You can also email your letters to:  callsignmag@aol.com

Complaint Numbers
In this month’s Call Sign, Tom Whitbread explains how his computer system is able to tell him that "…there were 544 drivers who never completed the minimum amount of credit rides (40) in the month of June and that these drivers will soon receive a letter from me." Meanwhile on page 4, Brian Rice is explaining that from 1 September the minimum number of credit rides will no longer be 20 but 40. It seems one of you has got it wrong and I'm pretty sure it's not Brian! Normally I would regard a failure to agree on details between two members of the Board of Management as unremarkable, however this is potentially serious. I sincerely hope Tom Whitbread has not sent out some of his 'letters' or taken disciplinary action against any member for their failure to complete 40 credit rides. You know how quick people are to sue nowadays and I can foresee the Society having to pick up an expensive bill in compensation and legal costs from some aggrieved member claiming he has been dealt with in breach of the rules. Can we please have an assurance that the Board of Management know what rules are being applied and that no costly mistakes have been made in the complaints process.
Tony Lawyer (C51)
Brian Rice replies: I think there has been a misunderstanding here, Tony. Both Tom and myself were correct, the minimum number of trips is 40 and it will be enforced.  What I was endeavouring to do in my Chairman’s Report was to inform members that the rule book states 20 trips but then goes on to add: "Such minimum number of hirings to be reviewable from time to time by the Board of Management." We reviewed the situation some years back and 40 trips will apply. It was an attempt to inform members that we knew what the rulebook stated, so please don't think that we had got it wrong.  If my memory is correct, it was increased from 20 trips to 40 trips (and was enforced) somewhere around 1999/2000 when we were extremely busy but had not yet taken delivery of our new terminals.  Consequently, the fleet could not be increased to accommodate the extra work so we increased the minimum trips from 20 to 40 and it has stayed that way ever since. Hope that clarifies the situation for you Tony. 

PC Assistance
Like many people, BT Broadband recently upgraded me and then my connection went! After many hours on the phone to the HELP desks getting a browser upgrade etc - all to no avail - I was then told to get a new modem / browser, which I did. On trying to install it, I was soon in bother and phoned Mike Dickson who advertises in Call Sign. As luck would have it, he was in town working that evening and duly came round and installed my modem. I was up and running again! He told me that my computer was running slow and proceeded to sort that out so that now it really is as fast as it should be.
   I have to say to any driver who needs help - or their friends - give Mike a ring. He comes at a time to suit you and is really helpful and the cost is not bad at all, the boiler man charges more per hour! Ladies and Gents, please make use of Mike if you have computer problems.
Martin Freeborn (C67)
I’ve used Mike many times and Martin is right, he is reliable and reasonable but more importantly, he knows what he is doing. Ok, end of free plug …Ed

Call Sign Golf Team
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to play for the Call Sign Team in the recent DaC Charity Golf Day. It was a fantastic day - especially as I was part of the winning team alongside Lew Shurlin (R13), Eugene Smith (E90) and Jim Crawford (M18). A big thank you to them for playing so well and giving us the chance to win. The day was rounded off for me
personally by winning the individual competition. Thanks once again, Alan, for giving me the opportunity to play for Call Sign.
Ray Scott (T34)
I will be living off this result for a year! …Ed

New Vehicle Registration Certificate
Regarding the new registration certificate V5C (Call Sign August), can you explain to us older guys just what we have to do. Do we reregister the old book at Swansea?
Sid Nathan (K88)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency at Swansea undertook the huge program of replacing all the old V5 certificates last year. You should by now have been sent new ones for any vehicles you own. These are recognisable by the cover, the complete top half of which is coloured blue. Why was it done? Well surprise, surprise – it isn’t just bananas that have to have the correct curvature, a European directive said that all European registration certificates had to be "harmonised." So Sid, the answer should be that you have received your certificate already. If not, then you will have to write to Swansea …Ed

Counterfeit Cabby Thanks…
I went into reception this morning to collect my Counterfeit Cabby gizmo. Nice one! I suppose over my 24 years on the cab I've knowingly been given a few dud notes and it's not always at nighttime. This gadget will now help me to narrow down the possibilities even more. Well down Call Sign Mag.
 Paul Shaw (B19) … aka Mr. Angry

