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Chris Cecil
Following the article in last month’s Call
Sign, I have been overwhelmed by both
drivers and staff commenting on the tragic
tale of DaC driver Chris Cecil (J14)
who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and
given just ten weeks to live. To us that
article was written in the ‘last issue’
– to Chris that represented four valuable
weeks. Sadly Chris’s time didn’t even
make the next issue. He died peacefully in a
hospice on 9 August with his family around
him.
The
thought of what Chris, his wife Gill and two
young children had gone through in those
last few days must have been just so
horrendous, but the collection made at DaC
following the article brought an incredible
reaction from drivers and staff. Taxi
drivers are famous for their generosity, but
donations also came in from non-DaC drivers
including several retired drivers who live
on their pensions and who somehow saw the
Call Sign article. Even Vince Chin, Call
Sign’s computer guru, chipped in with
£100 and the Call Centre staff in a
spontaneous ‘whip-round’ collected
£105.
Thanks
are due to Chris’s friend Dave Birland
(H01) who gave up a night’s money
standing on the Finz collecting donations
from the drivers in addition to sponsoring a
‘Golf Day’ with profits going to Gill
and the children and Val Gomez in
Driver’s Services who co-ordinated much of
the donkey work. Many drivers sent in
cheques and cash to Call Sign and those sums
have been added to the fund. A substantial
number also asked if they could donate
credit rides to Chris’ former account and
this was set up. To all who donated – a
big thank you. The collection has now closed
and a final total will be given out on your
terminals. However much is raised won’t
bring a loved husband and father back, but
it will show Gill that Chris was looked on
here as a real person working with a group
of people who care for each other…
Bike Lanes
So MGM (Money Grabbing Management) – not
satisfied with ticketing you for having a
pee, doing a u-turn, beating an amber light
or clipping a yellow box with your front
wheels - are now to introduce £100 fines if
you transgress into a cycle lane.
As their
search for more revenue from the motorist
shows no sign of abating, will they also
introduce a law making it compulsory for
bicycles to have registration plates so that
the rest of we mugs can snitch on them every
time they sail through a red light, weave
their way through pedestrians making their
way over the road at an official crossing
point, ride on the pavement or try to go
through narrow gaps causing small scratches
on our cabs?
I make no
bones of the fact that I dislike bicycles
and if you happen to
ride one in your spare time, then you are
probably no |
better than
those I have referred to above. Get rid of
them all and the roads will become much safer
places…
Quiet Out
There?
LCDC Chairman Alan Fleming’s comments in The
Badge suggest that London’s taxi drivers are
suffering and that the streets are very quiet.
He is entitled to his view just as I am to
mine, but I happen to disagree with him that
we are suffering with a bad year and how quiet
it is.
Anyone
calling August busy must be living on Mars,
however, I can’t remember a busy August
since my early days on the road in the 1970s.
We know it is going to be quiet – it’s
ALWAYS quiet once the kids break up school –
but we always moan. I can only speak as an
evening driver and while the hourly take is
down, it’s nowhere near as bad as many
Augusts in the past. Lighter traffic and cab
drivers also going on holiday help equalise
the situation and I would be very surprised if
from the end of September it became very busy
to continue what, in my view, has been a more
than reasonable year.
Alternative
Taxis
A fleet message came through our DaC terminals
on 7 August at 23.34 from C13 saying that an
unplated Metrocab (reg number also given) was
seen "working" in Oxford Street.
My view on
alternative taxis is well known and I never
hide behind it even if I am slated to high
heaven by other trade papers and Internet
lists. That view is that if they are good
enough and spend the money to ensure a high
standard, look like a London-style Taxi AND do
not sell any versions that can be used by
private hire, then I would be delighted to see
the competition to LTI (and now Metrocab as
well). But if we ended up driving any vehicle
that wanted to become a "taxi", then
the terminal message I started this section
with would become an everyday occurrence…
Mailshot
Many people have told me that the letters
pages of this magazine are one of the
strengths of the Society. Even some of our
larger corporate account clients after having
read the magazine (passed on by a driver?)
have come back and claimed that they were
impressed with our open approach and that it
boded well for an honest company.
However,
there is a very fine line between strength and |
weakness and I
sometimes get the impression that there are
other reasons for some letters other than to
sort out a driver’s problem or offer honest
criticism.
You will no
doubt remember a letter from Michael Calvey
(B95) that asked Brian Rice if he were driving
from Savoy Pier to the Savoy Hotel, which
route would he take? That was followed by the
rather sarccy comment that if he needed to
make that trip, would he walk, hail a cab and
pay cash or book a cab and charge it to DaC's
account? It seems that Mr Calvey had followed
Brian Rice but hadn’t realised that and his
wife had been invited as Mike Galvin’s guest
for a celebratory dinner on board an
Embankment ship followed by drinks at the
Savoy after ComCab’s 30th
anniversary. Mr Calvey obviously thought that
he had caught the DaC Chairman enjoying
himself on Society funds for no reason. The
fact that Brian Rice was a guest and
everything was paid for by ComCab comes a poor
second to the fact that Michael felt he could
follow and report on the Chairman’s evening
out.
Now he has
done it again and apparently followed Brian to
Langans Brasserie in Mayfair where a surprise
lunch was laid on for him by the rest of the
BoM to celebrate becoming DaC’s longest
serving Chairman. He knew nothing about it,
believing instead that he was meeting a
supplier and so far as Call Sign knows
(because we weren’t invited), all had a very
pleasant lunch … and yes, a very pleasant
lunch paid for by DaC.
Now there
may be some who think that DaC shouldn’t
have spent any money on the Chairman’s
achievement and that, of course, is the
individual’s prerogative, but it seems that
Mr Calvey has either followed Brian again or
sent someone else to do his dirty work for him
because a letter was received by Call Sign in
the same sarcastic tone as the first one
asking whether the DaC Board eat at Langans
"daily, weekly or monthly" and who
pays the bill at Langans: "Board Members,
ComCab or DaC?"
I have
decided not to publish the letter and suggest
that if Mr Calvey is going to continue
following people around, that he considers
getting some help – and I don’t mean to
follow anyone around…
And for a
Change?
Call Sign has never
been like the other mags. We don’t fill up
our pages with every press release under the
sun and always try to be different. But is
this issue TOO different? You tell me after
reading the first of a new column – The
Other Side of the Mirror. Different? You
see it’s written by what we used to call a
minicab driver – now Licensed Private Hire.
I await your views…
Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com |
