MAILSHOT
Mailshot is your chance to tell the subscribers of Dial-a-Cab exactly what you think. Complaints, compliments or just to write about Call Sign.   This is YOUR paper within your magazine....

You can also email your letters to: callsignmag@aol.com

The Kings Cross Mini-Mountain!
Reference the article about the DaC driver Len Bell (L01) damaging his Metrocab in Kings Cross Station (Are DaC Drivers Stuck up? – July 2004), I have copied it and passed it on to Keith Cressey of GNER. Wearing my Union hat, I meet with him four times a year in York as part of the East Coast Taxi Association, formed when there were proposals to put to all the GNER station ranks under the control of TaxiBank - an avarice PH operator with national delusions. Following the defeat of this proposal, GNER now talk directly to the Hackney trade at stations under their control.  Unfortunately Kings Cross comes under Network Rail and not GNER, but they obviously talk and I have asked Keith if he can pass the article onto the relevant personnel at Kings Cross.   Hopefully they will take some action over this killer ramp.  
Eddie Lambert (V27) 
Thanks Eddie, I’m sure that Len isn’t the only one to fall foul of the KX mini-mountain! It’s also nice to see you fully recovered from your illness and back at work …Ed

Cash Booking Fee
I recently did a credit ride for one of our largest accounts with the job being dispatched as AD. I picked up the client and we went to Sloane Square SW3. When we reached the set down point, he said he wanted to pay me in cash instead of on the account. I informed the back channel of this and carried on working.
   When I received that week’s credit sheet, I found that I had £1.50 deducted from my payments, as that trip had become a cash ride. I was not informed that I had to add £2 to account rides that convert to cash. May I suggest that you inform the rest of the fleet of this trick? In the meantime, I am still trying to get my £1.50 back…

Bernie Silver (G08)
Brian Rice replies: I can assure you Bernie, this is not a trick! As for informing the fleet that the charge should be made - we have now done that with your letter.  I know you feel strongly about this subject because you telephoned me to complain, but unfortunately Bernie, I do not agree with you. It just seems quite logical to me that if someone converts from credit to cash, then the £2 should be applicable. After all, are you suggesting that if someone converted from a credit ride to a credit card ride, that you would not charge the handling fee? I don't think so.
   The following letter was received by Society Chairman Brian Rice…

Goodbye Rosie
Dear Brian
Just a note to say thank you for employing me at Dial-a-Cab and for being such a wonderful boss. Sadly I have responsibilities to my grandmother and have to leave. I really have had the best time working at Brunswick House with the greatest bunch of people ever. Thank you again; I hope you don’t forget me…
Rosie Hardie
London E14
   We’ll miss you too Rosie and congratulations on getting your degree… Ed

Where are the Extra Police
I was recently bilked along Grosvenor Road, SW1. I watched the bilker jump onto a bus and sprinted across and told the driver to lock the doors while I called the police. I phoned 999 only to be told that they had no one available to help me with the result that the bus driver had to let my bilker escape. An Inspector from Belgravia police later phoned to apologise by which time it was far too late. He added that there were now fewer police available at night. My question is: Where are all these extra police promised by the Mayor? You see some overgrown wardens walking around in twos in the west end, but has anyone ever seen them doing anything besides window shopping?
Dave Evans (W12)