And Again…
I must thank Call Sign for my Counterfeit Cabby. I never believed that it would be this good to be able to spot forged bank notes and credit cards so easily. This attachment is a must for every licensed taxi driver.
Trevor Morris (F21)
€ounter £it Cabby (to give it its trade name) is probably even more useful in detecting forged credit cards. Just shine the beam along the front side of any credit card and you will see "hidden" letters or markings that cannot be detected with the naked eye. No forger will include them because they are "unseen" – except by €ounter £it Cabby! As for bank notes, shine the beam on the front left side of the bank note and you will see an imprint of how much that note is ie a £10 note has an invisible 10 that is also unseen by the naked eye. Call Sign gave 50 €ounter £it Cabbys away in our last issue. It will be in the shops shortly and retails at £29.95, a bargain if it saves you getting even one forged £20 note or credit card. The makers say that it should last for around 100,000 hours …Ed

To Work or to Scrounge?
Like every other good Dial-a-Cab driver, I avidly read Call Sign, my favourite publication in the world. However, I sometimes also glance at other books and newspapers and I happened to come across a copy of Hansard dated 24 October 2002, which your contributor, the Grumpy Old Man, may be interested in.
When debating the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill, Earl Russell said:
   "Secondly, the Home Secretary talks continually about weakening the appeal of the extreme right. He does not seem to be very successful at it. The extreme right writes me a large number of letters, rather more about asylum than about gay rights. Over and over again the point that the extreme right makes is that asylum seekers are scroungers. Most of them do not know that for a long time they have not had the right to work for the first six months. I have succeeded with that point in reducing even a London taxi driver to silence. But I do not think that I can afford to campaign against the Home Secretary by talking to every taxi driver in the British Isles."
Keep up your good work…
   Laurence Kelvin (W88)
Thanks for the letter, Laurence, I’ve passed it along to Chas Kissin. I do like your bit about "I just happened to come across a copy of Hansard dated 24 October 2002." As you do, I suppose, as you do…Ed

Stanley Frankel’s School of Charm?
Can you tell me the address of Stanley Frankel’s Charm School (August Mailshot)? I would like to take his degree course in Philosophy – I think it’s called one flew over the cuckoo’s nest! Perhaps Mr Frankel (K64) would also like to compare a quiz show? The Weakest Link springs to mind…
Mark White (B86)

A Letter from Newbury Park – but not Alistair Cooke!
Firstly, there is a difference between avarice and greed. Avarice is mainly associated with money and greed with food and secondly, you are quite right insinuating that I do not make friends very easily. It was just the other day that I rang the Samaritans and they promptly slammed the phone down on me! Not only that, but my wife bought me a very comfortable looking chair for Christmas, but so far she still looks unhappy because I haven’t yet plugged it in! As for my criticism of TV programmes, it’s probably because they are so popular that I dislike them. Take Eastenders for example. Why does it portray all citizens east of Aldgate as complete morons who have nothing better to do than to get drunk, fight or commit adultery? And not just that; why does no one ever swear or shout out racial abuse which would at least make it more realistic. ‘Dumbing down’ is a wonderful, modern expression, which sums up modern TV excellently.
Lastly, your football writer Mr Hall may believe that Spurs have a chance this season, but I can assure them it will be another damp squib. If anyone really believes that Edgar Davids is the

