| Mailshot is your chance to
tell the subscribers of Dial-a-Cab exactly what you think. Complaints, compliments or just
to write about Call Sign. This is YOUR paper within your magazine....
You can also email your letters to: callsignmag@aol.com
Congratulations from Mark!
Please congratulate Allen Togwell on his being made a Fellow of the
Institute of Direct Marketing. Tell him that he should put the letters
after his name as he has earned them. Could you also wish him well over
his recent Health scare. A difference of opinion does not mean wishing
someone ill health. Allen still has a lot to offer Dial-a-Cab, but perhaps
he will understand that he should be using his experience to build the
Marketing department rather than trying to do everything himself.
Could you also please congratulate the
Chairman on putting forward the idea that the Taxiboard should extend an
open invitation to all the driver organisations in the trade. Having put
the question to Mr Rice in the April 2003 Mailshot, I'm glad to see that
having taken my suggestion 'on board' in his Chairman’s Report that
month, he put it forward at the last meeting. Better a "talking
shop" than nothing, Brian. From little acorns etc? Ignore the other
two organisations and move on .. .the door is always open.
With regard to Michael Son’s comments about Dial a Cab
drivers who rent their cabs to non-subscribers, that's the price for
charging journeymen. How would Michael resolve the situation if an owner’s
journeyman were expelled for disciplinary reasons - something that may
have absolutely no bearing on the two drivers' relationship?
On very rare occasions, my Father,
should his Taxi be unavailable (broken down overhaul
etc), drives my cab. He has problems programming his video and my kids
show
him how to use his mobile phone, so don't ask him to operate a Dial-a-Cab
terminal and
drive for those few days a year. Has Michael considered the implications
of a Dial-a-Cab driver who has been suspended for disciplinary reasons,
being hailed by this managing director? Mr MD may wish to spend £100 with
the driver, who would be willing but unable to do so, as his terminal is
de-authorised?
Mark White (B86)
Thanks for the letter Mark. Before Mike Son responds to your section on
DaC terminal usage, I should make it plain to readers that your suggestion
in the April issue referred to the London Taxi Network (formerly JRTA) and
not the Taxiboard. The two organisations are totally different, Taxiboard
being a joint trade body while LTN is for radio circuits only.
Mike Son replies: Mark, you make
comment on a segment of my recent Call Sign article with reference to
non-registered DaC journeymen using a member’s taxi to ply for hire. I
must point out that the needs of the many should override the needs of the
few. Next to drivers, our customers are the most important factor in the
good fortunes of all DaC drivers. The Sales team, as I have stated on many
occasions, work hard to sell our service and promote various products
developed by our company. The Hail & Ride card that complements a
credit account is a prime example. The reason it was developed was to give
the opportunity for passengers to hail a DaC taxi in the street. I’m
sure you will agree that it is important that our account customers use a
DaC taxi rather than any other cab or phoning a minicab company. Many of
our clients are now using Hail& Ride cards in an effort to cut costs
(no run-in’s don’t you know). It is nevertheless important to realise
that if an account client flags a DaC taxi, the expectation is that the
driver will take him/her to the destination without any ifs or buts. That
is part of the service we should all provide.
You say on rare occasions your
father uses your cab to work for a short period of time and imply that
your dad would be incapable of using the onboard DaC terminal. The
question I pose, Mark, is has he been given the opportunity to have
training in that use? You may be surprised at what people are
capable of achieving. We currently have around 100 journeymen, some who
work part time but all have been trained and are knowledgeable in our
procedures. Drivers do not have to be a wiz with computers, Dial-a-Cab has
a very dedicated and professional trainer who is always available to
answer
questions or offer training updates.
Your other comment re disciplinary actions taken against a
partner/journeyman and how I would resolve the situation if one or other
were to be expelled, which could have a bearing on a working relationship.
