A world-wide chain of events linked by Call Sign, has helped a couple in
Australia to correspond with a close friend of their late-son, Steve Smith,
a London taxi driver who sadly died 5 years ago from a brain tumour at the
tragically young age of 45. They thought their chance of making
contact with Steve's best friend "Brian" had gone, as they had no
surname or address, just that he was a London taxi driver.
The chain started in Alicante, Spain, where former Dial-a-Cab driver and
Internet Call Sign reader Sam Stuart now lives. He wrote and said:
"Hi Alan, I hope you remember me, Sam Stuart in Spain. I
have a favour to ask. I correspond by email with a lady in Australia and it
turns out that her son was a licensed cabby in London until he died a few
years ago. She would like to contact some of his friends and asked me how
she could go about it. If you don't object, I'd like to give her your email
address and perhaps you could help through Call Sign?"
Sam Stuart, Alicante, Spain
Several days later, Call Sign received the following email
from Tina Berryman who wrote from her home in Perth, Western Australia. She
said:
Dear Alan, I am calling from Huntingdale in Perth, Western
Australia. I am wondering if you can help me to find some cabbie friends of
my late son Steve Smith. Steve was a London cabbie for 11yrs and 5yrs ago he
died of a brain tumour. He left a wife June and two children Ashley and
Charlotte who all lived in South Harrow. The cabbies had three collections
for Steve
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CALL SIGN HELPS OUT IN AUSTRALIA
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Steve visits his mum Tina in Australia in 1996.
and I never got the chance to thank those wonderful people or to thank many
of them for their moral support.
Steve's saddest day was when he had to hand in his badge and when he saw his
taxi disappear up the road after selling it. He was very low, as he felt
that while he had his badge and cab, he had a chance of being well again.
His best mate was Brian, I do not know his surname, but they studied The
Knowledge together. Brian will know who he is if he reads this of course.
Another mate was named Ginger. I would love to hear from them or any other
of Steve's great mates. It is hard to believe but Steve would have been 50
this October, he looked so young for his age.
Again please thank all the wonderful cabbies for all they do and the way
they work so hard in their jobs. It can be a thankless job at times for
those who do not understand the strain and stresses of the job, but it has
its wonderful times too - as Steve used to tell me.
Tina Berryman
Huntingdale, Western Australia
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Call Sign put out a terminal message asking if anyone
remembered Steve Smith and within three minutes, DaC driver Keith Baxter
(L78) came to the rescue and told us all about Steve.
"I remember Steve so well," he said, "he
was one of those guys who would help anyone and as a result he was very well
liked. When he died, there was a genuine sadness among his cab driving
friends. Even though it was over five years ago, I remember that feeling so
well. We held some collections and never had to beg for anyone to
contribute, they all wanted to chip in."
Keith also knew Steve's best friend Brian and asked him to
phone Call Sign. Almost word for word, non-radio driver Brian Srizzle also
enthused about Steve and how well he was liked.
"I was proud to have him as my closest friend,"
he told us, "and I'm delighted to be able to make contact
with Tina and to get the opportunity to tell her that."
Call Sign wrote back to Tina and Joe to give them the good
news that we had managed to contact the person they had been trying to reach
for such a long time. Tina replied:
I am so happy that you have found Brian, this is just amazing!
I am sure Steve has had something to do with all this, I can see him now
laughing and saying "at last, that has taken me five years...!"
Thank you so much.
It's a pleasure, Tina. Thanks to Sam, Keith and Brian who
between them helped so much...
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