   Someone, somewhere must have…surely? …Ed

Signal Problems
With reference to Reflections of the Chairman in the July issue of Call Sign, I agree that the technology we operate within our Taxis has yet to be surpassed by our competitors, however, over the past few years the signal we receive to our terminals across the fleet has deteriorated. The terminals on occasion have the ability to receive a trip offer that can neither be accepted or rejected, resulting in lost earnings if the driver chose to accept the trip offer, or resulting in a loss of time had the driver chose to reject the trip and get sent to the back of the queue.
   At the 2001 AGM, R34 raised his concerns with the lack of signal he was receiving from his terminal. The Chairman replied that on occasions there did seem to be a problem receiving signals, particularly with Metrocabs. The following year, L75 raised his concerns with the strength of our signal. The Chairman replied it was a problem they were already aware of and were endeavouring to rectify the situation. Would you please tell me what positive steps are being made to rectify this situation?
   As a result of our last upgrade, the clear button was removed from one of the terminals zone pages and replaced with a ‘remarks’ button that, as yet, has no function. I feel that little consideration was given to the driver when re-designing the pages on our terminal. To clear fleet messages, we now have to carry out another function eg change pages to carry out this
task, bearing in mind that we operate our terminals whilst driving. Unnecessary functions put our health and safety at risk, let alone the welfare of our valued customers. Would it be possible to replace the ‘set colour’ and ‘screen saver’ with 'clear’ and ‘next' buttons to rectify this oversight?
Tony Gillam (N14)
Brian Rice replies: Regarding the signal problems, I have responded to the following letter and I believe the same answer will apply to you. I must say that I take exception to the second part of your letter where you accuse us of having a disregard for the driver and that there was an "oversight" regarding the buttons. There was neither an oversight nor indeed a disregard for the driver. The Remarks button was put there so that you cannot AAR etc until the remarks button has been read. The reason being was that some drivers were not reading all their details, consequently causing difficulty for themselves, the Call Centre and the Customer - we have now rectified the situation.  Also Tony, if you thought there had been an oversight (which there wasn't), why on earth did you not tell me, a Board Member or indeed a Senior Member of Staff instead of writing to the magazine if you were so concerned? It now appears that you were just trying to score a few points and discredit Senior Members of Staff, the Board and our Software programmers, yet all you have succeeded in doing is proving that you do not understand the situation or indeed the subject.

Living Out in the Sticks!
Living where I do, on the way into work I book into SE99. As has been the problem for some years, the signal drifts in and out. The other morning I was offered a Chatham to W1 credit ride – lovely! Could I accept it, pressing the screen 100 times in two seconds whilst watching a great start to the day disappear? Unfortunately I had to add this job to others, Sevenoaks to LAP - allocated but could not accept. Redhill to LAP - could not accept. My point is that these outer zones are physical, but the signals in these zones are so poor that drivers in them can’t get the work! So what can be done?  Improve the signal quality? You can send a text message to Greece and get a ‘read’ reply in 20 seconds, but I cant get a job 23 miles from Charing Cross. Surely there must be something on the market to improve things? It would not just benefit drivers in outer zones. Ever sat motionless in the feeder park for two hours with a perfect signal, then when you get allocated E14 from Terminal 1,and it begins searching for a channel! Why does that happen when I have not moved an inch.
   Any response would be greatly appreciated.
Richard Potter (T51)
Brian Rice replies
: I do sympathise with you Richard, I know how frustrating it is when you are out of town - or indeed in town - and you are offered a good trip but cannot for whatever reason, accept it.  We are aware that we have problems, so what have we done and what are we doing? Well, we’ve moved two of our aerial sites hoping for a better reception; we have also reconfigured some of the fleet so that they 'lock on' to sites out of town such as Shooters Hill. That hopefully, would benefit members such as yourself who live in places such as Sevenoaks. We have also introduced a 'watermark' on every channel so that once a certain number of cabs are 'locked' onto that channel, it will not accept any more and the next vehicle that tries to 'lock' onto that channel will be automatically moved on to the next available channel. In addition, we have changed the channel scanning on the modems so that they search for a channel in a different sequence than previously and we currently have ten Taxis out there testing modems with the new software installed. So I hope you will agree that we are endeavouring to improve signals although it still continues to be a problem for all radio circuits and not just DaC. We have even made inquires about installing GPRS, which means we can use a Public network. That would give us nationwide coverage, but GPRS still has failures similar to those of any mobile phone. In addition, the cost of not only installing GPRS modems but paying for every mobile on the system is just astronomical. I would dearly like to tell you that things can be improved overnight, but they can't. As I said before, even mobile phones lose their signal sometimes and signal traffic is increasing all the time.    Consequently it becomes even more difficult just to 'tread water'. 
   Finally Richard, all I can do is to promise you 'jam tomorrow' and assure you that
we are doing everything we can to improve things.

