DaC’s Mark traps a job to Morocco!

Into La France
Mark’s taxi was wired up for cameras and sound, he put the
meter on and they began to make their way to the cross-channel ferry at Dover where they linked up with a back-up vehicle containing sound and cameramen, a director and a producer. They would be following them all the way.
   After an uneventful crossing, the two vehicles drove to Abbeville in northern France where they stayed overnight. The second day was much harder with a ten-hour drive south through Tours, Poitiers, the Cognac region and Bordeaux.
   "If I thought my cab was getting a lot of stares, then it was only a fraction of what was to come as we closed in on Morocco," said Mark. "I slept reasonably well in Bordeaux. Driving such long distances on the ‘wrong side of the road’ for the first time was pretty zapping!"
   The next day – and another hot one – saw Mark and co crossing the French-Spanish border at San Sebastian.
   "There in front of me and my trusty TXII," continued Mark, "weren’t the rolling hills of a trip out to Surrey, but nothing less than the Pyrenees mountain range! As we climbed upwards with my pedal almost down to the ground and the air-con blowing out cold air to its maximum to combat the searing heat, I could feel the power being drained and for the first time on the trip, I had to ask my passengers to turn the air-con down to give me some power back!"
   The cab kept going south passing through Bilbao, Burgos, Madrid and through the central Spanish plateau of La Mancha with the Toledo Mountains on one side and hills of Cuenca on the other. This is the area traditionally associated with Don Quixote. The group then stopped overnight in Valdepenas – unsurprisingly the TXII becoming  a centre of attraction with the locals.
   Another early morning start saw the TXII and its back-up vehicle driving between the areas of Seville and Granada down into Gibraltar and the ferry that would take them onto the African continent via Tangiers in northern Morocco.
   "That was one ferry ride I wouldn’t be in a hurry to repeat," said Mark. "I’d been warned that the Straits of Gibraltar could be a rough crossing, but this was ridiculous! So bad was it that you could see empty cars bouncing around and almost colliding with each other! I decided to move the cab as far from other vehicles as I could – in itself not quite so simple with all that bouncing up and down! But we finally made it and I was delighted to be able to drive off with no scratches to the vehicle."

And onto Africa…
And so on they drove, ever southwards towards the Sahara Desert, through the Moroccan capital city of Rabat, the play-it-again-Sam city of Casablanca - where they spent the night - Dar-el-Beida, El-Jadida and finally down to Marrakesh with just the Atlas Mountains dividing the TXII London taxi from the living hell of the Sahara! And if you don’t believe what the Sahara Desert is like, ask Call Sign’s Bob Woodford, who once ran across it for charity!
   "It was just so unreal," said Mark, "to say people were staring would be an understatement. Most of them had never seen anything like it before in their lives! And that was nothing because we then had to get to the souk (market) area where the trip would finally end. We were almost lifted up by the throngs wanting to touch this strange vehicle."
   Amazingly, Mark and the crew then heard a cockney voice calling out: "George, isn’t that a London cab over there?" Soon an English couple had worked their way through the crowds and in an amazed voice – but with a broad smile - asked Mark: "How come when we lived in London we could never get a cab to take us south of the river and now we are over here, what do we see but a London taxi somewhat further south than we ever asked for!"
   And thus Mark’s cab trip of a lifetime ended. They stayed in Marrakesh overnight, where to save any Call Sign readers asking, they weren’t offered any drugs! The next morning, Mark took his passengers to Marrakesh airport where they caught a flight back to London and he, after deciding not to put on to the rank, started the long, lonely drive back home.
   "It wasn’t too bad," he told us, "I stopped off in Barcelona to do some sky diving!"
   And the details? Well we are not allowed to say what was on the meter, but suffice to say that the meter goes up to £9999.80 and it didn’t reach that. In addition, Mark had sensibly decided to fill up with diesel at every opportunity and the total return fuel cost was around £750. The one-way trip took up the best part of five days including the first day with its running around London. Mark collected the outstanding part of the fare on his return after having been given probably the largest tip any cab driver has ever been given. Again, Call Sign doesn’t want to say exactly how much but it was huge! And his TXII? "Not one single problem," said Mark, "but it did bring my service time round very quickly!"
   And his first job on returning to London?
   "Well I took some time off to settle back into normality, but eventually went back to work and amazingly, the first job was to take a Spanish lady to Heathrow – which no longer seemed too much of a roader. Speaking to her, she said she was flying home to Madrid and I don’t think she believed me when I told her that I had driven through Madrid with my last passenger!"
   And lastly, what did girlfriend Alison say about Mark’s ‘job’ to Marrakesh?
   "She thought it was great," said Mark. "Mind you," he added quickly, "she did say that she wouldn’t be too happy if I did it again – But I think she meant unless she could come with!"

Copyright Call Sign 2006