Call Sign October 2005 - Page 8 - Allen Togwell's Marketing Place

Allen Togwell's Marketing Place

The insignificance of whinging…
With the lack of activity during the holiday period, it never fails to amaze me how your Editor continues to produce what is without doubt the best magazine in the taxi industry. Not only is it of such high quality, but always topical and fresh and even more remarkable, is it rarely contentious unlike my own contributions over the years, which by nature of my role on the Board have concentrated far too often on negative issues that on reflection when compared with every day life, really are so insignificant.
   A typical example comes even as I write this; I have just torn up two pages of copy for this issue of Call Sign after following news of the devastation and death toll in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina. Most days we hear of tragedies at home such as 7/7 and around the world to the point where we have become almost immune to human suffering and instead whinge and moan about the most mundane of things – worse still, we tend to lose sight of how very fortunate the majority of us really are.
   Several years ago I was in New Orleans as a DaC representative at a World Taxi convention. The Big Easy, as it is known, was an amazing place. The people were so laid back, friendly, polite and always with a smile, particularly the blacks or as the Americans politely refer to them - African Americans. You could see many of them living in abject poverty, a stark contrast to the many whites of extreme wealth.
   I remember the Sunday I was there; I attended an early morning Church service in an area known as the Garden district. Being the Bible belt, it wasn’t a surprise to see well over a 1000 people in the church, but what was surprising was the noticeable absence of black people other than amongst the choir. On the way back to the hotel, I travelled in an open sided bus through wide, beatifically clean tree-lined streets along which virtually every house was set in acres of manicured lawns and replicas of the colonial mansion as seen in Gone with the Wind. The whole district oozed old money, which makes it more difficult to believe how so little assistance was given to the poorer areas in the aftermath of the hurricane and how so much suffering was allowed to happen. In all the years I have been writing articles for CS, I cannot remember ever referring to issues outside of our trade. But in this instance and I suppose having been there and seen the manner and conditions in which these people live and now how so many have now died or found themselves in a worse state than they were before - if such a thing is possible, I cannot help but make comparisons as to how fortunate the majority of us are who live in the UK. London in particular, including those with a

secure living such as driving a cab and perhaps, just occasionally, we should reflect on that fact more often before whinging about what in reality is little else but utter nonsense.

Barclays Bank and Toggers!
Now the following is not a whinge, simply a re-run of a subject that I’ve mentioned in the past. It does no harm to be reminded of it occasionally, especially for the benefit of our newer members. The subject in question is appearance and it was a full-page article that I’ve just read in a national newspaper that prompted this. Reading it made me smile because common sense usually prevails, even when being previously scoffed at by bright young things from university intent on making a name for themselves in senior management.
   It was just a few years ago and a decision was made by these modern thinking young things to abandon the age long acceptable mode of dress in industries such as banking. Now suddenly, Barclay’s Bank has come to the conclusion - no doubt after spending a bundle of dosh on a think tank - that sloppy dress is:
   a) Unprofessional b) creates the wrong image and c) can damage business.
   A memo has now been issued banning denim shorts, flip flops, T-shirts and trainers etc and with it went a warning that if the dress code was ignored, that member of staff would be told to remedy the situation that day. In future men must wear suits and ties with females wearing dresses, suits and blouses. Well I never! Would you Adam and Eve it – sloppy dress can damage business, and that’s not Toggers speaking, it’s the mighty Barclays Bank. I’ll say no more…

Go east young man!
What is it about driving in an easterly direction, irrespective of distance, that certain cab drivers find so abhorrent? I was on the north side of Devonshire Street recently trying to hail a taxi back to the office. For some odd reason, all the empty cabs were travelling west. On seeing me wave, the first cab slowed down and the driver shouted: "Which direction" and when I pointed east, he waved his hand in disgust and carried on past. Several minutes later another cab came along and the exact same scenario took place and this was again repeated with the next two empty cabs. I began to wonder whether something drastic had happened

east of Great Portland Street? An explosion of poison gas, perhaps,
but that wasn’t the case and I will never know why those four cabs broomed me off. What I do know is that had I been an ordinary member of the public, I would have no hesitation in disagreeing entirely with the views of those who repeatedly refute suggestions that more cabs are needed on the roads and also that they have no
case whatsoever in their condemnation of minicabs. If those selfish idiots within our trade who insist on being selective in what work they choose to accept and in doing so drive the bread and butter work into the hands of PH, they will have only themselves to blame when London becomes inundated with a surplus of empty cabs. It’s a pity that those scribes such as in Taxi Newspaper who
are regularly on their soapbox about protecting the trade’s age old monopoly and resisting any change, don’t occasionally look inwards and use their columns to highlight problems within the trade that everybody outside can see except them. Perhaps then, the allies that we need most - namely Joe Public - will support our plight to the point where the death of PH will come not from confrontation, politics and picket lines, but from natural causes.

Disagreeing with the Ed
I started this article by praising the ability of our Editor, but that doesn’t mean he and I agree on every issue. For example, I ran a suggestion by him recently for Call Sign that he totally rejected, not out of hand of course as I’ve lost count of the number of reasons why he believes it would be of no interest to you the members, but I still disagree.
My suggestion was for him to publish in Call Sign a Sudoku puzzle. Unlike crosswords, which rely on knowledge, Sudoku is a game for anybody with the ability to count from one to six, eight, nine or twelve. It’s the latest craze in games as can be seen by practically every daily newspaper or magazine, some of which carry a choice of ability levels. I myself have become an addict of these puzzles and one of the reasons being that they require immense concentration, something I find very relaxing and that I personally feel would be ideal when sitting on a rank, at the airport or waiting for a client. It’s worth mentioning that research shows games such as Sudoku can help boost memory and give you the brain power of someone 14 years younger! Those of you that haven’t yet attempted one, try it, it’s amazing how enjoyable they can be. And then when the Editor asks you for your opinion of the latest issue of Call Sign, you can tell him you haven’t got round to looking at it yet as you are working on your favourite newspaper’s Sudoku puzzle.

Allen Togwell
DaC Marketing
allent@dialacab.co.uk

Call Sign Home Page

Page 11