Goodbye From Jery
Dear Brian
Thank you for the flowers, champagne, letter and your kind words. The flowers arrived on our 43rd wedding anniversary and Barbara and I both appreciated the kind gesture (she said it saved the cost of me buying them myself!
   My decision to retire was not made voluntarily, but was forced on me by the Public Carriage Office. I certainly thought that I would be the one to decide when to "hang up my badge." However, I am a firm believer that everything in life is done for a purpose. Now that I am retired, I feel as if I am on a long holiday that will last for the rest of my life. What I do miss is my involvement as a subscriber with DaC. My 38 years association with the Society was something I enjoyed. As Editor of Call Sign, I served under seven Chairmen including yourself. Being part of DaC’s growth during good and bad times was an inspiring experience. During these four decades, I have been very proud of my contribution to DaC and the trade in general and I wish DaC continued success. Our radio circuit has served the travelling public and the business community in particular with distinction.
   Please convey my fond regards to everybody in our Radio Society. A little piece of my heart will always remain with Dial-a-Cab. To you Brian, I send my congratulations on becoming the DaC’s longest serving Chairman. Steer the Society to greater horizons and may the ‘waves beneath you’ always be calm…
Gerald "Jery" Craig (ex-C03)
Call Sign isn’t as generous as the Chairman and we shall continue to make Jery work hard on his excellent cartoons that grace every issue of Call Sign! For those who take an

historical interest in the Society, Jery joined ODRTS in  1968 when the Chairman was still Jack Russell – although on the verge of stepping down.
Between Jack and Brian, Jery served under Jack Taylor, Martin Gellman,
Peter Fennymore, Ken Burns, Phil Messias and Aubrey Siteman. So Jery, that makes 8 Chairman and not 7 …Ed

Heathrow Feeder Park and Radio Work
As you are aware, the new electronic tag system starts at Heathrow towards the end of the month. I have read a very interesting article in a trade paper that outlines the features both for drivers and HAL. The main difference is that drivers will now have to pay the fee (currently £3.16) on entry to join the feeder park, whereas the old system was payment on exit. This meant that if a driver accepted a radio job while in the feeder park (we must accept that 99% of rides are accepted this way), he could accept it and escape via the fire lanes through to the back of the park in order to go to the terminals, as this would not incur any charges. With a pre-payment system, this would not be possible…
   The article does include the possibility that a cab may have to leave the park in an emergency, but adds that no refund will be allowed. The question of radio cabs wanting to leave the park is not mentioned - surely a grave error from all the circuits?
My questions now are:-
1. Are there any special arrangements for radio hirings at Heathrow after the new system is up and running?
2. Do we get a refund from HAL if we accept a radio hiring from the feeder park?
3. Will DaC refund the entry fee or can we put it on the extras?
4. Will the £1 surcharge from the airport still apply?
Alan Sullivan (F20)
Brian Rice replies: If you remember Alan, 7/8 years ago when the feeder park was moved to its present site, we decided that we would not 'call' work from the park as it
was difficult for our taxis to exit. Consequently, we decided to despatch Heathrow work to any vehicle that was on the Perimeter Road or closer, or indeed any vehicle that was within 15minutes of any terminal. After a period of time, some 'regulars' approached us to see if we could change the system so that cabs in the Feeder Park could book in provided that their exit from the Feeder Park was clear. We decided to agree to their
proposal. Are you now suggesting that in the future we do not 'call' work to the Feeder Park but to the Perimeter Road or closer? This we can do without any problem, after all, so long as our taxi can pick up within 15minutes it does not matter where we send the cab from. So in answer to your questions Alan:-
1 No - not at the moment, but we can review things at any time.
2 No
3 No
4 The £1 should still apply as per your fare chart (assuming of course, you have been in the feeder park). However, after your letter we may review the situation when the new system comes into play. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Alan, we will monitor the situation…

