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Northampton Woes are Worth a Laugh!
Reversing into a space at Northampton Station on Saturday 20 September, my steering belt decided to part company with the pulley. After informing the Marshal and contemplating a long wait for the AA, other Dial-a-Cab drivers in the car park then rescued me!
   My thanks to those drivers, one who appeared with a torch masquerading as a spotlight, another who had a spare belt and would not accept payment, while yet another driver had all the tools! Then there was the driver who supplied the rubber gloves and lastly, everyone else there for the laughs. In the end my ribs were aching! I couldn't even buy them tea because there was nowhere open as it was getting on to 20.30.
   Again, a big thank you to you all. This is what Lords is all about…
John Bailey (D47)
I could have told you that before John, but thanks for putting it into print…Ed

Driver’s Website
Is it not possible for Dial-a-Cab members to have their own site for requesting information and giving information to the society e.g. changing the amount one saves via the roller bond, changing plate numbers after overhauls etc? I’m sure a good majority of our members now have computers and are quite au  fait with what’s available to them.
   Plus, we could have a chat room or notice board on all sorts of subjects, from what they think of new cabs, or what they think of what’s going on in their own Society, suggestions and opinions on a host of subjects. Keep up the good work, Alan, I enjoy your editorial columns.
Roy Martin (R42)
Allen Togwell replies: Firstly Roy as you have a PC and are obviously linked to the Internet, I'm sure you are aware that we have own website (www.dial-a-cab.co.uk) on which you will find under 'Site Map' several headings that will allow you to submit details or request information - 'Feedback' being one example. Each morning when I arrive at the office, I make a point of checking each of these sections for new account enquiries, information and general feedback. However, with regards the information you refer to such as roller bonds, change of number plates etc, I would have thought it more practical to use your e-mail facility to Nuala or Val in Drivers Services, because apart from having access direct to the people concerned who would be able to give you an instant acknowledgement, you would also have a record on your PC as to what you have sent together with dates etc. You wouldn't have these when using a website information service.
   As for using the Dial-a-Cab website as a Chat Room service, I'm not so sure that is a good idea. The main reason is because from some of the sites I've seen and in particular the comments from the vociferous element within the trade, I don't think it would create the right sort of image. Lastly and of course more importantly, we already have a medium where all Dial-a-Cab members with or without PC's can air their views - it is the very magazine you are using to publish your letter now!

Campaign Against Speed Humps
Are there any other drivers out there wishing to join C.A.S.H. which is the Campaign Against Speed Humps? The policy is for all members of the campaign to hoot twice each time they pass over a speed hump, with the aim of getting local residents to urge their council to remove the offending hump. Non-members are also welcome to join the action. The only commitment is to pledge to give £1 to Oxfam for each hump removed. With a target of 100 humps removed each year, a lot of money will be raised for a good cause and all drivers, passengers and vehicles will benefit.
Laurence Kelvin (W88)
The double hoot could also give residents the hump in addition to help ridding them of the menaces. A good cause though. See Editorial on page 3 …Ed

Steve Norris Interview
I must congratulate you on your interview with Steve Norris. Your questions and Steve’s answers must be great news for thousands of your readers. As an ex-taxi driver, I don’t think that I could ever vote for Ken Livingstone again, but now having read your interview and listened to him on LBC radio, Steve Norris has definitely got my vote – and I’m certain the votes of many other taxi drivers too!
   Perhaps you could interview Ken Livingstone as well in Call Sign and ask him the same tough questions and let us hear what he has to say.
Well done Alan…
Mr A.Stanton

