Mayor’s Manifesto
As you may or may not know, there is no issue of Call Sign in June as the Editor takes a holiday! Consequently, when you read the next edition of the magazine, the election for Mayor of London would have already taken place.
   The London Taxi Network, which consists of the London Radio circuits, has written to every prospective candidate outlining what we believe the Mayor can do to enhance the Taxi trade in London. The letter we received back from Steven Norris was extremely interesting - a section of which I have reproduced for your information. He writes:
   "Thank you for sending me a copy of London’s Taxi Network Mayoral Manifesto. I hope your members will already be aware of my commitment to preserving the admirable and unique status which the licensed taxi enjoys in London. I believe the London taxi trade is quite simply the best in the world. With that in mind, I can first of all confirm my own support for the mandate you have outlined. I can, however, go further. I have been concerned for some time about the composition of the Board of Transport for London. One glaring omission from the Board is that of any professional user of the London road network. I therefore undertake to appoint a licensed taxi driver to the Board of Transport for London as soon as possible on taking office."
   Quite interesting, eh?

Westminster and Parking Tickets
In recent months we have received numerous parking tickets, especially from the Borough of Westminster. They have certainly captured the imagination of the media with stories of prizes for the warden that issues the most tickets etc.
   We feel that as the company who operate the TaxiCard scheme for the Borough of Westminster, our drivers should be shown a little understanding by wardens when they are either picking up or setting down disabled Westminster residents. Consequently, we have written a letter to the person at Westminster that is responsible for the account and again I have 

reprinted his reply. I think you will find it informative…
   "We have recently introduced a new protocol where Parking Attendants (PA’s) are now required to give 5 minutes constant observation to any vehicle displaying a disabled badge, regardless of whether the PA sees any activity taking place.
   "When a vehicle is not displaying a valid disabled badge, but where the PA sees that a disabled passenger is being picked up or set down, the PA is required to give as much time as is necessary to complete the task. If a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) is issued under these circumstances, then drivers should follow the formal process of making a representation to the City Council’s Representations and Appeals Department. How to do so is explained on the reverse of the PCN envelope. In the representation, the driver should explain clearly the circumstances, ie the setting down or picking up of a disabled person.
   Would you please follow the advice and advise me whether or not the appeals are being upheld or rejected. Hope this assists."
   So as you can see from the above, there are certain guidelines in place that the wardens are now supposed to follow. In addition, we are having some name boards printed which on the reverse side will show a disabled badge and state that the driver of the taxi is assisting a disabled passenger. We hope that this will also go some way to help alleviate problems when assisting a disabled passenger.

Cheques and the Bank
For many years now, some Dial-a-Cab members have had their credit money paid to them by way of a cheque instead of having it paid directly into their bank account via the BACS system, as do most members.
   We are now coming under increasing pressure from our bank 

to phase out this method of payment, as it is considered unsafe, time consuming and extremely old fashioned.
   With regard to this method of payment, I have made some enquires of our two main competitors. One of them does not issue cheques, while the other is ‘phasing out’ the use of cheques and their members have been advised that this practice will cease in the near future. However, those that they do currently issue are charged to their members at £3.50p per cheque. The bank has continued to issue cheques for us because of our ‘Spanish Custom’ but all banks are becoming weary of the process. Consequently, I would like to request that all members who are currently paid by cheque, should consider having their payment made to them under the BACS system.
   Remember that any account ride that you complete up until midnight on a Thursday, will be in your bank account by the following Friday. Also according to the bank, many of you who are paid by cheque rather strangely on receiving them actually then pay them into your account rather than cash them! This really does not make any sense and I would like to leave you with this thought: Dial-a-Cab has to pay 65p for every cheque we issue and then 32p for every £100 that is cashed. So as you can appreciate, we are talking tens of thousands of pounds for us to issue cheques and it really is a cost that can be avoided. So if you can change to BACS now, please do so as it is only a matter of time before the issuing of cheques will be phased out anyway.

Sir John Steven Launches ‘One-Number’ Taxis
I am delighted to inform you that the Commissioner of Police, Sir John Stevens, has agreed to launch the new ‘one-number’ taxi cash booking system. The system is operated between all the circuits and I believe that for us to get such a respected figure of authority as Sir John to launch it, will give the ‘one number for all’ that all-important air of respectability.
   For those who haven’t yet seen them, the new ‘one-number’ hand-out cards are now available in the Driver’s Reception…

Brian Rice
Chairman
Dial-a-Cab