Why Britain is Best?
It's Wednesday August 13 and I'm still trying to find some news to put in this issue. This time of year is often called the silly season by the press because with so many people away, little tends to happen and a story that might usually struggle to find a spot in a newspaper / magazine, suddenly finds itself as a desperate replacement for a headliner! This issue is beginning to look that way! Although I still have a week before I start to panic, I can already see that stories aren't flying in.
   Looking around me on the roads, although business is hardly booming, the lack of cabs around with their owners probably enjoying some Mediterranean weather makes a quiet period bearable. Luckily, they didn't realise before they left that it would be hotter at home! Exactly seven days ago, London - already sweltering in the mid-nineties - was waiting to see whether the all-time high temperature of 99 degrees would be beaten. The forecast was for 100F and I felt every degree of it. My office was dripping with sweat, with the fan just blowing hot air around but failing miserably to cool it down.
And the silly season? On that record busting hot day, I was flicking through the newspapers to see what was happening and my eye caught a warning from British Gas. They recommended that those with central heating switch it on for an hour or so or they could have problems when it got cold. So I struggled to understand that as my mind began to fail with the temperature edging ever closer to the ton, British Gas want me to put the heating on for an hour? Thank you, I'll think about it in a cool and calm manner. Get *&^*%$...

Bob Oddy and the Taxi Board
In a recent issue of TAXI, Bob Oddy wrote about the Taxi Board and explained to readers both why it failed and why he then walked off. He referred to it as an "unincorporated body, which represented the views of the many diverse interests in our trade ranging from independent drivers, major operators and vehicle manufacturers to radio circuits and taxi insurance companies.
   He went on to add that for many years the system worked reasonably well, but claimed that "...the situation changed when dominant personalities emerged from within the radio circuits and vehicle manufacturing factions."
He then shoved it all into his

mixing bowl and intimated to TAXI readers that the results showed that these people were only really interested in their bottom line profits and that these could be maximised by getting more drivers out on the streets with a "quickie Knowledge."
Bob Oddy's answer to this was to take his LTDA bat and ball and run away. Some even suggested that the real reason for Bob's departure was that the Taxi Board were becoming more popular than the LTDA until he upped sticks and left!
   But who could Mr Oddy be referring too? He points to the mid-90's as the time things started changing for the worse. Well DaC Chairman Brian Rice became Chairman in 1996, but why would Brian want a quickie KoL? DaC don't have an open door policy. If you want to come onto the best radio taxi organisation in Europe, you have to put your name down and queue for up to nine months. I don't think a quickie KoL would benefit DaC in the slightest, nor do I believe that Brian Rice was behind any such talk - something, incidentally, that has never even been accepted by the PCO and they should know.
   Why not ask DaC's Jos Pearce who recently passed out after almost 5 years or those on the Suburban Knowledge for London East who are now taking over two years to get a yellow badge. Quickie Knowledge? I don't think so. Certainly there are a lot of people on it and when it's quiet out, the last thing we really need are more cab drivers. But they have done their Knowledge - few if any in less than two years, with most averaging over three.
So Bob, perhaps you will act like a gentleman and apologise for casting a slur over Brian Rice's integrity? Call Sign's pages are 

open to you. And while you're thinking about it, give a thought to Brian's suggestion of opening up the Taxi Board to all driver groups and making it a truly taxi trade representative organisation...?

There But for the Grace of God...?
I was recently wearing my taxi driver's hat and waiting for an account client in Adler Street, Whitechapel. Those of you who know the area will have seen for

as many years as anyone can remember, the parade of down-and-outs on the piece of green next door known as Itchicoo Park. Many of the tramps there are continually and sadly in a drunken stupor.
   As I stood outside the cab enjoying the mild evening, two tramps walked towards me, one carefully supporting the other's very wobbly and drunken legs.
"Hullo mate," the reasonably sober one said to me. I was waiting for the obvious "have you got any change to spare please" to follow, but it didn't.
   "I bet Mr Finlay passed you out from the Knowledge," he said in a strong voice, "or was it that nice Mr Miller or Mr Ranst?"
I was taken aback hearing those names from the late 1960 PCO Examiners list being brought to life again. Before I could utter a word, he capitulated and asked not if I had spare change, but could I LEND him 50p for his bus fare home, as he had to leave his cab at the airport due to a breakdown. With the can of extra strong beer poking out of his ragged jacket pocket, I didn't believe the bit about the cab, but suddenly felt very sad for this man who quite possibly had been a licensed cab driver at one time but who had obviously lost his licence, possibly through drink driving. I gave him a couple of quid; he patted me on the shoulder and said he'd repay me when he saw me at the airport! Suddenly I thought that there but for the grace of God could go any of us. Life can be so tragic at times.
   Strangely enough, DaC driver Dave Kupler has had a similar awakening following his breaking his ankle. You can read his story in this issue...

Happy Anniversary
I try not to use Call Sign for personal issues because it would be unfair on those of you who
don't have your own magazines (!!!), but having had photos of my grandchildren in here including my latest, Samuel, I thought I'd also wish someone very special a belated happy anniversary. My adoptive in-laws, Bessie and Sid, recently celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary. Yes, I said 73 years! That really is an amazing achievement and twice the sentence the Great Train Robbers got! To put it into perspective, three years ago on their 70th Linda and I hunted high and low to find a card with 70 on it, but they just don't make them. Boy is it going to be hard on their 75th! Lots of love to you both...

Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com