Ilford, Essex
Congratulations on the excellent interview in the November Call Sign with London Mayoral candidate Steve Norris. He sounds like the type of Mayor that we can work with – especially if he keeps his word that with his election, the taxi trade would have representation on Transport for London (TfL) and that the reversion of the traffic light system to as it was before Ken messed them up, would follow. His answer that taxi ages are irrelevant and that it is the condition that matters was also what I, and many others with older cabs, wanted to hear. He has my vote. Again, Alan, my congratulations…
Michael Golding (V55)
The call sign interview conducted last month by editor Alan Fisher gave an excellent insight into the workings of the mind of prospective mayoral candidate, Steve Norris and there is no
doubting that Steve - dubbed by
 some the "Silver Tongued Fox" - is an extremely impressive

 performer. Our maverick mayor
Ken looks almost home-spun in comparison, standing in the rain wearing a crumpled Burberry Mac and dodgy trainers while waiting for a 40 year old red bus to take him home to Cricklewood! Steve Norris demonstrates clarity of viewpoint with a pragmatic approach. Mayor Ken has an ideology mindset of goals, which he sets out to achieve even if it means exasperating colleagues and treading upon people on the way, as London’s taxi drivers can well testify. Steve Norris is well thought of in the C3ty, he has been a successful business man himself and comes across as being a bit more of a human being then most politicians we see today who spout tired clichés such as: " We have a radical new policy agenda" or "we have many new initiatives we will develop to improve Tourism in London." The latter is coming straight from the mayor’s office. Tourism in London is still at a very low ebb. People who work in Knightsbridge say Harrods is a ghost store in comparison to 3-5 years ago. During Wimbledon week, premier league hotels in London were half empty - unheard of a few years ago! Losing the vote of London taxi drivers could be a decisive blow. In a licensed taxi we have a captive audience and can talk to people, something TFL can only dream of. Steve Norris is not alone in saying the overspending of the red bus budget is scandalous. Simon Jenkins of the Evening Standard highlighted this fact in his article "Could London go bankrupt?" by saying: "You can now walk down the whole length of Oxford Street on the top of empty double-decker buses!" They are costing a fortune and are currently on schedule to lose £1billion by the year after next. My one reservation regarding Steve Norris’s plans is whether removing the congestion charge would be foolhardy and whether his business interests will skittle him at the final furlong? I’m not sure. No doubt to some, having a congestion charge is a rubber stamped return ticket to power for Ken, but he will need to display the road map of plans he has to convince Londoners. At this stage of the race with the going good, although carrying more weight, silver fox is three furlongs out in front of Red ken who needs to conjure a miracle to win.
David Heath (W27)
After reading October Call Sign’s in-depth interview with Steven Norris, I ask if he is the man who can finally give the much-needed support to the Licensed London Taxi driver? Mr Norris seems to have his finger on the pulse of what is needed to assist us by the way he explained how he would deal with the on-going problems. My only problem with his answers was when Alan posed the question of private hire vehicles being allowed to advertise on the outside of their vehicles. Mr Norris said and I quote: "I have no objection to some form of identification, particularly as this could make enforcement of illegal plying easier." To give him credit, he would want to sit down and try to sort this problem out. No advertising at all on private hire cars and he may have my vote. At least he seems more Taxi-friendlier than our mate, Mr Livingstone…
Russell Hall (G44)
As a former Dial-a-Cab driver now living in Spain, can I offer my congratulations on your Steve Norris interview (Call Sign On-line, October). Reading it almost made me want to move back to London so that I could vote for him. However, as I sit in the warm Spanish October sunshine, I must emphasise the word ‘almost!’ Can I also use this opportunity to say hello to all my old Lords pals…
D.Shapiro
Alicante, Spain

Steve Norris, TaxiBoard and Other Bits!
Steve Norris once made a comment about the licensed Taxi trade that was spot-on and may provide the epitaph on the Cab-trade’s headstone. He said: "If you take a dozen Cab drivers, you'll get thirteen opinions!" TaxiBoard, JRTA, London Taxi Network, I don't care what you call it so long as it accurately reflects the Licensed Taxi drivers' viewpoint. What's needed is ‘One True Voice'. It’s only fair that manufacturers, garage proprietors and customers have a view, but it needs to be balanced against the voice of the Taxi driver.
   As a former representative of the London Cab Driver’s Club, I 'bumped' heads with Steve Norris a few times (during a guided night-time tour of London touts and the launch of the Asquith Cab). If DaC Chairman, Brian Rice, takes his comment "that he is a politician" as his concluding view of the ex-Transport minister for London, he'll not be wrong. But would you buy a car from that man?
   In the September Mailshot, Mike Son misses my point! Is he saying that drivers who are unable or unwilling to accept Chargecard must remove their Logos from their DaC taxi windscreen and doors? Will they have to pay extra subs? Or can drivers who are on a suspension accept Chargecard or TaxiCard? Must a suspended driver remove his Logos? Does this mean that drivers who pay extra subs not to display logos have the right not to accept ChargeCard and TaxiCard?
Mark White (B86)
Thanks for the letter Mark. See Brian Rice’s Chairman’s report for an update on his attempt to open the Taxiboard as a representative trade body. You are right; those who only complain about the name are really missing the point. It could be called Noddy and Big Ears United, so long as it represents the trade as a unified body, it has to be worth while. Mike Son has also responded to your letter re Chargecards in his column …Ed

