Following on from our recent meeting, I would like to confirm that Sovereign Capital is still interested in financing the demutualisation and future growth of Dial-a-cab.     However, as I am sure you are aware, the London Taxi market and particularly that of contracted accounts has been affected by the downturn in the financial sector which, in turn, has reduced the amount of late night legal and banking work etc.
   This has inevitably affected the income of your business and therefore profit is lower than budgeted for the year. As a result, we need to carry out some further financial analysis based on recent performance and revise our expectations for the business which may take some time; we anticipate, however, that this will lead to a reconfirmation of our offer. This is likely to be in the late summer.
   Please could you inform your Board and membership of this position.

   So there you have it, the letter is quite self explanatory and really does not need any further comment from me other than to say that we all know there has been a downturn in the market place and quite frankly,   Dial-a-Cab is not worth what it was when Sovereign made their initial offer. However, in my view Sovereign were quite right not to revise their offer downwards as this would have led to unwarranted criticism from some quarters stating that their initial valuation was only to get us interested, before they made their 'real' offer. So it would appear that we shall be talking to Sovereign later in the year.

Mountview and Cars
It would appear from reading Taxi Globe and Mountview Direct that the only reason Radio Taxis (London) - aka Mountview - started a car company was because of Dial-a-Cab!  According to them, we have been going into their accounts and offering a joint taxi/car service in conjunction with a car company - what absolute rubbish! So I would like to challenge them to name one of their accounts - just one - where this has happened.

Now I'd like to tell Call Sign
readers what really happened...
For a long time Mountview were offering a joint taxi/car service in conjunction with Burgundy, but later on there was a 'falling out' between the two which left one or two accounts in a precarious situation; I can actually name the accounts if necessary. In the meantime, Dial-a-Cab was approached by a car company to service jointly an account which  Dial-a-Cab were not servicing at the time. So my view was that no matter how much or little work we gained from this particular account, it was certainly better than the nothing we were getting before. Can you guess which Taxi company was supplying the account at the time? Yep, you've got it in one, it was Mountview and the account was worth approximately £1m per year to them. So, yes, I can understand them being a little peeved at losing it, I would feel exactly the same.
    However, to state that Dial-a-Cab were the reason they started a car company is stretching the truth a little far.  What RTL have done by starting a car company is a bold move - indeed they are the first radio circuit to do so and they should be proud that they are pioneers and consequently have the courage of their convictions. But they should also be big enough to state the real reasons for starting the company - not do things half-heartedly.
   Who wants to have a little bet with me that if the car company is a rip roaring success, Mountview will forget all about Dial-a-Cab, however, if it is a flop then of course they will have had to start the car company because of the threat from us.

Private Hire Signage
The replies to TfL's consultation document had to be returned by June 25 and a lengthy response has been made through the joint effort of all the radio circuits. As I explained in the last issue of Call Sign, we are totally opposed to any type of signage on the exterior of any Private Hire vehicle. Make no mistake, if these vehicles are allowed to carry signage stating that they are a Private Hire vehicle, I believe that will pose one of the biggest threats that we have ever seen to the livelihoods of Taxi drivers in London. I believe the situation to be so serious that I was not 

Fiftieth Anniversary
I think you will find elsewhere in this magazine the story and photos from our Fiftieth Anniversary celebrations that were held on June 7 at Vinopolis. Judging by the letters, emails and telephone calls that we received from our account clients, the evening was an outstanding success. I must say that I enjoyed the evening immensely and had a really good time - well, someone has to do it!

Mobile Telephones
You will read in Tom Whitbread's article, his comments regarding the use of mobile phones whilst driving a taxi. Normally I do not like to repeat what a Board Member has written in his article, however, in this instance I am making an exception because it is becoming quite a serious situation for us judging by the number of complaints that we are receiving from clients concerning the use of both hand held and hands free phones. I agree that having a mobile phone on your person whilst you are away from home in the cab for long periods is a great comfort for any emergency situation that might arise whilst you are not there. However, having lengthy conversations with third parties on the mobile whilst driving the cab is unacceptable. If a third party rings you whilst you are doing a credit ride and it is not an emergency situation, you should tell them that you will ring them back when you are 'empty'.  To have a lengthy conversation on the phone whilst you have a fare-paying passenger 'in the back' is extremely rude and if it is not hands free, also extremely dangerous.
   Customers like to feel that when they are in the vehicle, they have your complete attention whilst you endeavour to get them to their destination. They also like to believe that they are important to you whilst they are in the taxi, but when you are on the phone it makes them feel totally unimportant as they believe that they are hiring both you and the vehicle and should have your undivided attention at all times. I must say that I agree with them.
So please, ladies and gentlemen, please be more discreet and diplomatic with the use of your mobiles. We are looking for complaints from customers to fall dramatically, if they do not then we will have to reluctantly impose some conditions regarding the use of mobile phones whilst on a credit ride.
Brian Rice
DaC Chairman