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Station Surcharges
There seems to be some misinterpretation
about the rule that allows drivers to add a
£4 surcharge when picking up at railway
stations - a rule that goes back to the days
of Shirland Road before mobile phones were
invented. We brought in the surcharge for
pre-bookings where we had no phone number to
inform the client about where their taxi was
waiting, something that obviously applied to
most clients in those days. Nowadays, most
people have mobile phones - especially our
business clients – and they phone as their
train pulls in to the station. Under those
conditions, the surcharge does not apply.
However,
we apparently have some drivers who try to
add the surcharge for clients who are at the
station when they phone up for a taxi and
who want the cab ASAP. There are also some
drivers who want to charge it for railway
staff who work at the stations; these are
employees of the train company and not
passengers.
Please
remember, the only time you can charge the
railway booking fee is if you pickup a
pre-booked job at a station where the
passenger is arriving on a train.
Excessive Run-ins
I know
you have read this before, but please
remember that this time it is coming from
the Complaints Dept. We have some drivers
who through one reason or another, are
arriving at the pickup point with more than
the maximum allowed showing on the meter.
This is wrong and the Society will come down
heavily on any case where this is proved.
You are professional taxi drivers and
usually have a good idea of when you should
put your meter on. Overcharging in this
manner can endanger not just your
livelihood, but that of other subscribers
too who rely on radio work.
When you
are running to a pickup and realise that you
will have too much showing on the meter on
arrival, you can simply restart it. It is
surely better to have 20p less than to break
the agreement the clients sign in their
Terms and Conditions.
In
addition, a small number of drivers seem to
be making mistakes when clearing credit
account trips with the amount they clear
being slightly more than the amount showing
on the meter when the client alights from
the taxi. If any case is proven against a
driver doing this deliberately, his or her
membership with ODRTS may be terminated.
This being the case, they will find that no
other circuit will entertain them for fear
of getting a bad reputation.
Some will
mention the ‘1984’ syndrome, but be
honest, if you went into a shop and paid by
credit card only to find afterwards that the
shopkeeper had added on a small amount for
no reason, you would feel just as aggrieved
as any client who finds that the fare added
to their account is |
more than when they left the
taxi. I’m sure you can understand our
concern…
Booking In Correctly
Some drivers seem to think that it is OK to
cheat on their fellow subscribers when booking
into a zone. You all know the rules and so I’m
not going to repeat the booking-in procedure
again. If you are unsure, phone Allan Evans on
020 7251 0581 ext 225.
We have a
large majority of honest drivers who wait
patiently in the back up zones for jobs to
pass from the primary zones to them, but we
have the greedy few who decide to book
straight into a zone from miles away and to
steal a job. They do this when they see a job
and no cabs in a zone, mainly in the physical
outer zones.
We now have
a greatly improved GPS system, as some drivers
have found out just lately, and these drivers
have received sentences from a warning to
several weeks suspension. The honest drivers
have now got to the point where they will not
stand for this greedy minority stealing their
work. Sentences are calculated taking into
account the driver’s past record, so if a
driver is a persistent offender, they will
probably end up being expelled. When that
happens, their record follows them. So entry
onto another circuit is very unlikely.
Subscription Debts
I’ve written before about drivers falling
into debt with their subscription payments.
These could be drivers who have fallen sick or
have another legitimate reason for not being
able to
work. If this is the case, please contact a
Board Member immediately and maybe we can
help, although I cannot give any guarantee as
each case is taken on its own merits.
If
drivers fall behind with their payments
without a valid reason, it is deemed in
the company rulebook that after 28 days of the
due date, you cease to be a member if the subs
are still unpaid.
If
drivers fail to pay their subscriptions, we
will send a reminder. If this fails to produce
the outstanding amount, we will pass the debt
on for collection. In addition, the driver’s
membership to ODRTS will cease.
Subscribers should also bear in
mind that DaC are not in anyway obliged to pay
your Credit Union debts be that savings or
repayments. If you are going on holiday, then
you should make certain that your credit work
will |
cover any outgoings such as
the
Credit Union. The same scenario applies
if you are sick for what looks like being
fairly long term. While we try to help genuine
cases where we can, DaC subscribers should
always bear in mind that the payment of debts
is your responsibility and not ours.
It is
unfair on the vast majority of drivers who pay
their subscriptions on time and then have to
subsidise these drivers who are gaining radio
work whilst not paying the full subscription.
Whenever I
tell a driver that we need money from him
because he is in debt, the next words out of
his mouth are usually: "I thought we were
a friendly society." Yes, we are, but it
is that driver who is the unfriendly one! What
other company, institution, society or club
allows members to run up a debt and not charge
you any extra? That is where we are friendly…
Father Christmas
As you will read elsewhere in Call Sign, once
again Mr D’urso (M57) has excelled in his
Christmas- time collect for Charity, going
around in December dressed as Santa Claus. For
the second year in succession, he has
collected funds for Dial-a-Dream and we thank
him. I can assure you all that money collected
will go to realising terminally ill children’s
dreams.
Logos
Some drivers, through no fault of their own,
have one or two doors logos missing from the
front doors of their taxi. This could be due
to being involved in an accident where the
paint has to harden for a few days. If this is
the case, please inform us immediately, then
if your taxi is spotted over the next few days
without logos whilst you are claiming reduced
subscriptions, you will not receive a
complaints form.
An Honest Person
On many occasions when a driver phones me up
after receiving a complaints form, he or she
will say that they have been on the circuit
for X number of years, have never had a
complaint against them and that this is their
first. The possible reply they may receive
from myself or others on the Board now is:
"No, this is the first time you have been
caught!"
We have
software that enables us to find out much more
about the way a driver works and whether he is
trying to cheat. So please do not put yourself
in the embarrassing situation of being caught
cheating. It is embarrassing for both sides,
especially if the person is a long-standing
member of the Society.
As I said
earlier, if you are one of the large majority
of DaC drivers who just go out to work and do
nothing wrong, then you have nothing to worry
about…
Tom Whitbread
DaC Complaints Dept |
