The rear axle of a
soon-to-be TXII is assembled prior to the fitting to the
chassis
Thanks to Call Sign Magazine, ten Dial-a-Cab drivers
became the guests of LTI Vehicles at their Coventry
factory on a Tuesday at the tail end of May.
The day started rather
weirdly for me because on its way to Coventry, the 11.35
from Euston passed through all the stations that I and
other DaC Marshals have been marshalling at over the past
12 months or so, but it just seemed strange to see them
from this angle! However, as Editor Al tells me that
Virgin Trains part-sponsored the trip, perhaps it shouldn’t
have felt too strange!
At Coventry and
courtesy of LTI, we were met by 2 TXIIs that took us on
the 10-minute ride to the LTI factory in Holyhead Road. It
was built in 1921 but thanks to extensive modernisation
you’d find it hard to believe that the inside of
the |
DIAL-A-CAB LTI...!
LTI Director for Government
Affairs, Chris Kelsey, explains bodywork
construction to the DaC Drivers
|
building
date back that far.
We had a quick lunch in
the
canteen followed by a 'Feedback Meeting'. Paul
Woolley, LTI’s Engineering Director together with his
project manager, hosted this section. A slide presentation
showing the development of the TX1 and TXII and their
production and improvements that can be linked to the
'listening programme' input of other driver groups.
Then LTI’s Marketing
Director Chris Kelsey gave us a 90-minute tour of the
factory and production line. This showed the pressing of
the body panels, assembling of the body shell, fitting the
engine, gearbox and running gear to the chassis and
then the joining of the two pieces together to make
the cab a whole vehicle.
Then followed the
'dressing' of the interior and the final finishing of the
vehicle and it being 'driven' off the production line. I
would have loved to have seen |
my
cab at this stage!
Then it was back to Coventry
Station for the return train to Euston. I personally
would have liked longer to see the assembly
processes more closely, but nevertheless the whole
day was very interesting, the meeting very informative and
I certainly am more confident of driving my TXII after
seeing the high quality products being used in its
manufacture.
Can I send a big thank-you to LTI for their
hospitality and to Call Sign Magazine for organising the
trip so expertly.
Ronnie Marlow (L81)
DaC Marshal
Cover photo and in no specific
order:
John Cook (H54), David Barr (C30),
Jon Trevor (W94), Martin Freeborn (C67), John Howard
(H85), Ian Mossey (A31), David Burnett (S43), Alan Green
(E52) and Ken Freeborn (W06) together with LTI’s Chris
Kelsey. |
There
was a stop press item in the May issue of this magazine
telling readers that Dial-a-Cab driver, John Davis
(F60J) had successfully completed a skydive
over Cambridge in order to raise funds for 10-year-old Jack
Pitcher, who is blind, epileptic and wheelchair bound
due to a neurological degenerative disease. John told Call
Sign:
"I thought
long and hard about taking a pair of brown pants with for
the dive because jumping out of an plane 13,000 above the
ground can be rather daunting! But once I was up there
sitting on the edge with the door open and forcing my back
into the required "banana shape," the
sheer adrenalin rush took over. From the
second you leave |
JOHN GOES UP UP
AND AWAY!
John (below) in the
wide blue yonder |
the
plane, the buzz you get is
almost indescribable. That may well be part-fright,
but whatever it is, the feeling you get as you hurtle
towards the ground is just brilliant."
John ended by
saying how thrilled he was with the |
response
he got.
"The girls in the Call
Centre were especially brilliant and in total, my dive has
raised over £1000 towards the Jack Pitcher Fund. I just
hope that it will help this brave little boy to get some
quality into his life…" |
|
COMCAB CELEBRATE THIRTY YEARS
Brian with Mike
Galvin on board ship (pic cou |
Following
Dial-a-Cab’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations last year
and Radio Taxis (London) this year, May saw Computer Cab’s
turn to celebrate when they reached the milestone of
thirty years service to the public.
It was in May 1974
that the late Ernie Keates, as Control Room manager of the
LTDA’s then-new "baby" radio circuit London
Wide, designed and set up the most revolutionary Call
Centre of its type in the UK with its central round table
that annihilated the ancient systems |
used
by ODRTS and Mountview at the time – dockets making
long, winding journeys around their
Call Centres on conveyor belts.
Ernie was soon to be
headhunted by a courier company who offered him a deal he
couldn’t refuse (although, totally disenchanted, he soon
returned to the Licensed Taxi side). However, Ernie’s
departure left a vacancy that was to be filled by Geof
Kaley – a man whose drive as MD later pushed London Wide
onwards until - as Computer Cab and for several years
after - it reached the ‘number one radio taxi
organisation in London’ slot.
To celebrate their
thirtieth |
anniversary, current ComCab
MD
Mike Galvin invited guests
including their most prestigious account clients and also
DaC
Chairman Brian Rice - the only member of opposing circuits
to get an invite - to a floating dinner along the Thames.
Brian told Call Sign: "It
was an excellent evening and I congratulate ComCab on
their achievement of 30 years supplying taxis to the
people and businesses of London. I’m delighted that,
considering we are business rivals, we can share evenings
such as that one and even more importantly, work closely
together during normal business hours too." |
