bitterly opposed to the new increased night charge, particularly when it goes against the agreements set out in their contracts with us. Many are instructing their personnel to reconsider their use of taxi transport, suggesting taxis to be used for shorter journeys or a portion of the journey such as to stations. And to consider using private hire for longer journeys...
   Needless to say we are doing everything we can to resolve the issue, including offering clients an alternative fare structure. The Board have also put into operation a new sales strategy to generate new business, including a change in sales personnel, plus the employment of a new Sales Manager. Everybody on the Board from the Chairman down, is involved in some capacity with sales regeneration and we are all extremely busy to that end. 

However, it is absolutely essential that you also play your part.
   We have already seen one large client being poached by a predator offering fixed prices so low that their drivers are refusing to cover the work and from the details of a copy e-mail that I have recently been privy to that was sent to one of our clients, there appears to be a campaign to buy work at any price.
   There is little we can do to protect ourselves against this lunacy, one can only hope it becomes self-destructive and that the perpetrator suffers the consequences.
   However in the meantime, what we must NOT do is make matters worse by giving our clients other reasons to take the business elsewhere.
   Each and every one of us have our own level of financial commitment and when through whatever reason we have difficulty in meeting that commitment, be it because of a high tax bill, overhaul or unforeseen financial outlay, it naturally causes concern. In isolation, many of these setbacks are often temporary and are soon resolved. The problem arises when there are added issues, such as personal problems, illness, family upheavals and of course a dramatic drop in work etc, which creates a level of stress that many drivers just do not know how to control. And it is this lack of control that is beginning to cause grave concern...
   To a normal person's thinking, one would assume that if something were hard to get, once obtained it would be received with gratitude. Unfortunately this doesn't appear to be the case when applying this logic to our trade; in fact it is having the reverse effect.
   In all the years that I have been associated with Sales at Dial-a-Cab, I have never known a period such as the past few months when we have had so many complaints about, miserable, dour, rude, unhelpful and complaining drivers. And as I mentioned earlier, it is not just from our clients, I am also experiencing it myself when I use cabs.
   Since the introduction of postal voting, there are now quite a number of our members who don't know me by sight, which means when on occasions I have cause to trap a DaC taxi off the street, I am regarded simply as a member of the public.
   700 of our members still have the old MDT's. A number of these MDT's have rarely been used to take cards, the consequences of which has caused the magnetic reader to become faulty. Now instead of embracing this malfunction as just another occupational irritant, far too many drivers are allowing this, plus other issues, to drive up their blood pressure to the point where they are losing complete mental control. Apart from the damage to their health and finding themselves facing a serious complaint, their behaviour could well cause a valuable client to take their business elsewhere.
   As an example, take the morning of October 24th.... After nearly killing myself ducking between traffic to get onto the other side of Euston Road because three previous cabs had difficulty doing a U-turn, I eventually stopped one of ours and was about to give the driver my DaC ChargeCard when he started to rant "Don't you lot carry money?... Get another cab ...my machine doesn't work... No  I can't tap the numbers in, it's my mates cab... What do you mean, you'll show me how to do it; who the hell are you...?" And before I could answer, I was left standing

in the road choking on exhaust smoke as he accelerated away. Now whilst the driver didn't recognise me, I knew him by face and I later learnt that the chap has a lot of personal and financial problems and is obviously under considerable stress. Hence the reason I didn't take the matter further. Unfortunately, our clients are not interested in personal problems. They do not accept it as an excuse for bad behaviour or for being discourteous. They believe that personal problems should be left at home and frankly, had they been treated the way I was, the chances are that they would have closed their account with us.
   When defending incidences such as the above to a client, I go to great pains to explain that the majority of cab drivers, unlike employees, cannot afford to stay at home. In fact, if the problem is financial, it only makes matters worse. I also explain that unlike working for a company, very few self-employed cab drivers have available to them the help necessary to overcome personal problem and stress.
   We have spoken about this subject before and the response in Call Sign was very positive with a number of drivers writing in to give examples of how they handled stress. Exactly how many found these suggestions helpful I don't know, but the situation now is again really becoming quite serious.
   Burying your head in the sand is not the solution, neither is arguing that because you have never witnessed examples of the aforementioned, it doesn't happen. It really does happen and my worry is how many more of our members will react in this manner if the work continues to drop...?
   To emphasis the point and the realisation that far too many drivers are totally oblivious to what is required in the service industry, after the above incident I immediately stopped another of our cabs, who also did not recognise me and on this occasion I decided to pay cash. At the end of the journey I gave a £2 tip and hearing no response, I politely asked the driver if he had ever considered saying to the passenger "thank you for travelling with Dial-a-Cab" and he said that it hadn't. So I asked him how he would react if he and his partner received the same attitude from a restaurant or hotel and he said he wouldn't use it again but couldn't understand what that had to do with the previous question.
   It was obvious that to continue the conversation would be a waste of breath, so I parted with the usual "be lucky" and for once I found myself really meaning it.
   In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, more than at any time in the history of the licensed cab trade, you are going to have to start acting like you are grateful for every passenger that gets into your cab and making a point of expressing that gratitude, irrespective of whether you get a favourable response or otherwise. Because, if people have a choice - as they will have with legalised PH - only you can convince them what that choice should be.
   Finally, I would like to say 'be lucky' to all of you and your families and wish you all a very happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Allen Togwell