An Invitation to Clarence House
On Tuesday 20 July, the Prince of Wales held a reception at Clarence
House for representatives of the Licensed Taxi Industry in London. All aspects
of our Industry were represented from the Radio Circuits to the Trade
Associations and Trade Charities.
The day started with Prince Charles being driven in a Taxi to
the Hanover Square shelter where he had a cup of tea (in a china cup!) and
spoke to some of the drivers who frequent the shelter. Later that day I saw the
news clip on television and was delighted to see one of our members, Jon
Trevor, interviewed by a television crew.
Anyway, we all arrived at Clarence House and as you can appreciate
the security was very tight, there were approximately one hundred of us and the
day was very warm indeed. We all congregated in the garden of the House and
after a short period, Prince Charles arrived together with Camilla
Parker-Bowles. The couple mingled separately with the invited guests and spoke
to about half a dozen people at a time. I was fortunate enough to be able to
speak with both of them and I must say that I was extremely impressed. They
both appeared to be very down to earth and absolutely charming.
We spoke about many things and the Prince admitted that he could
not remember travelling anywhere by Taxi and that if he had, then it must have
been when he was very small. I then pointed out to the Prince that the Prince
of Wales Office does actually have an account with Dial-a-Cab. It was obvious
that he was unaware of this situation, however I quickly pointed out that there
was not any need for him to worry as his Office were "good payers!" This seemed
to both amuse and satisfy him.
I did have one observation later in the day while watching the
television news item regarding Charles trip to the Hanover Square shelter. I
wrote earlier about the Prince telling me that he could not remember travelling
by taxi and it showed, because when
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he alighted from the Taxi he never closed the door and if he really wants to
upset Taxi drivers, one of the surest ways to do so is to walk off without
closing the door! However, I’m sure he will be excused on this occasion
because he is probably not used to closing car doors after leaving any vehicle
he travels in…
The whole day was absolutely excellent and I think everyone that
took part in the occasion were truly great ambassadors for the London Taxi
Trade and I believe it did wonders for our industry’s profile as there was a
lot of media coverage. The Prince has recognised the sterling work that you all
do, it now only remains for the Mayor and TfL to be persuaded and we will be
home and dry!
Finally, I would like to thank everyone from
the trade who contributed to making the day an unrivalled success, particularly
to Sandie Goodwin from Taxi Globe for organising the Press and to John Thomas
of the LTDA for doing most of the ‘behind the scenes’ work in order to make the
day a success. If I have left anyone out, then you know who you are and well
done to you also.
West Coast Trains
At the end of August / beginning of
September there will be another nine-day close
down, you will be able to read about the
booking-in procedures for covering this work
elsewhere in this issue of Call Sign. I would
like to stress that you must follow the
procedures exactly, because at the moment many
drivers are not reading their screens and are
booking in when they shouldn’t. This
causes us far more administration work than it
should because as you can imagine, the
logistics involved in a project of this size
are enormous and any unnecessary work needs to
be avoided at all costs.
We have now come to the |
conclusion that some members are
fully aware of what they are doing and are
just trying to gain an advantage over their
colleagues, consequently we are considering
suspending drivers from this particular
project if they book in incorrectly and waste
the time of your staff, so please be precise.
Whilst on this particular subject, we have had some problems with
the local drivers at both Milton Keynes and
Birmingham. Those of you that have been based
at those particular stations are probably
aware of the situation. The bottom line
is that the locals are being ‘wound up’ by
some of our drivers who are apparently
informing them of the rates you are being
paid. Please don’t do this in the future, as
it gives us and West Coast Trains untold
problems. And remember: ‘Loose lips sinks
ships!’
Incidentally, it looks very much as though the weather will be good
for the August blockade, so if that is the
case, please remember your dress code, as we
have received some complaints.
Size Does Matter When it Comes to our Logos!
It has been brought to our attention that some members are putting
small magnetic logos onto their Taxis - much smaller than our original ones. I
have, in fact, seen two such vehicles myself.
I would like to remind you that our original logos are passed by the PCO, the
small ones are not. We have traced the person producing these logos and I
have advised him that the logos he is producing are not approved by the PCO and
indeed are a breach of copyright. He has assured me that he will cease
production of these logos, so please, if you do have them on your cab, please
remove them and put the original logos back on…
And Holidays
Finally this month, many of you will be going away for a holiday. I hope that
the weather remains fine for you and that you return feeling refreshed having
had a wonderful rest…
Brian Rice
Chairman,
Dial-a-Cab |
