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JOHN GRIFFIN: WE WANT I.D. ON OUR MINICABS! |
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| As
Call Sign went to press, we heard that the story we were
going to publish on this page had to be "pulled." You will
understand why if you read Reflections of the Chairman
on page 4. But whilst on that page, read Brian Rice’s
article on PH companies wanting signage on their vehicles.
In February 2004, Mayor Livingstone decided to ban all exterior advertising from licensed minicabs following incessant pressure from London Taxi Network – represented in the main by Brian Rice - and the other trade organisations. Now it seems that he may be bowing to pressure by PH companies to allow them to have logos in addition to the license disks they already have in their front and back windows. On September 27, just one day after the Chairman had written his report, Addison Lee’s |
MD, John Griffin, wrote to the Evening
Standard explaining why they needed logos on their cars. Under the heading of Help Out Minicabs, Mr Griffin writes that following the release of the Mayor’s safety campaign Know what you are getting into, which would "…enable people to order minicabs from legitimate firms only," Mr Griffin says that as London’s largest licensed minicab – he’s not afraid to use that word – company, they had been "forced by Ken Livingstone to remove their logos from 1000 vehicles and that this had allowed illegal operators to take advantage by purchasing vehicles that looked similar to the vehicles that Addison Lee use (Fiat Ulysse). Mr Griffin finishes with a statement that Call Sign believes is being taken on board by the Mayor, that Mr Livingstone’s safety campaign can only work if |
safety campaign can only work if Alan Fisher |
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ME AND MO MOWLEM…! |
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Following last month’s
Call Sign in which Bill Tyzack recalled
memories of Ted Heath, this month John Wild
(D29) recalls a chat with Mo Mowlem… By John Wild (D29) With the sad passing of Mo Mowlem, I
thought my short story of the time I picked
her up might bring on a smile and stir a
memory or two about this lovely lady. |
to Tony Blair, but I told him I had to go
as my taxi driver was waiting!" |
those peace talks and
summits, she had repeated my definition just
to break the ice? Perhaps not…! We were getting closer to the station and for once, I was hoping for some traffic because I was enjoying our conversation so much! By then it had moved on to the latest sleaze stories. A well-known Tory MP had been caught with his trousers down with a young lady and it had been splashed all over the Sunday papers. Mo didn’t mince her words: "We all know these male MPs can’t keep their trousers on; when their balls are working their brains aren’t and when their brains are working, their balls aren’t!" Another good old laugh passed between the front and rear of the cab and soon after we arrived at Kings Cross. I waved her goodbye and wished her good luck in the election. Labour did win, of course, and Mo Mowlem did eventually become Northern Ireland Secretary. During that very brief spell of meeting Mo Mowlem, she came across to me as a very pleasant, genuine, down-to-earth people’s person. I was very sad to hear that she had died at the very young age of just 55… John Wild (D29) |
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