Tom’s England…
May I start by thanking Christina Springham
for her letter published in the last issue
of Call Sign, it is refreshing to know that
there are people left in Britain who do not
want to give England away!
Tony Blair is the man with the outsize ego who may sell us all down
the river, just so he can gain a good job in
Europe. He’s a man who puts people into
jobs, thinking he knows better than going
through a selection process. Most of these
people have so far made a complete farce of
the job they’ve been given. One that springs
to mind at the moment is the Minister for
Defence, Mr Hoon; he sends our troops to
fight a war but neglects to give them the
correct and adequate equipment. If that’s
not bad enough, he then tries to lie about
the mistakes!
Where did he appear from? I think you will
find it’s the Cherie Blair stable…
Some may believe that I belong to the BNP, far from it; they act
like a group of mindless yobs that I would
never associate myself with. I’m proud of
Great Britain’s history, we are an island
that in hundreds of years, has lost millions
who fought and died protecting it. Now we
have a Prime Minister who just wants to give
it all away. The other countries in Europe
must be wondering why they bothered fighting
us? If only they’d known Tony Blair was
coming!
Contacting Lovells
We have a problem at
Lovells in Holborn Viaduct. Some drivers are
not doing as they are supposed to do, that
is to go into the reception and ask for
their passenger by name. By the time the
driver and passenger are linked up, there is
substantially more than should be showing on
the meter. This brings the Society into
disrepute and that being the case, a
complaint will be issued. If you have any
problem contacting your passenger, the voice
channel operator must be informed
immediately.
When it comes to complaints, they usually fall into 3 categories;
deliberate, laziness and "I didn’t think."
It is always easy when you think in
hindsight, but by then you could have lost a
major account.
DaC Prevents Client Being
Defrauded
A major account client found that
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one of their accounts was
being defrauded over a period of 5 months.
We, as you know, have the most up-to-date and security conscious despatch
system for taxis in the world.
These passengers were dropped a short distance from the intended pickup
point and the cab went on to pick up the two
young men. Once they had given their details
to the driver and got into the taxi, the
driver turned back and took them to the
waiting police and security!
To make matters worse for them, one of the young men asked the
policemen if they did not have anything better
to do "…such as catching criminals!" It makes
you wonder what they considered they were if
not just a pair of common thieves.
The client and I would like to thank all the staff involved in this
incident. It proves that Dial-a-Cab will go
out of its way to safeguard our client’s
accounts. The client has now added extra
security into their accounts to stop this
happening again.
Lose the Metered Fare?
We have drivers who do not write down details
of their job for future reference if a query
should arise. We supply free of charge, the correct books to write
all the details of your jobs, plus any
changes. If you are not able to supply us with
proof and details on a fare that is above the
norm, then you could have money deducted.
In the back of our credit books are a number of green pages. These
are for recording deliveries with the
recipient’s signature and printing in block
capitals, so that it is easily read if
necessary. If you fail to get a signature and
the delivery goes missing, we cannot prove to
the client that it was ever delivered, so we
have no option but to deduct the fare from the
driver as the client will not pay us.
We set out these procedures so that drivers should always get paid,
but if you are a Jack the Lad and cut corners,
you will be the one to lose out. I
became involved some 3 weeks ago and started
to collate as much |
information as possible, which was passed onto
the client and police. We also got some pretty
good descriptions from the drivers involved on
past fraudulent trips – one being from the
Editor himself!
The end came when, with all this information,
the client had a good idea who the persons
involved were and a plan was formulated to try
and trap them. Involved in the coup de grace
was the client, police, our call centre and
the driver. It was just a waiting game from
then on until the next call came in with
details that matched past journeys.
The call centre staff linked onto an incoming call and immediately
informed the client’s security staff. A taxi
was then despatched to pick up the security
staff and then onto the police station
involved to collect two police officers.
Proprietors Licenses
Ladies and Gentlemen, we
still have a few drivers who are not producing
their proprietor’s licence after their
overhaul. After the overhaul, we need to see
the licence or a photocopy. This is to keep
with the ODRTS rulebook. You receive the
licence on the same day as the taxi plate, so
if we have not seen proof within 7 days, you
are falling foul of our procedure rules.
If found guilty of the above complaint on more than 1 occasion -
they are recorded on your record - a committee
may deem that you are not a fit and proper
person to be on the circuit.
Receipt Pads
I can’t say well done to all those drivers who
give our receipt pads to non-radio drivers.
I’m getting more complaints about drivers who
swear or give false figures on receipts to
passengers. When I check the registration
number or plate number, it often turns out not
to be one of our taxis, but the passenger
usually does not believe me and says they will
never ride in a Dial-a-Cab taxi again.
Even if you know the other driver, he does not want to be on the
radio and therefore has no allegiance to us,
so why take a chance? It is your work that he
is losing, so before you ask me where the work
is disappearing to, think about what I have
just written.
Tom Whitbread
DaC Complaints Dept |
