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Hopefully you
are reading this at the beginning of
December, because if you are then I’ll
place it along with anything labelled
miracles!
At
the time of writing, I am into my fourth
week of not working because of a sudden and
mysterious illness that befell my darling
wife. Because of that illness, she virtually
became unable to do anything for herself. At
times like that, you realise two things: 1/
Good health is everything and 2/ Good health
is everything!
Sure,
life without money gets difficult as the
non-working days pile up, but you can always
work harder to make some of it up when you
finally go back, but good health is often
out of your hands. Linda is progressing on a
daily basis and by the time you read this, I
am hopeful that she will be back to full
fitness even if we still do not understand
the complexity of an illness that left her
looking normal, while being afraid of some
things she sees everyday throughout her
life, yet not of others. For all the
benefits of modern medicine from MRI scans
to intricate blood tests, it seems that the
so-called alternative medicines of
acupuncture and hypnotherapy are the ones
that works best!
To say
that producing a magazine was the furthest
thing from my mind would be untrue because
throughout these dark days, Linda kept
reminding me that drivers would be expecting
it whether she was ill or not! Don’t women
ever rest? Anyway, here it is and if there
is slightly less homespun news, then I hope
you’ll understand.
And by
the way, thank God for the rollerbond and
also for the DaC Credit Union!
Proud of
Being Taxi Drivers
We know all about
the exploits of The Underprivileged Children’s
Fund, The Albany, The War Disabled Charity,
the Taxi Driver of the Year Charity, The
Magical Disney Trip and the many other
charities around the country all organised
by Licensed Taxi drivers.
But one
group who regularly do good work are often
neglected - and that is the rest of us! We
often hear about taxi drivers who won’t go
south of the river or out to Hackney on a
Saturday night, yet amazingly, wherever you
go in those two areas, you’ll see licensed
Taxis! Some must go there!
We all know that most of the stories
reaching us are just
Chinese whispers passed down
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the
line, each one ending with a bigger
exaggeration than the last. Sadly, many
passengers have wonderful tales to tell
about their Taxi driver, but few bother
because it’s always much easier to
complain.
So I’m
pleased to be able to recite the story in
this issue about ex-WWII soldier Lou Myers
and how, in the week of
Remembrance Sunday, he used seven different
Taxis while in his "uniform" of a
beret and medals and not one single driver
would take his fare! Read the story and take
pride, because whatever the few say about
us, we are still a great trade…
Pedicab
Congratulations to the LTDA
I believe that
congratulations are in order for the LTDA
from this trade, on the report they
commissioned from the Study for Transport
Research Laboratory to show the frailties of
Pedicabs if involved in an accident with a
car or cab.
These
reports don’t come cheap and it says a lot
for that organisation that they were
prepared to spend what must have been a
substantial amount, in order to help the
whole trade and not just their members.
My belief
has always been that every licensed Taxi
driver should belong to a trade organisation,
because there is nothing worse than hearing
that majority of drivers always coming up
with excuses why they won’t join, but are
still happy to take anything on offer.
Congratulations
to the DaC Chairman
Several months
back, Call Sign revealed that Brian Rice had
been nominated as an International Vice
President of the Taxicab, Limousine and
Paratransit Association (TLPA). November 3
saw Brian jet out to Florida to accept the
now-awarded position.
Some will
no doubt shrug, wink and ask if it was a
nice holiday! Well, no doubt the weather
would have been better than London,
but the TLPA conference and trade show
is now the biggest
show of its kind in the world, a
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show where the best of
every type of new Taxi innovation from
terminals to tyres would have been on display.
Dial-a-Cab’s position at the forefront of
technology means that we must not only be
visible on the world scene, but also make sure
that we know about every new innovation to
come out of this trade. And congratulations to
Brian Rice on a momentous achievement for DaC…
John Peel
– The Enemy!
Just a brief word
about the death of Radio 1 DJ John Peel. We’ve
heard lots about his talent for spotting new
bands and to be honest, his musical taste
and mine rarely matched. However, in the
mid-sixties when I worked briefly for the
London office of the infamous pirate ship
Radio Caroline, the name of John Peel was on
everyone’s lips in our office.
Our boss,
Rohan O’Rahilly, kept telling anyone who
would listen that John Peel’s show, ‘The
Perfumed Garden’, which broadcast from our
"enemy" ship - Big L - Radio
London, "wasn’t in our
interest." In other words it was too
good and that we needed to talk it down by
telling anyone who would listen that this
25-year old DJ who kept promoting new
groups, got the idea from Radio Caroline
when we wouldn’t hire him!
Forty
years on and he was as true to his beliefs
as he was when a young pirate. As I said,
his music did little for me, but as a person
who stuck to his beliefs, he was surely
number one. RIP…
Olympic
Bid
Last month, I said
that while it would be nice to see the
Olympics in London, I just didn’t think
that there would be enough support from the
public. Well, while I still believe that the
majority are against the idea, I hold my
hands up to the Mayor’s office and his
publicity machine because no matter where
you look, you cannot fail to see a 2012
Olympic bid banner. That even applies to
taxi mags including this one.
As such,
my own view has equalled itself out and I
now think that the majority against is
closing towards a 50 – 50 split. If I’m
right, then by this time next year, this
country will be firmly behind the bid. And,
if that does become the case, then God help
us if Paris, New York or Moscow get the nod!
Come on London…
Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com |
