Is it worth it?
As the festive season rapidly approaches, uppermost in cab drivers minds will
be the thought: "Will I have enough money for the Christmas
presents?" Quite a number will leave it too late and it’s then they
might try to cut corners. When these occasions arise, it usually ends up in a
complaint being made by a client or DaC. It could be a case of rudeness,
reckless driving or maybe an incorrect meter reading. But is it really worth
tarnishing a previously good record for a moment’s madness and a few pennies?
Most drivers who are caught breaking procedure rules, say it’s the first time
that has happened. What they mean is that it’s the first time they have been
caught. When drivers have a complaint made against them, I usually check on
some of their previous days work. When you do this, it’s amazing what other
mistakes - deliberate or not - they have made. Whenever you accept a credit
ride, think to yourself that these are clients who phone us all the time. They
are the ones who pay our rent and put food on our tables. So we should give
them a premium service. Licensed Taxis are not cheap to hire, so we should be
giving them value for money. Fortunately, in the majority of cases that is
exactly what we do…
Father (M57) Christmas and the Dial-a-Dream Villas…
Once again Keith D’urso (M57) is doing his regular collection for the
Dial-a-Dream children’s charity over the Christmas period. If you see him in
his Santa costume, support him by dropping that loose cash into his collecting
tin.
Last Christmas Keith also donated the money
to Dial-a-Dream and for those who don’t know, Dial-a-Dream is a charity that
realises the dreams of terminally ill children. In January, Dial-a-Dream will
open it’s third villa in Kissimmee, Florida. These villas are used to send
seriously ill children to Disney. When these houses are not being used for the
children, we rent them out to families wanting a holiday in Florida. These
villas have 2, 4 or 6 bedrooms, most with en-suite facilities. All have 55-inch
televisions in the living area, televisions in all bedrooms, swimming pool,
Jacuzzi and a computer with 24-hour broadband Internet connection.
The new 6-bedroom villa has a complete home cinema with 7 speakers
and 400 DVD player, intercom and radio to every room. It also has an |
en-suite bedroom on the ground floor that is completely
wheelchair accessible to allow the disabled to retain their independence.
All doors and windows leading to the
pool area are alarmed to give peace of mind if you have young children and
are afraid they may accidentally go to the pool when you’re not around.
If you would like more information on
renting any of these villa’s and their availability, you can go to www.thedreamvillas.com
.
When you look at the cost against a hotel, also look at the amenities you
get as against a hotel / motel or other villas and the value for money. We
also guarantee that you are just 5 - 10 minutes from the Disney resorts.
Others may also say this, but what they don’t tell you is that you will
have to try and get through a traffic jam compared to the M25 at 9am! A
side road leads from our villas to Disney. All the villas are in a quiet,
residential area patrolled by police 3 times a day, while the 6-bedroom
villa has a 24-hour security guard at the main gated entrance. So for your
next holiday, look at our web site.
Rules Explained (Again)
At the past few complaints meetings, there have been
drivers who say they did not know how to book in correctly to postal and
outlying areas. This is unbelievable as it’s something you need to know
to get work. It’s like a bus driver saying he does not know where the
bus stops are sited! I have written many times advising you of the correct
procedures for booking into zones, but obviously the offenders of this
rule do not read my articles.
So for the last time, if you want to
book into a London postal zone you must be able to get to the furthest
point of that zone within the given time parameter. If you are unsure of
the time parameter, then ask the voice channel.
You must not book into an area
when you are too far away and keep rejecting jobs or doing a temporary off
until you get within range…
The time it takes for drivers to reject jobs cuts
down the |
running-in time of the driver
who does accept. If you are booking into any area outside the postal zones, you
must be physically within the zone boundaries.
This also applies to physical ranks i.e. SE75, E14C EC11 etc. You must be
physically on the rank to book in.
At Heathrow, you must be within the
perimeter Road or on the Terminal 4 rank to book into WW00, not on the M4
slip road, the A30 or Bath Road! Remember we have GPS which we can use to
verify where a driver was at the time of the complaint and at other times when
booking in to zones. If you are still unsure of any of these rules or operating
procedures, you can phone Drivers
Operations on 0207 251 0581 ext 225 or 556 and arrange to have a one-to-one
with a trainer. This will then give you peace of mind when working and
probably assist you in earning more money. As Call Sign is sent to all
subscribers at their homes, this article will be used as proof at complaints
meetings that drivers have been informed of these rules.
Debtors
Ladies and Gentlemen, if you find that you are getting
into debt to the Society, please contact
us as soon as possible. We may be able to help before you get to the point of
no return and we have to resort to legal action to recoup the Society’s
money. The official ODRTS rulebook states that a subscriber ceases to be a
member if they fail to pay their subscription within 28 days from the day when
it became due. Subscriptions are posted against your payments on the 1st
of every month. Any driver falling into the above category will get a letter
from the Society’s financial department informing them of the debt, also a
complaints form stating that they have broken rule 5 ( c ) (ii) of the official
rule book.
Almost Finally…
I have gone from happiness to doom and gloom in the above article, so now may I
wish all of our subscribers and their families a very Happy Christmas and a
Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
And a Final Christmas
Thought
If you see a man on your roof on Christmas Eve in a red cloak it is probably
Santa Claus, but if you live in Dalston it’s a burglar stealing the lead of
your roof…
Tom Whitbread
DaC Complaints Dept |