Welcome Publicity for The Badge!
In the July / August issue of The Badge, I wrote an article explaining how the Board at DaC were charging Private Hire drivers just 50p a job via Concierge. This is significantly lower the price paid by us, the members who, incidentally, paid for the system.
   It was an article that would have probably passed unnoticed had it not been for the excellent publicity Brian gave it in Call Sign and for that I thank him.        Unfortunately, Brian forgot to mention exactly what I said, he also forgot to point out why he thought I was factually incorrect. He did, however, complain that I had robbed him, as he put it, of the right of an instant reply by putting it into The Badge rather than Call Sign. So to put matters right, I thought I’d drop him a line repeating the essence of my article so that he could instantly reply and explain at his leisure why I was wrong.
   While Brian is doing that, could he also come clean about the prospective demutualisation? After all, he has admitted to receiving offers from potential investors and many of us are keen to know the details. At the moment, the hot money says he’ll make his third attempt at a sell-off before the AGM and that September / October are the most likely dates. I’m sure you would agree with me on this occasion, Brian, that it would be nice to clear the air on this issue once and for all.
Grant Davis (L39)
Brian Rice replies: I’m very surprised that you admit the 'Badge' is not widely read, however, it is very comforting to know that you are capable of telling the truth!  Regarding the charge for the use of Concierge, neither the Private Hire drivers or Operators pay anything for the use of Concierge, so you have your facts wrong  - or are you telling porkies again to mislead members? Wouldn't be the first time, would it Grant? In fact a charge is made to the client as a Management Fee and in the particular case that you refer to, the client has given DaC £2m of EXTRA work for our members. That EXTRA work also attracts a service charge from the client paid to DaC. In addition, every trip - including the ones that go to us - attracts a fee on top of the normal service charge. In my opinion, an excellent piece of business for not only the members of DaC, but for the company in general and if you were not such a negative individual, you would surely see the commercial sense in what has been achieved. However, Grant, I won't hold my breath because you are undoubtedly incapable of praise, even when it is merited. I am extremely proud of what has been and will be achieved at DaC, but unfortunately that achievement and success will be wasted on you because you will only endeavour to focus on something negative, and if it is not there, then you will do your utmost to invent something! Incidentally, you know as well as I do that had you written your 'piece' for Call Sign instead of The Badge, then it would have been printed but obviously at the time it did not suit you or your 'clique' to do so, because it would have given me a right of reply. So what did I do? I answered in Call Sign and you and your 'clique' could not resist the challenge. I just 'reeled you in'…! 
   Will you ever learn anything Grant? You are just being used to do the dirty work of others in your 'clique' that have been discredited and exposed for what they are. I noticed that you kept a very low profile a few months ago when we were 'naming and shaming,' but now after time has elapsed, you feel safe enough to put your head above the parapet - not sure what those types of people are called!
   Regarding demutualisation, there is nothing to come clean about! I have explained to members the position that interest had been shown by others in DaC. However, I have not spoken with other parties on the subject for a couple of months and I will not contact them unless they ring me. I am not endeavouring to 'sell-off' DaC, however, if anyone comes in with an offer that I and the Board believe would interest members, then it is our duty to inform those members of the offer and no-one will convince me otherwise.  Incidentally, Grant what odds did you say you were offering for September/October?  I might be interested in having a few quid on those dates!               

The Badge Reader
Dear Brian
 I was intrigued by your condemnation in the August Call Sign of an article by Grant
Davis that had appeared in a recent edition of The Badge. I don’t usually bother with that paper, but as you did not give any details as to what the article was about, I managed to track down a copy to satisfy my curiosity. I was shocked by what I read. Grant Davis is claiming that under Concierge, DaC members are paying £1.50 per cash ride, whereas private hire vehicle are only paying 50 pence. This is an outrageous suggestion and whether true or not deserves, to my mind, a more considered response than the one you gave.
   The question is an easy one to deal with, simply say how much members pay and how much private hire pay. If there is a difference that is not in the members favour, then I think you owe us all a very detailed explanation. If there isn’t, then I think we can expect one from Grant Davis.
Keith Coldrake (J17)
Keith, I know you addressed the letter to Brian Rice, but as I assume that all you want is an answer and as that answer is fairly simple, I can give it to you. Grant Davis is mixing up two different subjects. Concierge clients pay Dial-a-Cab a "service" charge of 50p for every job they get through that system. Grant is then matching that up to the £2 that cash clients pay to DaC of which DaC drivers keep 50p and pass on the remaining £1.50. Grant's thinking is that our drivers pay the £1.50, but it is the clients that do and our drivers just pass that amount on. Hope that puts your mind at rest …Ed

EGM Attendance
I would like to add to the comments that Brian Rice made in reply to Paul Jenner’s letter (August Call Sign). The last time we held an EGM to discuss demutualisation, over 90% of the membership attended to register a resounding ‘no’ to Brian’s proposals. I would not be surprised if he wanted to avoid that happening again. Is he hoping therefore that the introduction of proxy voting will reduce the number of members attending any future meeting, thus saving him any further embarrassment?
Michael Golding (V55)
Brian Rice replies: The meeting that you are referring to took place in 1997, where approximately 78% of the membership attended and the vote was 55% in favour and 45% against demutualisation.  If you remember (although you were a new member at the time), in those days the vote had to be done by a show of hands (it has subsequently been changed to a secret ballot) and there was a considerable amount of intimidation involved. However, the majority of the meeting still voted in favour although it was not a sufficient number. Proxy voting is an attempt to give everyone a vote because even back in 1997, approximately 350 members did not attend for various reasons - and why shouldn't they have a say, after all they are members exactly the same as you and I? If members do not want proxy voting, they will vote 'No' and if they do not want to demutualise they will vote 'No', at least I will give them the opportunity to have their say, which is something that you would deny them. I don't know how many times I have said this, but if an offer comes in that the BoM feel would interest members, then it is our duty to inform them of the said offer. I will not change my stance because a tiny
minority wish to influence the majority - and vilify me in the process…

