40 Jobs a Month
Once again I have to try and convince you to cover the work.
This is your livelihood! I lose count of how many drivers phone me
and complain that private hire drivers are stealing our
work. But what are clients going to do - phone up for a taxi
and then wait until you have a quiet day with no street work
This is the real world; if you cannot supply a licensed taxi, then
they are going to look elsewhere. This is where you play
right into the hands of private hire; they don’t even have
to go out looking for work, you’re just handing it to them
on a plate.
I get computer reports every day informing me of the way we are
handling our work. One report tells me that there were 544
drivers who never completed the minimum amount of credit
rides (40) in the month of June and these drivers will soon
receive a letter from me. This number of drivers will
obviously include some who are sick or on holiday and they
have a valid excuse. But when I look through the list, I
also take note of the number of trips carried out over the
past 6-months and I think we can assume that no one goes on
holiday for that length of time. Regular under-achievers
will be the ones getting a letter.
It is not a procedural rule that they are breaking, it is a rule
that is in the official Society rulebook registered with the
Friendly Societies. These are rules that you have all agreed
on at past Annual General Meetings.
These drivers are doing so much harm to our Society and they
include drivers who are the first to phone in and complain
that we do not have enough work. These also condemn the
Board by saying we are not doing our job to the standard
they seem to expect.
On Sunday 17 July, I received a phone call at home regarding a
90-year-old lady who was trying to get to her birthday
party; she had been waiting 45 minutes. After all that time,
there were still no offers, so I did something I don’t do
very often. I put out a message telling of my personal
feelings; within 2 minutes the job had been covered.
The driver who was kind enough to cover this job was Mr William
Cobb (K76). When he dropped off the lady in Streatham, he
immediately got offered and accepted a job from SW12 to
Waterloo. So this driver who appeared as the lady’s Knight
in Shining Armour was rewarded with a job back into the
work.
Swiping Credit Cards
After numerous warnings, we still have drivers
using their keyboards to input credit card details. You will
have seen warnings in previous Call Signs, but we will still
get drivers not completing the procedure correctly. You must
only swipe a credit card, this proves you had the card
presented to you by who you believe is the owner. This is
also printed on the receipt |
for proof if the bank or the cardholder disputes a fare.
If you key in the details, it could mean you had picked up the
cardholder in the past and retained their details and that
on this occasion they were not present and did not actually
take the journey. This is shown to the bank on the receipt,
as it tells them that the card number was keyed into the
terminal.
Cards that are keyed in have a chance of the fare being rejected;
if this is the case, we will reclaim the money back from the
driver. Don’t lose money only swipe a credit card.
The above does not apply to Westminster/Borough or Charge Cards,
which can be keyed in if necessary.
Derek Chandler
On Tuesday 12 July, I had the sad task of having
to phone the wife of Derek Chandler (ex-A38) to offer my
condolences. He had sadly passed away on the previous
Thursday, a short time after being diagnosed with cancer.
Derek was a very happy person, a West Indian who had distinctive
grey hair and who always wore his flat leather cap. He was
polite and would never pass you by without a cheery word. If
he every saw me in the street, he would always call out even
if I was well away from him - usually a jovial insult!
I knew Derek for about 20 years and he did much for integration
with his friends as
London Taxi Drivers. This was at a time when there was much
prejudice, but he overcame
that hurdle. In fact, I seem to remember Call Sign running a
very interesting interview with Derek several years ago
about being a black person in what was essentially a white
persons trade.
If I know Derek he will be up there arguing with St Peter, telling
him: “I did my Code 21 when I pulled up outside the Pearly
Gates, now let me in!”
Editor’s note: The interview Tom refers to is available from
the Call Sign on-line site at
www.dac-callsign.co.uk. Click on 1998, then February and
then look at pages 22 and 23…
Booking into Zones Correctly
There are still drivers who say they do not know
how to book into zones correctly. If this applies to you,
then contact the Driver Trainer at Brunswick House (Daren)
or Allan Evans at Roman Way. There is no reason for you not
to know the correct procedure. We also supply a driver’s
manual that you can keep in your taxi.
There is another reason, it |
could be that you
do not read this magazine! The Society pays out your money
to post it to your home, so you do not have to get off
you’re ar** - er, backside to collect it! But if you are too
lazy to read it and you fall foul of the rules, you have no
excuse if you get a punishment.
Meter Readings
One of the reports I receive daily informs me of
driver’s meter readings and I’ve noticed that we still have
some drivers using meters that are old and which we cannot
read. If you are one of these drivers, you would have been
told. So if you have been through an overhaul and not
changed the meter for an appropriate one, you could find
yourself being de-authorised.
Our clients ask for proof of meter figures, how can we say our
drivers refuse to obey the rules?
When you complete a journey and send a CLJ form, please give it
time to be sent from your terminal. We have drivers who put
their meter on within a second and the terminal picks up the
£2.20 showing on the meter at that time.
However, we also have a small number of drivers who do this
deliberately to try and mask the fare showing on the meter
so that at the end of the trip they can input a different
figure.
Unfortunately for these drivers, this also comes up on my report
and these ladies and gentlemen will also be getting a letter
from the Complaints Officer.
My job is to bring to your attention things that are not carried
out to the correct DaC specifications, however, I often get
letters of thanks or commendations and these are not always
publicised. So I have passed two such letters to the Editor,
which I hope he will publish in this issue. See Mailshot …Ed
Accidents or Breakdowns
Sadly, road traffic accidents are a fact of life
and sooner or later, most of us have a touch – if you will
excuse the expression! If not an accident, somewhere along
the line there will be a breakdown – whether major or minor.
If you are on an account ride and are delayed by either,
then please inform the dispatcher.
Browned off!
I am sorry if this report is not very cheery, but
that slave driver of an Editor, Alan Fisher, is brow beating
me to get this article completed today. This is Sunday 17
July, the sun is shining and I’m sitting in front of a
bleeding computer just to please him! So the next time you
see me and I am an ultra-pale white instead of nicely
tanned, give Alan Fisher a kick up the rear end for me!
If you are off on your holiday, have a great time and come back
refreshed to complete those 40 jobs a month.
Tom Whitbread
DaC Complaints Officer |