Trouble with my TXII
I sent the following letter to LTI after experiencing engine problems on my ‘03’ TXII. Their reply is attached…
Paul Charters (J08)
To London Taxi International
   On the 11 May 2004 my cab broke down, the RAC towed me home because it was midnight. The following morning I was towed to KPM where one of your staff looked at my cab. He told me the cab needed a new engine but they had no spare cabs and to try M&O. I tried M&O who also had no spare cabs. My cab, which was not a year old with 21,000 miles on the clock, was off the road for eight days. The cab was returned to me on Wednesday 19 May at 5pm by which time I had lost one weeks takings.
   Could you please tell me what you think of the service I received and how this could have happened to a brand new cab.
Yours sincerely
Paul Charters

Dear Mr Charters
We are indeed concerned that you have experienced some difficulties with the engine on your TXII and we appreciate your sense of frustration, disappointment and the inconvenience you must have endured. We offer our apologies. However, It is prudent to point out that there is no facility within the warranty criteria for payments of the nature you suggest, as highlighted on page iii of the Warranties & Care book.
   With this in mind we regret that although we sympathise with your situation, we are unable to offer any financial assistance on this occasion. Thank you for contacting LTI Vehicles and giving us the opportunity to respond.
Yours sincerely
Tony McKinnell
Customer & Technical Support Engineer

Call Sign did not consider the answer Paul got to be satisfactory, so we asked LTI Sales and Marketing Director Matthew Cheyne for his comments …
   Firstly may I take this opportunity to thank you for bringing the matter to my attention. I understand Mr Charters’ frustration that his vehicle developed a fault after 21,000 miles and if the gentleman wishes, I am happy to investigate the incident further. I have looked into the reasons for the lack of a loan cab and discovered that at the time KPM were fully booked but every solution was tried. With regard to
M&O providing a vehicle, it is not usual policy for any dealer to provide a vehicle free of charge for another garage, especially with the complications of insurance issues.
   We are very sorry for any disruption to his work as a taxi driver that this issue has caused. We are very aware that in the taxi trade 'time is often literally money' so we always strive to be customer focussed and to get drivers back to work as soon as possible; one way or another; in their vehicle or another. But there will always be an occasion when simple logistics do not allow us to do all for the customer that we would like and sadly this was one of those incidents. We at LTI and our Dealer network are continually trying to provide the best possible service that we can and aim to improve by listening to our customers. To that end we run the very successful listening programme into which driver groups and individual comments are fed to improve our processes and service. We would like to thank Mr Charters for his comments and have fed them into the listening programme for consideration.
Matthew Cheyne
LTI Sales and Marketing Directo

And the Other Side of the Coin…
I thought I'd tell you about the new TXII that I bought from KPM. My Fairway was showing its age so I decided to take the plunge. After so much negative press, I decided to ask some TXII owners for their opinion and out of around 25 drivers, 2 had problems - one with fan belt trouble which been rectified and the other with shock absorbers. All the rest - including Alan Fisher - thought it was ok. Well my TXII has just had its 9000-mile service and it has been superb! It is smooth, quiet and comfortable. It’s got good acceleration and a good top speed - sorry Tom! I’ve also had many passengers comment on what a nice cab it is, so it does get annoying to keep reading in certain sections of the trade press how ‘bad’ the TXII is. It makes you wonder if there is an ulterior motive?
   Anyway, here’s a question for you Alan. If an ‘alternative’ taxi manufacturer from up north came down with a suitcase full of money and said destroy my competitor’s product and the money is yours, would you do it?
Terry Wright (P39)
Depends how big the suitcase was. Now had you said ‘a trunk full’! …Ed