Allen Togwell and "Promoting Private Hire"
Dear Mr Togwell,
Some time ago your fellow Board member Keith Cain told me that the Concierge system would be on offer as part of the tender document for the renewal of the DB contract. I didn’t give it much further thought at the time as I assumed that if you have a system, then you would want to sell it. Then I read your claim in the August Call Sign that you have never handled any material "…promoting, encouraging or even intimating the supplying of any vehicle other than a recognised licensed London taxi."
Now I’m confused. How then do you market Concierge? Is that not concerned with Private Hire vehicles? And how does your statement square with the comment of a member of your Sales staff, Lydia Foulkes, who says on page 16 of the same issue: "We continue to see Private Hire contribute massively to our growth?" How does it make that contribution without you selling it? And how do you sell it if you only ever mention Licensed Taxis? I would welcome an explanation…
Brian Cohen (C81)
Allen Togwell replies: In answer to Mr Cohen, I don’t wish to involve a play on words but controlling a supplier already contracted to a client, be it a coach company, airline, limousine, Private Hire (which incidentally Concierge is capable of doing) or indeed even a competitor within our own trade, is totally different to physically encouraging or promoting the use of those same suppliers.
   As a point of interest, I’m sure Mr Cohen is aware there are very few - if any - companies of note that don’t already have a taxi supplier. So generating new business invariably involves poaching the client away from a competitor. In the past when failing in a bid to become a client’s sole taxi vendor, an alternative approach was to try and sell the benefit of using two taxi suppliers and the most

