Dial-a-Cab have rightfully earned their name as a taxi company that cares for the disabled as well as those fortunate enough not to have limb mobility problems. But how far can we help those who cannot manage or who have extreme difficulty in managing without the assistance of the taxi driver who takes them to their destination? Call Sign Editor Alan Fisher looks at a personal example...

It began on a sunny summer's day - 27 August to be precise. I had taken a disabled passenger (half of his right leg had been amputated below the knee) from Commercial Road E1 to The Link shop at London Wall by Moorgate, where the passenger wanted to return a mobile phone that he was having problems with.
I stopped in London Wall on the right hand side of the one way section, about 20 meters before the traffic lights and where The Link is situated. I nipped out to help him exit the cab, collected the fare and asked the passenger if he needed any help getting into the shop? Because he was carrying two shopping bags, he said that if I just walked in with him he'd appreciate it. Standing fairly close was a Corporation of London traffic warden. I nodded and said I was just guiding the passenger into the store. Less than 60 seconds later, I returned to find the warden in the process of waiting for the ticket to be printed from his machine. I asked why he was giving me a ticket when he could see that I was helping a severely disabled passenger into the shop. He made no reply and just looked the other way. Inexcusably, I called him a rude word that rhymes with tanker - something I regret because it lowered me down to his level. I took a photo of him - much to his consternation - and left the scene.
I decided to pay the fine, but wrote an accompanying letter that is published below. It read...

"Dear sir/madam
I have enclosed a Ł40 cheque to cover the fine on my taxi for unauthorised parking. Whilst I cannot deny leaving my taxi for approximately 50 seconds in a place where no stopping is allowed, surely the fact that I was helping a disabled gentleman into a shop (LINK) - something I find hard to believe the warden didn't see - must count as an extenuating circumstance?
It isn't as though there is no room or I was causing a hold-up while escorting the passenger, it is a wide, one way street and the part I was in is set back. When I asked the warden why he had given me a ticket after
seeing me help a passenger, he refused to comment. Unfortunately, I then made a rather disparaging remark

HOW NOT TO HELP THE DISABLED WITHIN THE CITY OF LONDON?

The kind hearted warden walking away

about traffic wardens - joined in by a member of the public who witnessed the event - which I regret doing as I suppose he was doing his job as he sees it. However, this is exactly the type of event that causes such friction.
I look forward to your reply..."

Sadly, the reply from R.Kriste, who was representing the Parking Ticket Office of the Corporation of London, failed to mention anything about my disabled passenger and instead quoted the by-laws re parking in the City. So once again I wrote to R.Kriste...

   "I refer to your letter dated 27 September in response to my correspondence re a PCN on the above date. Prior to that letter, your office wrote to me to say that you would be looking into the matter. Bearing in mind that I freely admitted helping a disabled shopper into The Link store at the corner of London Wall and Moorgate and leaving my taxi for around 50 seconds, I would like to ask what matter you actually looked into? Did you go to the store and ask if they remembered a customer with a bad leg and on crutches? And if you did (I assume you probably didn't), what would have been the point? After "investigating", all you have done is to explain why I could not stop at a place that I had already admitted was a double yellow line with no stopping permitted.
   In my obvious ignorance, I assumed that your office "looking into the matter" meant that you would decide whether taxi drivers assisting disabled passengers into a nearby shop and returning immediately, would be treated as an extenuating circumstance.
   I was obviously mistaken and now assume that the Corporation of London - the same CoL who make such a fuss about "clean air" - do not consider that taxi drivers should help the disabled.
I intend publishing my conclusions in a forthcoming

issue of my magazine, Call Sign. I shall be happy to publish any reply you may offer that uses plain English
rather than extracts from your rulebook.
   I also enclose a copy of a photo I took from my taxi looking behind at the time, showing the actual warden and also how little traffic there was. I do not require the copy back."
Mr/Mrs/Ms R.Kriste wrote back again informing me of the following:
   "I must advise you that once payment has been received, liability has been admitted and therefore the option of making a formal representation is no longer available."
   Under that circumstance, his / her next sentence was rather surprising. It went on to say that
   "...On this occasion, if you still wish to dispute the PCN, I can arrange for a refund of Ł40. You will then be required to wait for a Notice to Owner form to make a formal representation."
   If the option was no longer available, why was it being offered to me? Nevertheless I was in a letter-writing mood and feeling decidedly belligerent, so I responded yet again...

"Although it seems pointless appealing having admitted that I left my taxi in a 'no waiting' zone, I will take you up on your offer if only to see how the Corporation of London look at those less fortunate that themselves and who have no other means of doing normal things such as going into a shop without assistance. Any response to my appeal will determine whether the disabled in the City can be given assistance by their taxi driver or just told to exit the cab and do their best."

On 25 October, R.Kriste informed me that he/she had arranged for me to get a refund and appeal form. One week after that, my Ł40 was refunded and now, two months later, nothing else about an appeal has been mentioned. Am I pleased? No, not really. A letter informing me that no waiting restrictions are there to be obeyed, but that taxi drivers will be given a minute or two leeway would have been fair enough, but if the City of London Corporation are so crass as to believe that if they just drop the subject then so will I, they are mistaken. This article will be read around the world.
If that means that my fine will now miraculously be reinstated, then so be it. The CoL obviously need the money more than I do...

Alan Fisher