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DAC’S MICHAEL ELECTED CHAIRMAN
OF THE WAR DISABLED CHARITY |
Following the
recent Annual General Meeting of The London
Taxi Benevolent Association for War Disabled
at the wonderful and very apt surroundings of
Chelsea’s Royal Hospital, Dial-a-Cab driver
Michael Calvey (B95) was given the honour of
being elected unanimously as Chairman of this
famous charity.
Also at the meeting, Richard Hudd was elected Vice Chairman, while
long-serving member Martin Noble was made Vice
President. Thanks were given to former Chairman
Steve Sanders for the hard work he had put in
during his tenure, whilst Tommy Pugh who had
been a member of the committee for many years,
decided that he had done his time and would now
attend future events as a normal member rather
than a committee member. As a
special thank you to Martin Noble for all
his hard work on behalf of the charity over the
years and as a celebration of the 10th |
Mike Calvey
anniversary of the event,
Call Sign had earlier this year presented
him with a copy of the video taken on 9 June
1994 of the taxis leaving Horseguards Parade as
they made their way to Normandy to celebrate the
50th anniversary of the D-Day
landings. |
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CREDIT CARDS
What the new legislation means for
DaC drivers
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Credit card transactions have increased threefold
in the past three years in both volume and value.
More drivers are taking credit/debit cards as less
people carry cash. The only problem we as drivers
and retailers in general have is that there are some
very unscrupulous characters out there and they find
credit card fraud to be an easy living. We must
prevent these people from taking us for a ride.
From January 1st 2005, there will be a change in the
rules that determine the liability for fraudulent
transactions where the cardholder is present. Our
contract with the Bank states that the customer must
be present at the time of the transaction, therefore
this new rule should not affect the way that we
process credit cards at DaC, but we must adhere
strictly to the guidelines that we have already.
I will endeavour to go through the card transaction process and
highlight the pitfalls that some drivers are falling
down. The Call Centre, when taking a credit card
booking, only takes the number as a reference so the
driver knows the passenger is his. When picking
up a hail & ride customer, you will
also be at this point in the process too. In the
cab, the card is then swiped for a check to see that
it is valid and to reserve an amount of money that
you think the trip will be. If a card does not
swipe, I would strongly suggest you ask for another
card. If the passenger does not have another card
and you key the numbers in through the terminal,
there is more chance of this transaction being
fraudulent and you may not be paid. The bank has no
way of knowing that this person is present unless
the card is swiped, also a card that does not swipe
is more likely to be a cloned card where the
magnetic stripe cannot be copied exactly. When you
swipe the card and you get an authorisation number,
I suggest you keep the card in the reader until you
reach your destination. You will need the card
to check the signature.
If you have more than one passenger in the cab, keeping the card
will prevent that person getting out until the end
of the journey and ensures you get a signature.
Someone else signing invalidates the transaction and
you will not be paid.
For the amount of credit card turnover that DaC does, the amount of
fraud we experience is a negligent amount and there
is no reason for this to change when the new
legislation and Chip & Pin arrives. I must stress to
you, the driver, never key a card and when the card
does swipe, keep the card till the end of the
journey and it should be plain sailing.
I’d like to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year…
Warren Smith
DaC Financial Accountant |
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