2002 AGM
You should all by now have received your papers regarding the AGM. If you do not expect to attend the meeting on Sunday 9 February at the Brewery in Chiswell St, commencing at 11am, you must return your ballot form to the ERS so they receive it no later than 11am on Friday 7 February. As we do not have any rule changes and only one proposition, I would assume that we will be able to move to the election of Board members fairly quickly.
   You will see from your ballot form that there are ten members standing for the Board. You may use up to a maximum of five votes when voting for Board members, however, if you only wish to vote for one Board member then you are perfectly entitled to use only one of your five votes. In addition, please remember that the ballot form is double sided and both sides need your attention. If you do not intend to vote for any Board member, or indeed any propositions, you are perfectly entitled not to vote, however your ballot form must be returned to the ERS otherwise a fine of £50 will be imposed - unless, of course, you attend the AGM. I look forward to seeing you on 9th.

Euston Station
You will see in the Mailshot section of this magazine a letter from the management of North West Trains regarding the service you gave them whilst engineering works were in progress for eighteen weekends between August and December. I am delighted to inform you that further to a meeting we had with North West Trains, we have been awarded an even larger contract for this year.
  There will be engineering work in progress just south of Rugby and we will be requested to supply taxis not only to the same stations as last year, but to also include  stations such as 

Northampton and Rugby. The engineering work  will be in progress for the four days over Easter and for nine consecutive days in August and then for eighteen weekends up to Christmas. The service we provide will also be extended to include Silverlink trains.
   We will be providing a service for the two train companies to transport their customers to cover anywhere south of Rugby. During last year's engineering works, Dial-a-Cab used over 960 different drivers to cover the contract, so many of you will have a fairly good idea of how the contract works. However, this year it will be far more complex than last because during August you will not only be transporting 'leisure' travellers, but also the weekday 'business' traveller. We will be expected to 'hold' cabs in several main areas including Rugby, Northampton and Milton Keynes and despatch to smaller stations as and when required by members of the public.
   Any driver who participates in this contract, will be required to know how to get to any station that is on that line. However, there is no need to worry about that situation because we will be compiling maps of all the stations and areas that you will be required to know. Every driver who participates in the scheme will be required to collect all the necessary information from Brunswick House before they commence any part of the contract. As last year, you will also be required to have a mobile phone with you at all times.
   We have retained this contract because of the outstanding work that was completed by Board members, staff and drivers alike during the last period of engineering works.  The new contract will be 

far bigger and certainly a lot more
complex, I know that everyone will rise to the challenge.

Tariff Increase?
TfL have put forward a proposal for this year's tariff increase that is due to be implemented in April. The increase was a little smaller than anticipated due to the fact that the last one was implemented in June last year, consequently a full year has not elapsed since that increase. It will average 3% although the weekend tariff will remain unchanged. It is also proposed to put the night tariff 3 back from 8pm to 10pm.
   Another proposal is that the extra passengers charge should be scrapped and the 'clock drop' increased to £2.40 to compensate for the loss of the extra passenger charge.   However, it is proposed to give the customer the same distance of journey as they receive now for £2.40 before the meter increases to £2.60 - less the proposed 3% increase. So although the 'flag fall' will be increased, the driver will not be any better off unless the cost of the journey is less than the current distance that £2.40 takes you - and I don't think that there are many of those. I'd like to stress that the above is only a proposal and TfL are still in consultation with the trade.
   I know all of you will have differing views on the subject and they will all probably be very valid, however, I can just see the headlines in the Evening Standard and probably our new- found friends at the Times, when they refer to the 'clock drop' increasing from £1.40 to £2.40.  They will neglect to mention anything about extra passengers not being charged and that the real increase is just 3%. Anyone like to bet that they refer only to a "71% increase in taxi fares" ('ie flag fall')? Naaaahhh... they wouldn't do that to us, would they...!

Brian Rice
Chairman, Dial-a-Cab