Even though I am writing this article in early December 2000, by the time you read it we may well have entered 2001 already, so may I take this opportunity of wishing all of you and your families a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
   No way could I possibly start my very next article in Call Sign after the issuing of the Rain Jackets without making a comment on the subject. It isn't often that I get inundated with phone calls from our members offering praise, in fact to be perfectly honest, it has never happened before - are you surprised?? No I didn't think you would be! OK, so the calls were mostly anonymous and I could sense the callers choking on their words, but it was still a nice gesture. But seriously, the response was truly excellent and whilst the motive was genuinely to give our members a Christmas gift that was practical, the flip side has been an enormous boost to Dial-a-Cab's image. It has been noticeable to everybody to see so many cabs carrying the Dial-a-Cab logo, complimented by the drivers wearing the Dial-a-Cab branded rain jackets. Personally, I think you all look fantastic.
   Amongst the many comments I have received from our subscribers, there has been a number asking for extra jackets for family members, wives in particular. Unfortunately we have not been able to meet this request at this time, however, the moment we know how many drivers have chosen not to claim their jackets and we are able to ascertain how many are available perhaps for re-sale, we will make it known.

Mischievous Ed
   Alan Fisher, in one of his mischievous moments, sent me an e-mail recently accompanied by a photograph of me, which made me think of the progress and changes that have been made since I first joined the Board some 14 years ago. I stood for the Board initially, because new business appeared to be at a standstill, due in my opinion to the fact we did not have a proper Sales department and I believed my business and sales experience would be an asset. Setting foot in Brunswick House and my views were confirmed as to why no new business was being made. I was amazed at how archaic we really were. I thought it incredible that we had survived for so long!
   In place of sales was a PRO whose job primarily was to pacify our clients when service was bad and this was achieved with the use of a well-worn folder that held a number of different stock letters. Following a particular complaint, a relevant letter was selected, copied on a copy machine and sent to the client. On the occasions when the PRO had to visit a client, he did so dressed in jeans, bumpers (a type of trainers) polo shirt and a leather jacket. Three months after I joined the Board, he asked me to take over the role of PRO as he had never wanted the job and was only doing so because no other Board member wanted the aggravation. So I replaced him and immediately set about creating a proper Sales department with the aim of generating new business. The photo in question shows me at the time using a recently purchased second hand electric typewriter, which I was allowed to obtain after putting up a bloody great argument at a Board meeting.
Board meetings - my goodness how these have changed! When I first joined the Board they used to last two days of 10-hour sessions in a thick, smoke-filled room, debating and arguing about the most mundane nonsense imaginable. To say those meetings were conducted a little differently from what I was used to was an understatement; two examples that bring a smile to my face now was that lunch consisted of hamburgers being brought in and to which each Board member paid their share of the cost, while the other memory was a Board member who regularly brought a dog to the meetings that repeatedly peed on the carpet, or the BM would suddenly disappear to take the dog for a walk! How I tolerated the stench from the dogs pee and burgers, including not getting lung cancer from all that cigarette smoke, I'll never know!

   Medium White for the Sales Dept Please...
   I also smile at the reaction to my first proposal, which was to have proper food delivered such as fish, including a bottle of white wine and that the company should pay for it. I never did find out whether the proposal fell because the Board were struck speechless or not, but it didn't get passed.  But I persevered and some time later when the first order for fish went over the radio as a job, I remember an ex-Board member going to voice and asking who was paying for it!
   Fortunately our meetings are now conducted in a proper, civilised manner, usually taking no more than half a day in total, discussing issues appertaining to previously circulated documented reports.