I feel that is not a matter for myself or anyone else to resolve. We have
rules and procedures that are accepted by drivers when becoming a member
of DaC. You know the old saying Mark, if you don’t want to do the
time, don’t do the crime - or in our case, follow the procedures that
are laid down to protect our working practises. One way to solve the issue
is that if you have a driver who is not a member, take off you logos and
replace them when you resume working with DaC. We cannot afford to
antagonise customers, Mark.
Kupkake’s Fruity Broken Ankle!
Would you please pass on my thanks to the BoM for their kind gift of a
basket of fruit sent to me during my spell of illness.
David ‘kupkake’ Kupler (Y74)
And don’t leave all the apples
– they’re good for you! …d
A "Small" Aussie!
I am a Director / plate owner on the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia.
Your Dial-a-Cab website is excellent and your on-line magazine Call Sign
is a great idea. You make us feel very small as we only operate 239
vehicles. I will be showing your website to our provider with the message
to lift their game!
Cheers from ‘down-under’…
Ian Schilling
Queensland, Australia
Nice to hear from you, Ian. An Australian admitting that he is part of
something small is not a development I have come across before! …Ed
Thank You DaC…
May I through Mailshot thank the Board of Management and the girls in
Driver’s Services for all their help during some very
difficult times
regarding my wife’s
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ill-health. Can I especially say a big thank you to
Allan Evans for all his support and for constantly keeping in touch. It
has been very much appreciated by both Sue and myself.
Phil Ayres (M29)
Good Bye Taxi Trade!
On behalf of my wife Martha and myself, I’d like to thank all at
Dial-a-Cab for the lovely flowers and Champagne they sent me on the
occasion of my retirement from both DaC and the taxi trade in general. We’d
also like to thank Call Sign for taking us out for a slap-up meal, the
food was lovely and the company wasn’t too bad either! It really is nice
to feel appreciated for one’s efforts. Although I have now given in my
licence, I hope to continue writing the occasional item for Call Sign.
In ending, I’d like to take this opportunity of wishing the Board,
Call Sign, the drivers and great staff at DaC all the best in the future.
You’re a great bunch…
Sam Harris
Stanmore
The following letter was lost in limbo somewhere, which is why it has
been published later than normal…Ed
PCO Letter
By now you'll have had time to digest the recent letter from the Public
Carriage Office that was sent out to drivers. I'm sure you'll give your
opinion in your Editorial. But following Mr Togwell’s comments in the
July Mailshot, he might have a view on this comment from the PCO. In
section 2, "The economy," the writer queries the efforts made by
the Taxi.trade asking: "But who is doing anything about it in a
business sense? Where are the posters or radio ads telling the public that
London's taxis provide a great service and that they are better value
since congestion charging and the slightly cheaper evening fares?" It
goes on to say: "The Mayor has asked TfL to co-ordinate some
promotion of the trade by inviting the large trade organisations to join
together, contribute funds and agree a co-ordinated advertising campaign
to give business a boost."
Maybe the PCO and TfL will take up Mr Togwell's invite to see our Sales
Department or are they, like me, just missing the point?
An article from the Evening Standard entitled ‘Mayor pledges battle
for more bus funding’ confirms the fears in your July Editorial that Ken
Livingstone wishes to fill London's streets with even more buses. The
article says: "Subsidies for the bus service alone have mushroomed
from £100 million in 2000-2001 to about £600 million in 2003-2004. By
2008 the subsidy is expected to be £1.1 billion."
It claims that each bus passenger is subsidised by £2 from the
taxpayer! No wonder our licence fees went us by 51%! Perhaps our
"friend" at TfL, ("Dear Colleague!") would care to
subsidise Dial-a-Cab and its drivers in the same way it does the buses?
In another section of this letter under ‘Condition of Fitness’, the
PCO suggests that: "If drivers' organisations think the existing
manufacturers are abusing their duopoly position by overpricing, ask the
Office of Fair Trading to investigate."
Following comments in your Editorial, Tony Lawyer's (C51) Mailshot
letter and Brian
Rice's reply that he "may have been complaining whilst on a visit
to LTI in Coventry," perhaps we could ask the Chairman to enter into
constructive dialogue with the OFT on our behalf?