Westminster TaxiCard Tender
The following letter was sent both to Call Sign and Michael Dwemoh, the Westminster Transport Contracts Manager…
 I was very pleased to receive, when the Royal Mail delivered their delayed mail, the letter giving me the new allocation for TaxiCard journeys to run until the end of March. I would also like to  report on the latest act of kindness by a Dial-a-Cab driver. On

Good Bye Dave…
I will be leaving the Society on October 11. I feel that after twenty-six years of driving a cab, I need a change and will be going back to the work as I had previously done prior to gaining my badge. I would, however, like to thank the Board of Management - past and present - for the exceptional hard work they have done in the twenty years I have been a member of ODRTS. My thanks also go to the wonderful staff, both in the control room and admin, who are not only hard working but also very dedicated. I would like to sign off by wishing Dial-a-Cab success in the future and a final big thank you to everyone I have ever worked with. If things do not work, out I hope you will accept me back!
David Freeman (A19)
No problem with returning, just leave the brown envelope in the usual place! And of course, the best of luck Dave …Ed

Not Me Guv!
Several months ago, Alan Fisher kindly informed me that another E. Lambert would be appearing in September's Call Sign in the DaC Complaints/Appeals column. At the time, I did not really take a lot of notice as I thought most people who knew me would realise that it was another driver (K22), but it has become very apparent following several comments made to me at the Sandown Private Hire and Taxi Show, that this is not the case. Several of the people who asked or commented about this were not even DaC drivers and in a couple of cases, not even taxi drivers. I would just like to take this chance to clear my name. It wasn't me Guv…!
Eddie Lambert V27
Where were you on the nights of the 14,16,17, 27, 28 and 30 August guv and do you have any witnesses? Going to see Peterborough United doesn’t wash – no one goes to see Peterborough United! Hope to see you back in the saddle soon Eddie …Ed

Taxi Driver of the Year Show
Please find a copy of a letter that Mr Roy Ellis sent to me. I asked him if he would allow this letter to be published, so with his permission I have sent it to you and hope that you will publish it. You all know the hardship we’ve had in putting on the show, but our aim was to let everyone know we are still going to have a competition and all being well, we will be back next year with a trade show.
Russell Poluck MBE (T55)

Reply from Roy Ellis
Dear Russell
   Thank you for your very kind invitation to your Gala Dinner on 15 November. Unfortunately I will be unable to attend but I appreciate the invitation. I know from a previous year that it is a most enjoyable occasion, so I am sorry to be missing it. I hope all concerned have a good time.
   Somewhat belatedly, I must also congratulate you on this year’s Taxi Driver of the Year Show. I have no doubt that you will face criticism since it was clearly a shadow of its former self, but in view of the difficulties you faced, I think you did very well to mount the event at all. Under the circumstances, I think it would have been difficult for you to do any better and I congratulate you and your colleagues for what you achieved. Hopefully, fortunes will revive and we will see greater things in future years. Don’t give up. Well done to you all.
Roy Ellis
Head of the Public Carriage Office
   Considering that like me, most of the trade press knew why this year’s show had the problems it did, I believe that they were unnecessarily harsh in their judgement. I also hope that the company involved with those problems are banned from any future shows! …Ed

November 2003 Call Sign Home Page

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