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Finsbury
Square Rank
I have put out constant messages informing
drivers that there will be spot checks
carried out on the Finsbury Square (EC5)
rank during the night hours. Some drivers
obviously thought that I was making it up
and that it would not happen or that it was
a joke! Well that certainly wasn’t the
case on 5 May. A DaC Marshal attended the
rank at 00:30 and found it to be a complete
shambles! The problem was caused by drivers
who seem to think they are union officials
or who know better than those running the
Society.
Drivers
were scattered in every corner of the square
with only around half being correctly
parked. The list made by the Marshal was
later compared to the V6 Data Despatch
printout and any drivers not booked in
correctly will be receiving a complaint. No
driver can say they have not been warned,
because I wrote in Call Sign not long ago
about these problems, in addition to the
terminal messages. If you book in
incorrectly, you are not hurting me, you are
cheating your fellow drivers.
If you
receive a complaint, please don’t try to
get out of it by saying that you did not
know the correct procedure for booking onto
the rank. If you are unsure - as we
have told you many times - contact Allan
Evans or myself right away and we’ll be
happy to explain.
Clearing
a Trip
When you clear a
ride that you have accepted through the
terminal, the system inputs some of the
details for you. This makes life easier for
you. However, we seem to have some drivers
who alter these figures for others that are
more to their liking. This is strange
because the system tells us the original
figures and we then have to ask you why they
were altered. So please do not tamper with
the CLJ form and insert different figures.
So far two drivers who decided to do this
have been expelled from the Society.
Prior to
the last terminal upgrade, we informed you
of the many changes that it would include.
There were extra buttons for general codes
to make the terminal more user friendly, a
meter interface and extra codes to save you
remembering coded numbers. The upgrade makes
the driver’s job easier so that when he
brings up the CLJ form, all the details have
been put in and you really only need just to
send the form. The only time the fare needs
changing is if the trip is a pre-booked
station job, a Westminster ride where the
passenger’s contribution needs to be taken
off the total or if the job comes to lees
than |
the £8
minimum. Layouts for food and car parks etc
have their own box and do not involve altering
anything else.
We have
also restricted the continual use of certain
requests for information such as QPs to ease
the traffic through aerial and telephone
lines. This is to try and stop bottlenecks
with incoming and outgoing signals, which
cause drivers to get the ‘BUSY’ message
and to retry sending the message.
The Board
– together I must add with the vast majority
of our drivers - intends this Society to be
beyond reproach in every way. That includes
the standard of our drivers and the service.
We have the most and by far the best work for
our drivers, so unless you do not want to
avail yourself of this work, keep breaking the
rules and you can be certain that I will
eventually be writing to you.
We are undoubtedly the
victims of our own advanced technology.
The more facilities you
give to bored drivers, the
more they will play and that is what
causes terminals to get
overloaded with traffic
signals.
To POB or Not to POB…
The same upgrade also gave us the facility to
check on information regarding driver’s
input during their daily routine while
covering work. The software includes
information on the GPS position of a cab when
the driver presses his POB button or sends a
CLJ form.
This being
the case, when the information was checked it
was found that a minority of drivers were
seriously breaking the rules. The drivers were
questioned on this information and they
admitted that they had broken the rules. It
was explained to the drivers concerned that
they could be taken to a Complaints meeting,
but they were in no doubt of the conclusion
the Committee would reach and they decided to
strip out and leave the Society. In a two-week
Period, this totalled some 20 drivers.
If any
drivers believe that they can suddenly change
their way of working and that we will not
know, then they are mistaken. Those records go
back to the time that you had your upgrade.
We also
have some drivers who are trying to tamper
with the |
equipment. If you try
this, the computer notes
a malfunction and notifies the
dispatchers. On certain occasions it will
inform the driver to contact the fitting bay
at Roman Way. For certain problems it will
notify the IT department or myself, this being
the case a letter or phone call will be given
to the driver. This will tell them that they
have go to Roman Way within 24 hours, or they
will be de-authorised until they have reported
to the depot.
I believe
most strongly that this Society has the best
work and the best despatching system, one that
allow all drivers to get a fair share of the
work. But for it to work to its optimum, we
must stick to the rules that are in place. We
now have the facility to allow us to weed out
any wrongdoers and to allow the vast majority
of honest drivers to work without the worry
that others are cheating on them.
Because of
the paperwork involved in dealing with the
above-mentioned 20 drivers, I have not been
able to hold a normal Complaints meeting. For
this I apologise to any driver who has a
complaint outstanding or is awaiting the
outcome of a complaint they have submitted.
Acting Sensibly
On a recent Sunday,
I had to go to my daughter’s house in
Nottingham and I travelled by way of the M1. I
was driving along in traffic at the maximum
legal speed limit, when one of our taxis shot
past me. When I’m on any road, if someone
wants to act in a reckless manner, then I
couldn’t care less provided he/she isn’t
endangering me. But when these morons
travel at speeds of 90 mph plus whilst
displaying our logo, then I consider that to
be plain stupidity. This particular driver
obviously did not think that any one of the
cars around him could have been an undercover
traffic patrol vehicle. How would he have felt
to get points on his licence in addition to a
fine? Then if the client informs us that he
felt unsafe, the driver will then get a
complaint for bringing the Society into
disrepute. And what would have been the
advantage of this speeding? Maybe arriving a
few minutes early? The disadvantages are
more severe. A possible serious accident, his
wife ending up a widow and his children
fatherless. So before you take unnecessary
risks, take a moment to think what the outcome
could be…
If
you are about to embark on your summer
holidays, I hope you have a wonderful time and
return feeling rested. For those who will be
working, think of all the extra jobs you can
cover whilst they are away...!
Tom Whitbread
DaC Complaints Dept |