Proxy Voting
Are we, the drivers being primed ready for a vote on demutualising our Society? I get the distinct feeling that comments from Alan Fisher, Allen Togwell, Brian Rice and even Lydia Foulkes in Call sign, that something is in the offing. First we were asked to vote on new drivers not having any voting rights, the cynical part of me tells me it was to stop ex-ComCab and Mountview drivers voting because they know what has happened to both circuits after being sold down the river. We own our own offices, which I think it is worth a lot more than the ballpark figure of £2.5million quoted at the AGM. Concierge is doing very well, Lydia tells us that "…with so many accounts opening and of course being busier all round and Private Hire contributing massively to our growth." So with money in the bank, freehold premises, lots of work and a future looking very rosy, why do we need outside investors? Let us be under no illusions, outside investors do not want to invest because they hold the Dial-a-Cab drivers dear to their heart, they invest for one reason and one reason only - profit for them and their share holders. Whether you agree with Barry Hooper’s comments or not, the facts speak for themselves. Does anyone truly believe that working drivers on ComCab and Mountview are better off, or that Geof Kaley and Geoffrey Riesel are worse off? What would we, the drivers, get out of an investor? As a shareholder, and this is a hypothetical figure, you might expect to receive £9000 or £10,000 if a bid were made, hardly life changing! It might get a new conservatory, luxury cruise or back end of an overpriced cab.
   This leads me on to proxy votes. Brian Rice replied to Paul Jenner (L19) in August’s Call sign and says: "You mention democracy, yet you (L19) are quite prepared for some members not to be able to vote on such an important subject."     For such an important decision, drivers should be compelled to turn up and vote in person. I understand there are always some genuine reasons why some drivers cannot be there, however the pathetic, and it is just that pathetic turnout at the AGM that says 89% of drivers simply cannot be bothered or, just don’t care enough. So I suggest if they are not bothered, or don’t care, then they don’t want or need to vote! And yes, I for one would be prepared not to let them vote!
   Got the annual letter from the building society asking you to vote at their AGM? Do you attend or tick the box allowing the Chairman to vote on your behalf? Is that what we all want to happen at Dial a Cab? How many of the drivers who don’t go to the AGM know personally the other drivers at the AGM? Very few I should imagine, which leads me to believe they will allow Board members to vote on their behalf. If I am right, then the apathy shown by all these drivers indicates that they won’t even bother to say how they want their proxy to vote, leaving their proxy voters to vote as they want to. It is hardly democratic when you have the possible situation where our Chairman, or anyone else, can vote for 89% of members. It reminds me of the old days when trade unions had block votes. Look at ComCab now, higher subs, charging for statements, call centre in Scotland and paying extra subs to have your cab look like a mobile billboard to receive cash work. Mountview driver’s share value dropped like a brick and it is reported that Mr Riesel, amongst others, is buying them up. You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out what’s going to happen in the not to distant future, could it be that Mountview will go public and those shares will be worth considerably more? The Chairman gets employed with a salary and benefits commensurate with running a multi million pound public company. Nothing wrong with that in itself, anyone could have stood for Chairman and put themselves out, but was it all done with driver’s money?
Look at British Rail, the Post Office, British Airways and many more companies, in all, without exception, the Chairmen and Management teams get huge bonuses, increased pensions, benefits etc. the shareholders get increased dividends. They get these increased profits by making cut backs mainly in staff redundancies, maintenance etc. British Airways cut 5000 staff and then say there’s not enough staff to run the company efficiently and passengers have to endure long waits at the check in. The Post Office cuts thousands of staff, then has to shut post offices, make fewer collections etc. In the case of one company, tragic deaths occurred because regular maintenance work was allegedly not carried out properly due to staff shortages. Compare all these to the John Lewis partnership, which was and still is run like a mutual society. Every employee is a partner with a share in the company, workers share in profits and have a say in the running of the company. Many years ago I worked for them, even as a Saturday boy I had the same voting rights and received a bonus at Christmas. I simply cannot agree that it is anyone’s democratic right to give away their vote to someone else - one man, one vote. I am NOT against Proxy voting provided, and it is a big proviso, that when giving away votes to a proxy, the proxy must be told which way to vote and not left to vote how they will.    If Proxy voting rears it’s head again, I urge every one of you drivers to use your vote, it doesn’t matter how you vote, but make sure you vote! Look at ComCab and Mountview; do we really want to go that way? And to all you drivers that cannot ever be bothered to turn up at meetings, I think it was Karl Marx who said: "Decisions are made by people that turn up."
Steve Painter (K03)
Brian Rice replies: I do not disagree with you, Steve, and your letter just confirms the point how well DaC has been run over the last ten years. It does not matter if a company is public, private, mutual or anything else, it will only be successful if it is managed correctly and your letter just highlights how well this company has been managed. 
   As for voting, I also believe that everyone should attend the AGM, however, I am a realist and know that will never happen, so if people cannot attend a meeting for whatever reason, why should they be barred from voting or indeed do whatever they choose to do with their vote? I note that you are in favour of proxy voting, but believe members should either vote 'yes' or 'no' on the topic under discussion and not give their
vote to a 'proxy' to vote on their behalf - that's fine, that is your belief and I do not have a problem with that! However, who are you to tell me or any other DaC member what we can or can't do with our vote, after all it is our vote and not yours! In the not too distant past, I had the necessary paperwork posted to me regarding the AGM of the Halifax Building Society and I chose to give my vote to a proxy with the instructions that he could vote whichever way he chose to on my behalf! That was my vote and I chose my democratic right to give that vote to whoever I chose. Who are you to tell me that I can't do what I want with my vote - after all it is my vote and not yours! 

Buses, Buses and Buses
In the space of 3 minutes, I counted 8 brand new double-decker buses going along the Fulham Road. They were all no more than quarter full. In order of appearance, they were: 2, 211, 2, 345, 2, 414, 2 and 14. Is Ken trying to bankrupt London through the buying of buses?
David Heath (ex W27)

PCN’s Unlimited
I recently received a PCN from the Corporation of London which was issued via a CCTV operator while I waited for a client to come out of 16 Old Bailey, but did not receive the notice until four weeks after the alleged offence. I appealed against the £50 fine saying that I was carrying out my job and also questioned the time lapsed before notifying me of the alleged offence. I have now received a notice telling me that their guidelines state that they normally try to issue notice within fourteen days of the alleged offence and because of the delay, on this occasion they would cancel the penalty notice. I wonder if I’d have had the same result without the recent meetings with the Corporation of London and the DaC Board? What with that and the pressure from the Ed in Call Sign, let’s hope they now back off a bit.
   I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Call Sign for the complimentary Counterfeit Cabby forged banknote detector. Although I don’t check every note I take, it’s very reassuring to have it with you when you get hit with a fifty or some of that funny Scottish stuff, or even the odd note that just doesn’t feel right. Bill Kibble (K86)
Thanks for the kind words, Bill. The last thing Call Sign wants to do is to prejudice any negotiations between the Corporation of London and DaC; however, we are not prepared to ignore some of the incredibly ridiculous PCNs being given to our drivers. See this issue for possibly the worst so far – picking up a wheelchair passenger …Ed

September 2005 Call Sign Home Page

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