Sovereign Capital
I have had numerous requests from DaC members requesting the latest information on the offer that Sovereign have made to Dial-a-Cab. At the time of writing, Sovereign had been waiting for the DaC audited end of year figures that are now in their possession. The reason that there has not been any news forthcoming, is that due to the slow-down in work and the economic situation in general, our negotiations have become more protracted than was first thought necessary. However, negotiations are still ongoing and you can all rest assured that you will all be kept informed of any progress as it develops.

John Saunders
It was with much sadness that I attended Johnny Saunders funeral earlier this week. John was one of the first people that I met when I joined Dial-a-Cab in 1974. There was an instant rapport between the two of us as we were both QPR supporters and when we attended a match on the same day, we almost doubled the gate! Many of you may not know that John was a very capable footballer in his own right playing on a semi-professional basis - he was even offered a contract with Cambridge United. However, when he took into account how much he was earning as a taxi driver, coupled with his earnings as a semi-pro, he decided not to accept the offer but would still be seen training most afternoons at Paddington Rec.
   Over the years, any meetings that I have had with John were often conducted in a very light hearted way and I have never seen him act in any way less than the gentlemen that he was. John was a member of Dial-a-Cab for probably thirty five years and served for many years as a Board member. He was also one of the best dispatchers that this Society has ever had, ranking alongside the Charlie Rubens and Johnny 
Thwaites etc. John was a true gentleman and I don't think I have ever come across anyone that disliked him. The passing of John and his kind denotes the end of an era that will never be replaced.
My sincere condolences go to

Anne, Kate and the remainder of John's family; I know you will
 miss him enormously.

AGM
You should all have received by now a letter informing you that the next AGM will be held on Sunday 9 February 2003, at 11.00hrs at The Brewery, Chiswell St, EC1 in the King George III and Queen Charlotte Rooms. Included in the letter is a nomination form should you wish to nominate a DaC member for the BoM and the completed form MUST be received at this office no later than 0900hrs on Friday, 6 December 2002. After Christmas, you will be receiving the remainder of the information that you will require for the AGM. If you do not wish to attend the AGM in person, you must complete the ballot form that will be sent to you, failure to either attend in person or vote by post will result in a £50 fine being imposed.

European Directive
You would have read in previous issues of Call Sign about the proposed legislation that would be coming out of the EU concerning the Working Time Directive (WTD) and the maximum working of 48 hours per week. As the law currently stands, it only includes vehicles of 
nine seats or more, however there was a proposed amendment to the law that would have reduced nine seats down to four with the driver, which would then have included all London Taxis. The licensed radio circuits in London have worked extremely diligently in order to enlist support from the PCO, The Mayor, TfL and the Government in order to scupper this proposal that would have had such a  detrimental effect on the London Taxi trade. I am delighted to report that our lobbying has proven to be extremely successful and the proposed amendment has now been dropped.

JRTA
On reading the above item on the

WTD, I am sure you will agree 
that the radio circuits in London 
through their collective organisation JRTA (Joint Radio Taxi Association) do a
tremendous amount of political lobbying in order to protect the interests of their members, and indeed on most occasions it is to the advantage of the trade as a whole. To this end, we have now changed the name JRTA to LTN - London's Taxi Network. In the short term, JRTA will be retained alongside LTN, however as time goes by, JRTA will be dropped in favour of LTN.

Licensing of Private Hire
In past issues, I have written a great deal concerning the licensing of Private Hire and my concerns regarding the 'light touch' that the authorities appear to be taking.  Information has now been leaked that the authorities have a mind to allow advertising on the exterior of the newly privatised Private Hire. This in my view would be extremely detrimental, not only to the taxi industry, but also to members of the public. It would make Private Hire easily recognisable to the public and they would be plying for hire off the street before you could look round! It would also create a situation where the more unscrupulous members of society would be in a position to easily fool members of the public just by displaying advertising on the exterior of their vehicle. Both the foregoing scenarios are totally unacceptable and exterior advertising must not be allowed on Private Hire vehicles. I can assure all DaC members that JRTA (LTN) will do everything it can to prevent exterior advertising on private hire vehicles.

Christmas Jackets
Well, it's that time of year again...Christmas and don't they just come round so quickly! Consequently, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all members, staff and their families a very Happy Christmas. Incidentally, I hope most of you are now in possession of your new Dial-a-Cab jackets - don't wear them out too quickly!

Brian Rice
Chairman
Dial-a-Cab