H of C
How dismayed I was when a message came upon our screens stating that the HoC account was under threat due to poor service. Well blow me down with a feather, what were they expecting? A first class service with third class fares? The account in question isn't getting a bad service from drivers, but mismanagement from the Board with the fixed prices having been slashed three times in a very short space of time. Now we have a computer working out the distance of the jobs and coming up with ludicrous fixed prices. Does this computer take traffic lights, road works and heavy traffic into account? I doubt it. It seems that common sense has gone out of the window.
   When you work under the assumption that the jobs may help drivers home, you are playing with fire. Some drivers just want to work. What amazes me is just how some of these prices work out. A job to Balham is £15, but for an extra £7 - a bargain basement deal - you can go to Carshalton! Five stops further on the Northern Line and then a bus ride and all for an extra £7. Bargain of the year! Let’s be honest, a driver living in Carshalton going home at between 11pm and midnight is unlikely. So what’s the alternative? I telephoned Brunel cars and asked how much from the House of Commons to Carshalton and they quoted £35. Express cars quoted £33 and Addison Lee £36 - and we are the expensive ones!
   The House of Commons has gone on summer recess, lets hope that whoever organises these fixed prices also goes on recess (permanently) - or in the words of Allen Togwell "50% of something is better than nothing." It’s a shame the same doesn't apply to our subs when we go on holiday for two weeks, but that's another up and coming subject for debate. All we are asking for is a little latitude. Jobs with a London postal code to be on the meter and jobs without to get a reasonable fixed price. Then maybe the House of Commons will get the first
class service they require…
Tony Lawyer (C51)
Brian Rice replies: Tony, we received a letter from the 'House' stating that they were unhappy with the level of service they were receiving and quite rightly the Call Centre made our members aware of the fact. In reality, the service did fall below par, but if you remember we had a tube strike, a large power failure and oh yes - a little football tournament being held in Portugal that seemed to stop our members working!  This naturally all affected our service and the House complained. 
   To give you a little background into the account: DaC won it after going to tender in April 2002. If you remember at the time we were a year into a major downturn in the economy. We listened to our members who said we should submit 'skinny' prices provided they did not have to rank and wait on SE75 and the trips were to be despatched into SW1E. This is what we did but unfortunately our members did not cover the work. I remember you raising this topic at an
AGM and I agreed that the prices were low and that I would endeavour to do something about it. Consequently, I visited the House and they were persuaded that the first six miles would be increased by 50% and then 10% thereafter. The rate that we charge for the first six miles is more than the meter running rate on tariff 3. Regarding the quotes that you received from the Private Hire companies, I don't believe you are comparing apples with apples, because what
they quoted you as 'Joe Public' would be a lot different to what they would quote a major account. Other than for the extraordinary scenarios that I wrote of earlier, the service is pretty good and most drivers are happy to do the work. Yes, they are calculated on mileage by the Call Centre on a nightly basis depending on the make-up of the trips, but just £7 extra from Balham to Carshalton does seem extraordinarily low to me. Did it not occur to you that someone might have made a genuine mistake in the Call Centre with the fixed

price? But it is always easier to blame the Board. It’s the easiest thing in the world to sit behind a keyboard and pontificate on what should be done, it is another story to actually visit customers and radically increase their prices when they have so many other options available. We charge what we think the market will bear, something that will be borne out by the prices we charge to a large train company. As you have written before, you were a high flyer at Merrill Lynch, consequently you will no doubt understand that business logic.