Mark White (B86)
Brian Rice replies: I think your letter is self-explanatory, Mark,
however your last sentence prompted to me to look in my diary because as
you are probably aware, the OFT is 'looking into' the Taxi and Private
Hire trade on a national scale. Their findings are due to be published
this autumn, bearing in mind it will be a recommendation only. To this
end, I did in fact have a meeting with them at Fleetbank House on April
23. We will have to wait and see if our arguments have been taken on
board.
Views on the London Trade From An Ex-DaC Driver in Oz
I have been meaning to send you some of my thoughts on some issues that
have been appearing in the on-line Call Sign, purely as somebody who
understands the problems but is looking at them from a more detached
position. I did email Tom Carter following his article on future upgrades
and we had a short discourse on the problems that drivers are experiencing
and the way that the unscrupulous few try to beat the system. Then there
was the signal and modem problems that were are something Tom and Peter
Thurston recognised a long time ago as being an ongoing problem that could
be very difficult to overcome. That problem will now hopefully be solved
with the upgrade.
I have a couple of cab drivers that come into our servo for fuel and I
often have a chat to them about their days work, whether it has been busy
or not. One of the guys drives a maxi-taxi (like a 7 seater mini-bus with
a wheelchair lift on the back) for Black and White taxis, the other drives
a Falcon sedan for Yellow cabs. The Premier of Queensland made a statement
the other day that in his opinion, Queensland drivers were the best and
most courteous in Australia (backed up by comments made by visitors to a
conference here in Brisbane) and therefore he would oppose any attempts to
de-regulate the taxi trade! Are you listening Ken Livingstone? London taxi
drivers are the best in the world, let alone the country and yet they
are being pushed around by all and sundry. Sorry, you've now got me on
my soapbox!
My best wishes to all at Dial-a-Cab…
Howard Sayles (ex-A11)
Brisbane, Australia
Howard is a former DaC driver and ‘new terminal’ trainer who moved
to Brisbane, Australia around 18 months ago and successfully opened up a
service station with a 2-bay workshop and small shop earlier this year …Ed
Advertising Hint
I’ve made a small discovery. I have been tucking our Dial-a-Cab
business cards inside the soft rubber seal on the passenger’s side
windows and find that I’m replacing around six per day on average. It’s
easy advertising and if only half our fleet did it, that’s 6000 cards a
day and if we count the weekend as one day, that’s around 36,000 hand
out cards each week to possible new clients. Have we got enough cards!
Kevin Went (N19)
Letter to the Mayor Re Bishopsgate Bus Lane
My last appeal to TfL has just been turned down. I was in the bus lane
and that is that according to them. So now I've got to
decide whether to
take it to the
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independent adjudicators, which I probably will, but I just
wondered what would happen if I got a response from Ken Livingstone about
the bus lane situation so I am writing to him to find out. See below.
Doug Vogel (R05)
Dear Mr Livingstone, Sir,
My name is Douglas Vogel and I have been a Licensed London Taxi driver
for over 17 years. May I draw your attention to a situation concerning a
Bishopsgate bus lane. In March of this year, a large amount of Licensed
London Taxi drivers (myself included), received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)
for entering a northbound bus lane in Bishopsgate which up until then, the
whole Taxi trade believed was accessible to the Licensed London Taxi.
Although the signs didn’t show the word ‘Taxi’, it has not been
an uncommon thing to see incorrect bus lane signs where Taxis are allowed,
but the word is missing - or contradictory signs where of two signs in a
bus lane, only one gives access whilst the other doesn’t. Therefore, we
have made it our business to make certain that we are eligible for access
before we enter a bus lane. Transport for London, when asked, said they
had informed the Public Carriage Office that this bus lane was going to be
enforced, but this information was not passed
to the Taxi trade by either body. Apparently TfL informed the PCO twice
– on 14/2/03 and 20/2/03. Then in March, an enforcement drive captures
and penalises law-abiding drivers – no matter that plenty of other signs
are still wrong!