That photo! Allen Togwell as he was seen in his first callsign report  

 From the electric typewriter, my next battle was to obtain a small Amstrad computer - the first PC in the building. I managed to achieve this by using a ploy that I quickly learnt as being the only way of ever getting anything
done; lobbying Board members out of office. Mind you, at times it felt as though I was trying to get a Bill through the House of Commons, it just took months... 
Whenever a difficult proposition was put, the popular phrase was always 'lets keep our options open' or in other words - don't do anything! 
Having finally acquired my precious PC, I spent every moment I could find, often late into the night without pay, loading names from the Yellow Pages of clients from every industry in central London that we could 
service with cabs. I still have that client data base today, obviously updated and consisting of literally hundreds of thousands of contacts, including I might add, the client data of our two main competitors and customer data that we have purchased. This data, together with the format I use for direct marketing, is now based in a modern powerful computer and is extremely versatile.
Coming Up To Date
   Over the years we changed from voice dispatching to data. Board members have come and gone - thankfully with changed habits such as non-smokers. An additional floor was added to accommodate the new control centre, the latest refurb making it the most modern and advanced Call Centre in the cab trade.
PC's have become the norm. Our billing and reporting stats (important requirements of our major clients) are standard facilities and the depth of details now puts us well ahead of our competitors. The Sales department with an allocated budget and additional personnel is now an essential part of our company, and also following the purchase of specialised software and equipment, so is Marketing.   The Board during my time have adopted a far more professional attitude towards their role and take it as the norm to undertake courses in all manner of subjects appertaining to their department. No longer do I have to bang the Boardroom table to get my voice heard or work 60 hours a week and get paid for 40. Brunswick  House has had several major face-lifts all for the benefit of our members, staff and clients. Considerable emphasis has been placed on corporate image, resulting in Dial-a-Cab's name appearing in seven Evening Standard 'Blower' cartoons - exposure no amount of money could buy.
   Technology has advanced at an enormous pace, which has affected the method by which our clients and we communicate, including the booking of cabs for example, fax, phone, e-mail, voice-mail, Internet etc. No longer do we struggle to convince new clients that we are a professional company, run by a professional Board, professional Staff and 1700 professional Drivers. No longer do I have the uphill task when dealing with new clients, of dispelling the myth put about by our competitors that there is no continuity on our Board and the subsequent results from this has been a greater ability to generate an increase in new, very senior clients from which everybody has benefited with the extra work in the past few years. This period also includes record surpluses totalling more than the whole of the previous forty odd years together.
   Yes, that photograph certainly brought home to me just a few of the amazing changes I've seen whilst on the Board. However, coming right up to the present day, at the time of writing this article Keith Cain and I, in conjunction with a production company, are in the process of producing a new Drivers Training Video. We have just laid out the plans of how we wish to approach the project and the story line and in the next few days we will be completing the first draft of the script. It is our intention to produce two videos:   The first will be an introduction on the functionality of the existing MDT followed by brief lesson on how to execute a simple trip

cycle. This video will be distributed to all new drivers prior to attending their first training session at Brunswick House. The second and primary video, will be customer service related and will follow a driver during a working environment undertaking a number of typical every day trips and the manner in which these trips should be ideally undertaken. At the end of this 
video, there will be a few words by the Chairman followed be a training program on the new MDC. This video will be available to all members on request.
   Those of you who can remember the day when you were first trained to use our data system, will I'm sure reflect on how long it took, which in many instances was literally a whole day (unless it was a refresher) and how at the end of it you were feeling thoroughly exhausted.   Whilst we have long been aware of the need to reduce the length of training yet improve the quality, unfortunately the time necessary for such a project and the fact that it had a somewhat non-urgent status, has been forever consigned to the back burner - until now. And the reason for the sudden urgency is the new expansion program, which has necessitated in us speeding up the MDT training to accommodate the influx of new drivers.
   With Keith Cain and myself having taken on the responsibility for producing the training video, it made sense that we should also take on the task of revamping the driver-training program.
   Our original team of trainers consisted of just two, namely Allan Evans and Paul Tulley, which was considered adequate for the number of training sessions previously required. However, as part of the revamp, it was decided to increase this number to four. We advertised in Call Sign for drivers interested 
and the response was remarkable. Keith and I interviewed the applicants, and without being patronising considering that many have been driving a cab for a number of years, one would have assumed they would have been a little weak on interview skills, but the manner in which they presented themselves was truly surprising and that made the selection task extremely difficult.
First Femail DaC Driver Trainer
   After getting down to a short list of eight names, the next stage was to judge the applicants giving a short demonstration of a trip cycle. Again they all did very well and the two that finally came out on top were Barry Groner and, I am delighted to say, Pat Graves who will have the distinction of being Dial-a-Cab's first female driver trainer.
   Whilst on the subject of videos, a third video is scheduled to be made early in the New Year which will be a corporate video for generating new business.  When completed, it will be the draft that will be used for producing copies in CD format, a format that we will produce in bulk and use for direct marketing.
   With regards to the expansion program, many of you would have seen the full page add in several of the major trade papers announcing a DaC recruitment drive. As expected, it received a huge response culminating in the whole Board being required to give their services as interviewers. Under normal circumstances a driver interview panel would consist of three Board members, but such was the volume of new applicants and the necessity to assess the applicants without delay, that Board members - including the Chairman - were required subject to availability, to conduct the interviews on a one-to-one basis.
   Of the many that I interviewed who were successful, I was extremely impressed by the effort they made in their appearance and their response to our questions, particularly as the majority claimed surprise at the concept of our interview compared to our competitors where all that is needed is a signature and your 'on'. I'm not sure how many were briefed by friends as to the questions that were to be asked, but I was surprised by the answer to the question 'Why Dial-a-Cab?' So many gave the same perfect answer, which was; "...if our competitors are offering 6 months free subs and inducements and DaC offers nothing, yet DaC still have a waiting list, then DaC must be the best circuit to join."
   I said earlier how impressed I was with the candidates that have been accepted, I'm impressed because these new members are of a calibre that can only strengthen what is already a great circuit. Quite a few are butter boys. Others have spent years working the streets only. Most have invested in new cab's, but they all voiced a common concern which was the threat of the impending licensing of Private  Hire and feel if they are to get the best out of driving a cab, then they want to be a member of a good radio circuit and play their part in securing a future. How very true...

Allen Togwell