Call Sign in Holland
In reaction to your article on the Call Sign Internet version HERE and as information for all the drivers in London:
In Holland there has been a law since 1 January 2004 which says that it is not allowed to smoke in public rooms, on public transport or in your workplace. So cabdrivers and passengers are not allowed to smoke in the taxi even when both agree with smoking!
Remi Kemperman
Almere, Holland
Thanks Remi, I came across that regulation in Dublin recently. I must admit that going into a smoke-free pub was different and definitely a more enjoyable experience …Ed

Honesty of Taxi Drivers
In the August issue of Call Sign, there was an irate letter from the wife of a driver about your columnist Poppy, who reported a driver for refusing to take her on a one-mile journey. This raises the question of when, if at all, is it ok to shop one of your own? If I see a driver park on a yellow line and then go into a public loo, of course I will not call a traffic warden. But if I see a driver with an open can of beer in his cab who is slurring his words and using our terminal trying to get a job, then I would not delay in reporting him. This is not because I want him to be punished, but his actions could affect MY livelihood when a client closes an account because of his behaviour. Also, the reputation of all taxi drivers will be damaged. When it comes to reporting a driver for refusing a fare, all too often I have seen licensed taxis cruise down Piccadilly and Oxford Street late at night at weekends, stopping to ask each group of would be passengers where they are going and then rejecting the less desirable jobs and taking the more attractive fares. It has been this behaviour by several drivers over many years that has led to the growth of minicabs and now licensed private hire to fill the gap left by those drivers who were refusing people like Poppy. So now all our livelihoods have been affected. Of course we know that not all these drivers are "going home." I see the same ones regularly, sometimes more than once in the same night. Again, the reputation of all taxi drivers becomes stained by this practice. Imagine an extremely unlikely situation; an employee at Dial-a-Cab sees money being siphoned off by a colleague or even a Board member, would it be wrong to report this? Surely not? Without the honest whistleblower, all
drivers would be working to support the thief. And drivers who are picking good jobs away from me should also be reported.
As for leaving a single lady stranded at Bethnal Green, I am surprised support for the driver came from another female.
Laurence Kelvin   W88

It is an interesting point Laurence, when do you report your own? I have to admit that however tempted I have been, I have never quite had the balls to report a fellow driver although I haven’t been afraid to tell whomever that I knew what he was up to. The problem though is that you cannot always be certain of your facts. There was the case some years back of a driver on this circuit being put on an internal complaint by another driver (although not reported to the PCO) when Aubrey Siteman was the Complaints officer, for approaching different passengers apparently asking them which way they were going. In reality, he had dropped passengers in a crowded Coventry Street and after being paid off, spotted a wallet in the back. His problem was that he couldn’t remember who the passenger was, so he jumped out and asked several if they had just got out of a taxi until he found the correct one. Needless to say the complaint wasn’t processed.  All I am saying is that I agree with much of your sentiment, Laurence, but that not all situations are as they seem. Any Call Sign readers care to add anything to the Poppy question? …Ed

Board Earnings (Continued)…
May I first start this letter by saying that if Brian Rice thinks DaC members are finding my questions on BoM wages and the cost to the Society boring, then I must say that I think he is seriously mistaken. I noticed from last year’s accounts that in 1999 our turnover was £31.6million whilst 4 years later in 2003, it had risen to £32.5million. However, the cost of the Board to the Society for the same period had increased from £364,238 to just under half a million.
   I would welcome Brian’s explanation as to why the cost of the Board has now outstripped the growth of the Society.

Grant Davis (L39)
Grant, I’m proud of the fact that Mailshot allows DaC subscribers the freedom to ask questions that other radio circuits think we are mad to allow! But enough is enough. You have been going on about this for far too long and are now asking questions that some would refer to as rather "dodgy." Why? Because you are using comparisons that don’t meet. You have picked a poor year by recent standards when the country bordered on recession but not previous years where surpluses made over £1million for several years. Then you use the phrase "just under half a million" when the real figure of £429,000 is much less. And Grant, the real bottom line is that subscribers ARE telling me that the topic is boring them because the answers have been provided several times. So unless I get something new on the subject, then it is closed before everyone falls asleep. And please, while comments are welcome – and no doubt I will get some – I do not want to hear the word precedent among them, because after 7 years in the seat, I’m entitled to put my foot down occasionally. Please don’t take offence Grant, but the last time I looked, it still said Editor above my door. With that comes the need to take the occasional decision – this has been one of them …Ed

