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Thank God it’s
October…!
The last issue seemed to have raised more
controversy than even I’m used to! It
started off with the cover shot that - as
prejudiced as I obviously am – I thought
was great! In case you have forgotten –
nah, you couldn’t have already - it
featured several young ladies in bikinis and
yellow bootees, cleaning the cab of DaC
driver Lionel Meir (A34) as part of a radio
job he received.
Head of
DaC’s Marketing department Allen Togwell
has come out and said in this issue that he
considered it to be exploitation of women,
while the Editor of another trade magazine
also thought that it dented Call Sign’s
image, although I have to say that none of
the girls in the Call Centre – at least
those whom I asked – found it offensive.
Let’s be honest, it was hardly
pornographic! It was just some girls in
bikinis. Nevertheless, I don’t like
upsetting people and if you are a driver who
was upset at the sight of Lionel’s
lovelies, feel free not to stick the photo
up on your wall…!
Then
there was the article by Private Hire driver
Daniel Olev! Wow, did I get slated by some
over that experiment. I asked in my
Editorial if having what used to be called a
minicab driver giving his views in Call Sign
was one step too far? And my phone never
stopped ringing telling me that you thought
it was! There were several drivers who
congratulated me on having the
"bottle" to do it, but only one
who wanted the articles to continue, so I
have said goodbye to Mr Olev. I must say on
Daniel’s behalf that although he did
sometimes seem to be speaking in a rather
patronising way, that was how he speaks and
it wasn’t meant in any detrimental way.
Nevertheless, as a famous pop star used to
say: Daniel has now left the building!
Finally,
there was a small piece on cyclists where my
view is that they are a nuisance. One driver
phoned me up and threatened to "smash
my face in" for generalising that they
were all bad. He is obviously a cyclist and
I offered him the opportunity of putting his
case in the mag, but he declined preferring
instead to throw insults about the mag and
me. I should add that I had several calls
and emails saying that I was right and that
cyclists in general were a nuisance.
While the driver who threatened
me wasted the opportunity of putting his
point over to you, I do agree that I
generalised and that not all cyclists are
bad. However, enough of them transgress the
rules of the road to make me dislike all of
them… |
But It Isn’t
Christmas, PCO…
So as I said above, thank God it’s October…
however, it isn’t Christmas and not only isn’t
it Xmas yet, but I object to seeing signs in
supermarkets when it’s still only September
telling me what my home needs at Christmas -
besides Alka Seltzer! I also object when our
own Public Carriage Office do the same thing!
Last year I
told the PCO that Call Sign wasn’t getting
any of their press releases. Like most
departments of TfL, I expected to have to tell
them several more times before they started to
send them, but to my astonishment they said
they’d put me on immediately and they did,
with all their official notices arriving on
time ever since.
But, and
this is a BIG ‘but’… I object when the
PCO send me their "Opening Times at
Christmas" at the beginning of September.
I will publish those times in the December 1
issue, but time goes quickly enough as it is
without putting messages such as that one into
the trade press three months before the
holiday itself. I notice that the trade papers
have all put the notice in and I hope that the
PCO don’t take offence at my stand, but I
will not advertise Xmas over three months
beforehand.
I’ve just
worked out why Christmas comes around so
quickly – it’s because organisations such
as Tesco and the PCO chop three months off of
the year!
And by the
way, a happy Xmas to all!
Taxi Driver of
the Year Show
David Ammar (L75)
won the Taxi Driver of the Year Show at the
Brent Cross Shopping Centre on a beautifully
sunny, early September day and our
congratulations go to him. His achievement is
not diluted in any way by the lack of
spectators, but it does seem sad that out of a
trade of 24,000 who constantly complain about
Private Hire, a few thousand can’t be
bothered to pop in with their family to show
some support.
This month’s
Private Hire and Taxi show will be busy as it
always is and no doubt LTI will be criticised
by the licensed taxi trade – the majority of
who won’t go to it anyway – for turning up
at Sandown Park while not doing so |
at Brent Cross.
Whether that is right or wrong I leave to you
to decide, what is not in doubt is that PH are
walking over us because all many of us do is
to moan so long as it doesn’t involve any
effort.
When Call
Sign published the article from a PH driver
last month (see above), it pulled in comments
from all sections of the trade and also the
Taxi Internet list. How many of those moaners
then made the effort to support their own
show? Brent Cross was a good venue because you
could always go into the excellent shopping
malls before or after the Show and the weather
was beautiful. But no, it’s always the same
faces year after year who turn up. But as I
said at the beginning, David’s achievement
in winning is still worthy of congratulation…
DaC Goes
International
Call Sign sends its
congratulations to Chairman Brian Rice who has
been nominated as a Vice President to the
Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit
Association (TPLA). You can read about it in
this issue, but it is without doubt a huge
compliment to Dial-a-Cab as all the companies
within this world-wide organisation will now
know about Dial-a-Cab. Mind you, as no one
would call Brian Rice the quiet type, as such
I believe that most of them seem to know about
us already!
Is the
Underprivileged Childrens Charity a Joke?
If you read the latest issue of Cab Trade
News, then you could be forgiven for believing
that the highly respected LTFUC charity is
nothing more than a joke because in an attempt
to castigate Tony Blair (no problem there) and
comment on the increase in crime, it involved
taking the pee out of the children’s
charity. Perhaps, had it been even reasonably
well written without spelling errors (Eaton
College, Underpriviliged children),
then it might – if desperate – have
escaped as satire. But it wasn’t and it didn’t.
Perhaps CTN should have attacked the War
Disabled charity instead. It’s easier to
spell – but of course those old soldiers
might have fought back…
Last Word
Did I mention that October 9 is my
birthday? I didn’t? Well silly me, but I don’t
like taking advantage – especially as it’s
my birthday. Did I say it was on the 9th…?
Nah, I don’t like making a fuss just because
it’s my birthday (on Saturday week which is
the 9th October)…! I’ll
probably just ignore it; after all, it’s
only a birthday (9 October)…
Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com |
