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OFT Report
The recent report issued by the Office of
Fair Trading – this industry’s official
watchdog – has once again proved that they
know as much about taxis as we know about
the workings of the Metacarpal bone!
In
addition to ridding the trade of any entry
stipulations (such as the Knowledge?), they
also suggest cut-price fleets of taxis that
would help keep prices down. As this
magazine said prior to the report’s
publication, once trade organisations
started to put forward a case for using
cheaper non-Condition of Fitness vehicles,
then the door was flung open and the
question of whether we could then offer
cheaper fares would be thrown in. And that
is exactly what has happened.
Call Sign
considers the report, so far as London is
concerned, to be less than useless and we
believe that those who try to dilute our
heritage by wanting to bring in cheaper
vehicles that do not comply to the CoF, are
partially to blame. Once we campaigned to
start driving the same vehicles as our
competitors, then as this magazine has
constantly said, we were all perceived as
being the same. The words ‘chickens’ and
‘roost’ spring to mind…
It’s
Christmas / Chanukah / Eid et al…
It’s that time of year again; supposedly
filled with joy, family get-togethers and
passengers with smiles on their faces. In
other words – a pleasant time for all?
Well not here brother, because this month
has been the hardest, most unrewarding time
of my 6+ years tenure as Call Sign Editor.
Yes, ok,
so I’m not in the best of moods having
just come back from the dental surgery
following a rather large filling, made even
more uncomfortable by the fact that I can’t
/ won’t have injections up there.
Consequently, when that drill with the
rather nasty sounding high-pitched whine
gets closer and closer to your nerve ending,
your mood towards life suddenly changes
dramatically and you only want one thing –
your mum! Sadly, my mum hasn’t been here
for a long time, so I guess I have to take
it out on you – goodwill or not!
But my
pain still continued after the big dig-out,
because the postal strike played havoc with
the contents that usually find their way
into the issue of Call Sign that comes
through your letterbox on or around the
first of every month.
Firstly, I thought it wiser
not to post last month’s 2000 issues that
normally go out via the Royal Mail,
because the previous month showed the
serious delays that were caused by just
a one-day strike, |
with some drivers receiving
their October issue up to two weeks late. Then
I started to receive phone calls from wives /
partners who complained that because drivers
were picking up their copies, they were
keeping them in the cabs and not taking them
home. Sadly / fortunately, I can’t be held
responsible if you haven’t trained the old
man properly! Then for a period of two weeks,
virtually nothing arrived for the magazine by
post. So either it was delayed by the strike,
people just didn’t post it for fear of it
getting lost or else millions of letters are
floating around possibly lost forever in some
dimly lit corner, where the sack will slowly
gather cobwebs along with the PO’s Consignia
nameplates. So if this issue has any bits
missing, then blame my dentist and the post
office!
But that
mustn’t detract from me wishing all
Christians on DaC a very Merry Christmas as
they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, or
to all Jewish DaC drivers and staff as they
celebrate the rededication of the Temple by
Judas Maccabeus in 165BC for Chanukah. Neither
will it stop me from returning to the March
2001 issue of Call Sign where in the Mailshot
section, Pinar, the-then 15 year old daughter
of Dial-a-Cab driver Zak Misiri (W58), told
off Board member Mike Son for wishing DaC
drivers and staff a happy Xmas and Chanukah
but for failing to wish any Muslims on DaC a
happy Eid. In a very well composed letter,
Pinar wrote et alii:
"What
I am basically saying is that in future,
please remember that in this multi-cultural
society in which we live today that there are
more than just Christians and Jews on
Dial-a-Cab. I would be thankful if that was
noted for the future. Thanks a lot."
So
to all Muslims on DaC who have completed the
fast of Ramadan, enjoy the celebrations
of Eid-ul-Fitr that follows and Eid Mubarak…
But let me make it plain;
Christmas, Chanukah and Eid are now officially
on the Call Sign list, but no more holidays
please – they make my teeth hurt and that’s
where we came in!
Mobile Phones
The Department for Transport |
(DfT) have finally
published an English version of the do’s and
don’ts regarding when you can and can’t
use a mobile phone while driving. It seems
that Call Sign scooped even the Daily’s when
we published the actual Bill last month,
because until then, newspapers such as The
Guardian and others were insisting that the
legislation forbade the use of any implement
containing wires. We said it didn’t and we
were right.
Call Sign
doesn’t believe in boasting, but in addition
to the phone fiasco, drivers are now asking us
about the "new ring of steel" that
some trade papers have published details
about. New? You could have read them in Brian
Rice’s Chairman’s report three months ago!
But sadly we don’t boast or else I’d ask
for a raise!
And While We’re on the
Subject of boasting…
I mentioned this in passing last month but
didn’t put too much credence to it… now I’m
not so sure. I keep reading about the T&G/LTDA
"success" in getting Ken’s
proposed 12-year age limit on taxis scrapped,
but it appears to me that no success was
forthcoming until Call Sign published an
in-depth interview with Tory mayoral candidate
Steve Norris, in which he claimed that he
would scrap the proposal if elected Mayor.
Ken is
still deciding what to do about Islington bus
lane and the taxis that enter its hallowed
line markings after well over a year of
considering it. So we found it strange that
after such a short period and almost
immediately after our interview (Ken is on our
mailing list) that the suggestion was
scrapped. Could be a coincidence I suppose –
and I could win the lottery this Saturday even
though I don’t buy a ticket…
Incidentally,
speaking of Mayoral bits, this magazine can’t
help but wonder whether TfL’s link to the
PCO isn’t the most disastrous development
this trade has ever faced? Ever since Mayor
Ken first arrived on his tube train, the
licensed taxi trade has faced one battle after
another. We will now have our work cut out in
Fleet Street where bus lanes in both
directions intend banning taxis. Why? Because
we could pose a danger to cyclists! Perhaps he
should consider banning buses from there too
and just allow cyclists? I don’t think Mr
Livingstone likes us.
May I
suggest that those of you not already in a
trade organisation, reconsider and join one,
because we are about to face the mother of all
bus lanes – I mean battles!
Alan Fisher
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