Call Sign August 2003 - Page 5 - ANOTHER SLICE OF DAC HISTORY GOES AS ALAN BOCA DIES

The name of Alan Boca (B99) may not immediately conjure up memories of ODRTS' very early days, but Dial-a-Cab founder-Chairman Bonnie Martyn once told Call Sign: "Without the Boca brothers, half of our Board meetings could never have taken place!" Alan Boca sadly passed away on Tuesday June 24 and took with him 1001 memories regarding those pre-Dial-a-Cab days when ODRTS operated from small premises on the corner of Pentonville Road and Affleck Street. Alan, together with his Italian parents and brother John (A64) ran the cafe on the opposite side to the ODRTS building with its single dispatcher sitting in the window. In those days it was called the Welcome Cafe, soon to become Alan's Cafe at 219 Pentonville Road. John, who still drives for DaC told Call Sign: "In those days, space for ODRTS Board meetings was very limited at the office, so they would frequently have them in the cafe over a cuppa. I remember early names such as Dave Fiertag, Albert Hall, Frank Duncan, Trixie Solomons, Doug Naismith, Alec Cobden, Sailor Papier and of	ANOTHER SLICE OF DAC HISTORY GOES AS ALAN BOCA DIES
	course Bonnie Martyn coming in and grabbing the biggest table they could find and call the meeting to order!" Alan Boca told Call Sign after Bonnie Martyn's funeral in 2002: "I've known Bonnie ever since they bought the premises by Affleck Street. All the original staff used to come in for a cuppa and I got to know Bonnie very well and it was he more than anyone who convinced me to go on the Knowledge. I've now been on DaC for 41 years, but had it not been for Bonnie, I may still have been serving tea and sandwiches!" Now, following his brother's sad death, John continues the story: "I always wanted to be a publican, but an ODRTS driver	called Ronnie Frewin came into the cafe one day and talked me into going on the Knowledge instead. I had already done the odd bit of dispatching over the road. A similar thing happened to Alan, he had worked in a fish and chip shop before the cafe days, but didn't fancy that type of life although he didn't want to run a cafe forever. Then one day Bonnie Martyn came in leading his Board and told Alan that he could do much better as a taxi driver. We both did the Knowledge and eventually ended up as ODRTS drivers in our own right instead of just serving them tea! We finally sold the cafe in 1963 and it is now a block of flats." Alan Boca was in his 42nd year with DaC when he was taken ill and died at the age of 78. With his death goes a large chunk of the early history of DaC - a history that amazingly is forever enshrined within the English cuppa! Our everlasting thanks are due to people from our past such as Alan. He is survived by his wife, Ofelia, son Robert, daughter Eva and four grandchildren...