Subscriptions
The BoM have decided that there will be an increase in subscriptions as from December 1 this year. Whilst we do understand that this will not be a popular move with you, the shareholders, I will endeavour to explain our reasoning.
   In April 1996, subscriptions were increased to £110 per calendar month including VAT. In subsequent years that amount was reduced to £105 and last year it was increased to £115. As from December 1, the monthly rate for an owner driver will be £123.50 per calendar month including VAT, an increase of £8.50 which will return just over £7 to the Society after VAT has been deducted.
   The above rate will apply to vehicles that display our logo. All vehicles that were fitted after January 1996 must display our logo, however, if you were fitted prior to January1996 and you are not displaying our logo, then your monthly subscription will rise from £140 to £160 per month, including VAT. Journeyman's subscription will rise from £60 per month to £65.
   As I said at the beginning, I know that you will not welcome an increase in your overheads, but we believe that Dial-a-Cab still offers extraordinarily good value for money. We still offer a greater return for every £1 of subscription paid than any other circuit in London and even with the increase, we still have the lowest monthly subscription by far of the three major London circuits.
   Just over two years ago, Dial-a-Cab embarked on a refitting programme to re-equip our whole fleet with touch screen computers, that project has now been completed and we have invested £6m in the process. As you will appreciate, none of that cost has been passed on to shareholders by way of equipment bonds or indeed fitting fees and we do not have any borrowings from the bank. I'm sure you will agree that represents a tremendous achievement by everyone involved.
   My last two reports, which were contained in the end of year accounts, informed you that our surpluses would be down between 2002-2004 as we depreciated the cost of the new equipment. This has proven to be correct as we are depreciating in the region of £1.5m per annum on the new equipment and this in turn affects our bottom line. An increase in subscriptions will help to offset the increase in depreciation that we intend to

show this year and help maintain our financial strength.

City Minicab Booths
I have written recently about the threat to our business with the proposed introduction of the Private Hire Booking Booths within the City of London. Since we first broke this news to the trade via the pages of Call Sign, much has been done by the trade and in particular JRTA, to get the plans scuppered. I have had a meeting with the Director of Taxis, Ed Thompson and the principle of the PCO, Roy Ellis and they have both agreed that in its present form, the Booths will be illegal.
   The 1998 Act requires the Private Hire Company to keep a record of all journeys undertaken including the passengers name, pick-up point and destination. The proposed new Booths will only have a record of the pick-up point, but not the passengers name or destination and I believe that according to the Act, this will be illegal.
   I had a meeting with the City Corporation on Monday September 23 and these facts were relayed to them. We also presented them with some alternatives to the proposed Booths, but they were of course applicable to Licensed Taxis only. We await the outcome...

Working Time Directive
Many of you will be aware that the Working Time Directive has reared its head again with an East German insisting that there should be an amendment to the legislation. Hopefully you are all fully conversant with this topic as I wrote about it in more detail in the August Call Sign.
   Since then much has been done on your behalf by JRTA, every British MEP has received a letter outlining the fact and even the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has written to the European Parliament in support of the London Taxi trade reiterating our stance that the
proposed amendment should not apply to this trade.
   In addition to Mr Livingstone's support, the Director of Taxis and Private Hire for London has written to the European 

Parliament supporting the London Taxi Trade and also stating that if  this new amendment is being introduced to combat London taxi drivers working excessive hours, then he can assure them that safety is not an issue in  London. The sub-committee that is proposing this amendment will next meet on October 8 and I hope that all the lobbying that we, the Radio circuits, have done in the past few months will bear fruit and that the sub-committee will drop their amendment. If it does go through, then hopefully we have done enough for the European Parliament to 'throw out' the amendment.

Zingo
Much has been written in the trade press concerning the proposed introduction of Zingo, whereby members of the public can order a taxi via a telephone, something similar to the facility that we offer at DaC. However, the biggest difference will be that the taxi driver will receive the order via his Zingo-fitted mobile phone. Their terminal will also have the facility to accept credit cards just as ours does. The BoM of DaC sees Zingo as a direct competitor. There is nothing wrong with that, but I would like to make it quite clear that we will not allow Zingo equipment to be fitted into a vehicle that also has DaC equipment for obvious reasons. After all, would you expect to be on DaC and be allowed to also have a Mountview or ComCab terminal? I think not...

Bus Lanes
I know many of you are concerned about the exclusion of taxis from some of the bus lanes in London and in particular regarding the anomaly that exists with the bus lane at the Angel, Islington. As a body, we are making all the representation that we can, but you as individuals can also make your point as other members have done by writing to as many of Government transport bodies that you can think of, including TfL, The Mayor and Islington Borough Council. No doubt you will come up with some more ideas after reading this issue of the magazine.
   In conclusion, I think you will agree that the Radio Circuits through JRTA endeavour to represent you not only through obtaining work, but also regarding anything that we think will be in your best interests or indeed in the interests of our trade...

Brian Rice
Chairman, Dial-a-Cab