The Board and Demutualisation
After your two failed attempts at demutualisation, anyone would be forgiven for thinking that a third was imminent. How else should we view the sudden and extraordinary proposal to change the rules? There are no instant benefits in the rule change, but there are consequences.
   Firstly you create a second-class membership unable to vote on the future of their Society and secondly, you deter people from joining a Society that should be concentrating on growth through the active participation of members with a real stake in its success. So why is this costly exercise being undertaken? To protect us from a threat that, according to you, does not exist?  It appears that you are the only one with demutualisation on his mind. Indeed, when you come to think about it, you have always had demutualisation on your mind and these rule changes suggest that it is still there. Why otherwise would there be this urgency to defend us from phantom outsiders?
   More importantly, however, is why this matter is not being dealt with in the appropriate democratic way; through consultation with the membership and discussion at the AGM? I will be interested in your explanation. There is of course, an alternative interpretation that would fit perfectly with your previous experiences of defeat. If the membership keep throwing out your proposals, then why not shrink the electorate? The fewer who can vote, the better the chance of getting your various schemes approved. So for once, I would like you to be perfectly clear. Never mind your statement that there are no ‘imminent’ plans to demutualise. ‘Imminent’ and ‘immediate’ are words often used by the unscrupulous to conceal long-term ambitions. Therefore, can you and the Board assure the membership without reservation, that:
   * There are no current, proposed or anticipated plans or discussions to change the existing nature or scope of activities of the Society and…
   * Any proposals and approaches made either by the Society or to it by other parties that would result in such changes to the Society, have been reported in full to the membership.
   I look forward to your response…
Darryl Cox (T33)
Brian Rice replies: Darryl, I have known you for a long time, ever since you moved here from ComCab and whatever I say or do, you seem to adopt the alternative view just for the sake of it, although this has only happened in recent times. I can't think why that should be! Fortunately for the members of DaC, I am the Chairman and not you, because I believe in giving everyone the 'Freedom of Choice' hence the ability to change the rules IF MEMBERS SO DESIRE, obviously something that you do not agree with. It would appear to me that if you have your mind made up on a certain topic, then that is the end of the matter and you would never, ever give members the choice to vote, something that is totally opposite to my stance. I gave members the opportunity to protect their interests and if they had not wished to go along that route, then that would have been fine with me. However, as you can read elsewhere in this issue, around 90% voted in favour, which seems to put your view in the minority Darryl.
   Regarding the AGM that is in February - far too long to wait - do you realise how many people will apply to join DaC within the next six months, mostly from Mountview? You think drivers will be deterred from joining us - I don't think so as we are the best radio circuit in London by a mile and drivers will still want to join us either as a member or subscriber.
   Finally, there are no plans to demutualise DaC at the moment – although given our success story, I believe outside bodies will be interested. As to changing the 'scope' of DaC, that is something that will happen in October - which will put us probably 18-24 months in front of our competitors and make DaC even more valuable. Not bad for an old failure - is it?    

Terminal Spam Mail?
I recently looked in an old e-mail account to find I had 3245 new e-mails with most offering Viagra and the like. Then I went to work to find I had 27 messages to read on my screen, most of these started with a V but were not Viagra! Could we have a spam filter fitted to our terminals for those who are not interested in the messages starting **V or WCWC.
Alan Nash (A95)
   I take it you haven’t been getting much recently - that’s WCWC and not you-know-what! …Ed

Experienced Staff
I have just heard that four long-serving members of staff employed in the Call Centre have left DAC, three of whom work the night shift. I do hope every effort was made by the BoM to keep these experienced members of staff with over 60 years service between them they are surely irreplaceable.

Paul Tully (Y40)
Paul, you can read about the departures of Joe Brazil and Theresa French elsewhere in this issue. Sadly, Ann Hughes, who has been here 27 years, has had to depart on doctor’s orders. There is also a nice letter from a younger member of staff who had to leave …Ed


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