WAR AT THE PCO...?
At the time of writing (mid-March), I'm having something of
a problem. Writing about it now could be an additional hazard because
in all probability, by the time you read this you will know far more
than I do now anyway! Comprendez-vous? Makes two of us...!
But I'm just wondering what the hell is currently going on
at the Public Carriage Office? Trying to find out through the trade
press seems fruitless, as up until now no one has yet mentioned a
dispute which is costing drivers many thousands of pounds.
I'm well aware that the last time I criticised the PCO (on
their disgraceful decision to take away the licenses of diabetic
drivers even though their conditions had not changed for years), it
cost me a stop note popped through my letterbox the morning after
publication - an under-inflated rear tyre was one of the two items
mentioned followed by several others when forced to take it "up
the yard." If this costs me another, then so be it, but I feel
extremely irritated at the situation...
It seems that PCO Examiners are annoyed at the fact that
new Examiners working on the Private Hire section, are coming in on the
same money and as a result, the Taxi section decided to 'work to rule'.
Looking at the situation on the assumption that those facts are indeed
correct, then I have to say I can see why the Taxi Examiners are
annoyed. I would be too if I had been there for years and some upstart
came in on identical pay. However, whereas I could understand a work to
rule which just delayed matters, this work to rule has involved Taxi
Examiners putting 'stops' on cabs that they would otherwise wave away.
Even worse, they were not allowing cabs to return the same day after
the garage rectified a minor fault. So who suffers? The PCO
hierarchy? I don't think so...
The PCO has changed greatly during my 31 years in the
saddle and they are now an organisation with a face. People such as Roy
Ellis and Sandy Kennedy are approachable and will offer explanations to
questions about the PCO. It certainly wasn't always like that. I
remember some twenty or so years back asking a question on behalf of
Steering Wheel, who I was writing the odd piece for. Drivers galore had
asked me to ask the PCO (in days long before intercom), why could they
not remove the piece of wood that stopped the partition opening more
than the regulatory four or so inches, so that they could hear the
passenger speaking? After all, they could put the wood back after the
passenger had alighted. My answer from the PCO was simple
and to the point - "Because that's the rule!" There was no
discussion and that was it!
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Things have improved greatly from those days, but this work to rule has
rubbed out much of that progress.
Drivers are losing money needlessly and for the most stupid of reasons.
The PCO are there to protect the public by making sure that
licensed taxis (and drivers) are up to spec, they are not there to make
fools out of drivers and garages - which is exactly what they are doing as
of this time. Brand new taxis have been turned away because the
headlights needed a slight adjustment. At least one cab was rejected
because the hooter "...was not of the London tone!" What the
hell does that mean? Was it playing a rude tune? According to the mechanic
who took it up, you couldn't tell the difference, but to an eagle-eyed PCO
Examiner who was working to rule, it obviously represented the difference
between Chopin and the Whistling Postman!
Trouble is, that ridiculous decision has cost some poor
driver a day's work. Perhaps he or she was having financial or health
problems or maybe he/she might have wanted the day off anyway ... It was
irrelevant, some Examiner trying to prove a point has no right to take it
out on that owner.
I was given examples of many other needless 'stops', for
example the DaC driver's taxi that the CO wouldn't even look at after it
had been waiting in turn for a lengthy period. Why? It didn't have
"kite marks" on the number plates! If the Examiners had the
bottle, instead of taking it out on drivers, perhaps they should have gone
on strike and let drivers due for an overhaul get a temporary extension to
their licence. Most of us would have then supported them.
As you read this, so will the Examiners at the 'Yard'. If one
of them would like to reply, Call
Sign is always open to interesting debate - but it will have to be good to
convince me that a
hooter "...not of the London tone," or a kite-markless number
plate are valid reasons for depriving a licensed taxi driver of his
living.
AND THE INLAND REVENUE TOO...
Have you all been good little soldiers and paid your Income Tax? Hopefully
the answer is yes. Ok, none of us like it, but the country would be in an
awful state if no one paid it! However, this is
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not a lecture on paying tax, I'm just wondering how many of you got a letter
recently from the
Inland Revenue telling you that you had paid your tax for July 2001 and
January 2002?
The interesting heading was: You have nothing to pay. It then
went on to itemise exactly how I should pay that nothing, kindly attaching a
Girobank payslip with
the 'Amount due' neatly printed as £0.00. It also gave me a selection of
ways in which I could pay this amount and in a tone that I failed to
appreciate, informed me that I would be liable for interest if I did not pay
it immediately!
Now this is all great fun! However, assuming that the majority
of people pay their tax on time, how many millions got this ridiculous
demand for nothing and far more importantly, how much did it cost! After
all, even a second-class stamp multiplied by a million or so comes to a lot
of dosh. They might even have been able to put our tax down with the savings
- albeit by just the price of a second class stamp each! Is it madness or
just bureaucracy gone mad...?
BUYING A STAKE IN DIAL-A-CAB
This is most certainly not the time for me to give my view on the approach
by an outside company to buy Dial-a-Cab, but I will be astonished if a huge
majority do not vote in favour of the BoM looking further into the offer and
what it entails. Then it will be up to us to decide whether we like it or
not...
But whatever happens, this offer is surely a huge compliment to
the drivers, staff and Board of DaC. ComCab were taken over in totally
different circumstances. There were no financial incentives and
rumours of the time suggested that had they not been taken, they could have
faced financial problems. Radio Taxis (London) are, as we speak,
contemplating whether to float Mountview with no guarantees as to results or
benefits.
But someone out there has looked at Dial-a-Cab and decided that
it was run so well that they actually wanted to buy the company that is
owned by we, the drivers. Could it have been Victor Kiamm from Remington who
liked the terminals so much that he bought the company!
CALL SIGN
You will have received this issue of Call Sign several days later
than usual and for that I apologise. It was caused by a combination of the
Easter bank holidays and the very sudden death of my dear Aunty
Millie. Two days earlier, she'd had a win at bingo and was
looking forward to her 91st birthday surprise later this month when,
unbeknown to her, we were all going out for a Chinese meal. Aunty Millie,
wherever you are now, our love goes with you...
Alan Fisher |