Mr Livingstone, if you look at the statistics for bus lane
contraventions by Taxis in March for this particular bus lane and then
compare the figures with established bus lanes such as Pentonville Road or
New Oxford Street, the figures will demonstrate that by and large, Taxi
drivers obey the rules. This whole situation has been caused by bad
communication, whether it’s a culture of bad bus lane signage, or just
lack of notification from TfL to PCO to us Taxi drivers. But it’s us who
are penalised. I would like to hear your view as to how fair this is.
My PCN appeal is reaching its final stage. I had to appeal because I
feel so strongly about this, but I’ve got to say that TfL may win this
fine from me, but they will lose my respect forever.
Mr D. Vogel
Thanks for sending Call Sign a copy of your letter to the Mayor. We
were told some time ago that the Bishopsgate ban would be rescinded, as
would be Islington. Perhaps Ken Livingstone should try to speed up some of
those working for him on Queen’s Walk, because his opponent in next year’s
Mayoral elections, Steve Norris, has personally assured Call Sign that bus
lanes such as the above two will be opened to taxis but NOT private hire
if he becomes Mayor. A full interview with Steve Norris can be found
elsewhere in this issue …Ed
And More Bus Lanes
Brian Rice, writing in last month’s Call Sign, told us about his
meeting with Tony McNulty at the Department for Transport where Brian
raised several issues of major importance to our trade. I was especially
interested in Brian raising the very important subject of licensed taxis
being allowed into all bus lanes.
Our working conditions have deteriorated drastically over the years;
where once we could cut down side streets and make detours when necessary,
we are now faced with many roads with restricted or no access and bus
lanes which we can use - but only those that are chosen for us. Our
customers understandably are as frustrated as ourselves. Why can’t we
use all bus lanes? Outside of the rush hour there are many times during
the day when I have seen lines of buses with hardly any passengers, whilst
I may have two or three people in the back of my cab unable to transport
them to the best of my ability. Well-done Mr Chairman for bringing these
very important topics to the attention of TfL and keep up the pressure on
them.
Adrian Landau (T14)
Sid Nathan and the Meter Pause Button
With reference to the interesting Call Sign article on the efforts of
Sid Nathan to have a meter pause button, I would like to say that I have a
Halda M12 meter which it is possible to stop so that it is running on
distance only, very useful in a traffic jam; it is then possible to start
the meter again when required. This facility is also useful if you have
two passengers and you are not told that the other passenger is carrying
on and you have stopped the meter; all you then have to do is just
re-start the meter and it carries on in the normal way.
I hope this information may help Sid and all those who are interested…
Name and call sign supplied
Call Sign does not publish anonymous letters, but for this letter we
have deliberately removed the driver’s DaC details. Why? Well we asked
the PCO to confirm the story and they said this type of meter is fine, but
that specific facility is not allowed in London and you would not normally
have it when being fitted. Cygnus meters and M&O confirmed that,
although I have also been informed that the facility in question is
available in most meters, but just not allowed to be used due to the
regulations. So I’m sorry to say that this driver’s letter (genuine,
because I know the driver well and he would not deliberately break any
licensing regulations) is giving information that can land you in hot
water. To the writer, have the meter changed; it obviously slipped through
the net …Ed
Congratulations Donna
Having read about Donna Merry’s success in becoming the British Skeet
Shooting Champion in England (Sept Call Sign On-Line), we at the
NSSA would like to send our congratulations to both Donna for her success
and Call Sign for reporting on it.
Jim Labone
National Skeet Shooting Association
San Antonio, Texas
And Again…
I don’t know much about shooting (other than in John Wayne movies),
but I’d like to congratulate Donna Merry on becoming British Champion.
And it must have been tough for her to go back to just answering phones
after being on such a high!
Len Bell (L01)
Donna would like to thank all those drivers who sent congratulations on
her British Championship win. And "just answering phones?" These
are Dial-a-Cab phones, Len! …Ed
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