Advising Arrival
Over all the years that I have despatched work, received work as
a driver and overseen work as a Board member, I have never known
drivers not to understand what ‘advise arrival’ means. If
you get a job with the company name, address, destination and
passenger’s name, what do you do when you get to the pick-up?
Just sit outside? Perhaps then a telepathic thought goes to the
passenger and they come out? Because it seems that after all
these years, some drivers are not using common sense when they
get their job details. So I will set out the common sense way of
working out how you get your passenger…
Assuming your terminal gives you details as above, then you go into
the reception and request the receptionist to inform your
passenger that you are in attendance. You then wait until the
receptionist tells you that the passenger is coming down. If you
are not directly outside the building, tell the receptionist
where you are parked before they talk to the passenger.
If you are told to advise arrival, then when you pull up
outside the pick-up address, you press the appropriate button on
your terminal (Advise). The Call Centre representative
will then phone the client who may have requested this facility
due to them being at a different extension from their own or
wanting a call on their mobile.
You may be told to put a name board in the window and we would
expect this to be the official DaC name board with writing large
enough to be seen by a client approaching the taxi. You should
only use the Advise button if the receptionist cannot
contact the passenger, you are in imminent danger of getting a
parking ticket, you have been waiting 15 minutes since informing
the receptionist or if you are specifically told to Advise
Arrival. Any extra instructions you are given are noted on
the printed log sheet for your taxi, so |
look at all messages that are sent
to you and please comply with them.
Changing Terminal Figures
We still have some drivers who change figures that are put onto
the CLJ terminal form. We know that some of these changes are
legitimate; these will be due to parking at LAP, pre- booked
theatre charges, pre-booked railway bookings, purchasing items
for a client or a normal account trip that went below the
minimum fare.
If your changing the figures does not fall into one of these
categories, then you may be receiving a letter from me. Every
morning, including weekends, a report is sent to my computer of
any figures that have been changed on a CLJ form. These are then
checked and any irregularities asked to be clarified via a
complaints form.
Income Tax
Please, remember that January is tax month, so put away the
money now and be ready. We still have drivers who try to ignore
the taxman until they get an official letter, they then come to
the office pleading with us to release their roller bond and
when they get refused, get nasty and try to put the blame on us
for their laziness.
The roller bond was introduced so that the Society could pay
drivers for journeys before we collected the money from the
clients and not to help out with your tax bill.
Complaints Forms
I would like to remind you that if a complaint form is sent to
you, at that moment I have only heard |
one side of the story. I now rely
on you giving me a clear and honest answer to the accusation.
It is only when I get your answer that I can match up the two
and start to find discrepancies. When this is done, then
hopefully it will show that the driver should be exonerated from
the charges.
There are, of course, times when drivers are guilty and those
drivers will be dealt with by their peers.
So if you are unfortunate enough to receive a complaints form,
please return it within 7 days to allow the complaint to be
finalised.
Christmas Holidays
This year I hope that you all took plenty of money to supply
your family with good food and
fantastic presents. We have had a very successful year and
drivers who were prepared to work hard, reaped the benefits. Out
of all the radio taxi circuits, you belong to the best and the
most profitable.
We, with the help of the drivers, have shown the other circuits how
a radio taxi circuit should be run. We have a very good Sales
team who are bringing in new accounts and drivers who we hope
bypass street cash work to concentrate on the account clients
who call us every day and not just at Christmas.
Our Call Centre needs a larger home due to the amount of calls that
they handle, but we have a Board of management that tries to
make sure all departments work together in the most efficient
way. Plus, I have been told that we have a very strict code of
practice for our drivers and it is a pleasure to come from other
circuits where drivers are allowed to cheat on their fellow
subscribers. Drivers feel that they get a fair crack of the whip
here with all jobs that are despatched.
As the year draws to a close, I hope that you and your family had a
very happy Christmas and may I take this opportunity to wish you
all a healthy and prosperous New Year.
Tom Whitbread
DaC Complaints Dept |
