Chas Kissin
To say that I was stunned when a
Dial-a-Cab driver phoned to tell me that
Chas Kissin had been rushed to hospital
in an unconscious state and was on a
life support machine would be a gross
understatement. I’ve known Chas for many
years and our kids used to go to cubs
together.
Not surprisingly, Chas’ home phone was engaged for hours, but I
eventually got through to his wife
Frankie who confirmed the heart attack,
but also said it had been very mild and
he hadn’t even realised that he was
having one! This trade is famous for its
building up of stories (Chinese
whispers), but I don’t need shocks like
that, thank you!
Chas is now feeling as good as ever and although he has had to give
up his taxi licence to the PCO, he hopes
to get it back early in the new year.
With his accident last year when his taxi was written off
travelling along The Highway E1 added to
this latest incident, Frankie may well
be right when she told Call Sign
that it looks as though "…no one up
there wants him!"
Incidentally, as a last word to the story, the day after the heart
attack Chas asked son Ryan to email me
his latest Grumpy column, which
he’d written just before the attack.
Devotion to duty or what…!
Brian Rice anniversary
It’s been a standing joke for as long as
I have been editing Call Sign
that Brian Rice gets his piccie in more
issues than most! Whilst probably true,
if you looked through all the back
issues – and no, that isn’t an
invitation for you to come to my home to
look at every issue since 1963 – the
number is probably far fewer that you’d
have thought, but besides that, as the
Chairman he is probably going to be
involved more than anyone else. However,
this issue of Call Sign
may well break the record for the number
of photos of one person – that person
being Brian Rice!
On 1 August 2004, Brian became the longest serving Chairman in DaC
history when overtaking the period of
Chairmanship by Peter Fennymore some 20
years earlier. On 24 December 2006,
Brian took his Chairmanship of DaC to an
amazing 10 years. Like the majority of
drivers and staff on this Society,
Call Sign would like to send
its congratulations because 10 years
ago, possibly through circumstances
beyond our control, we were bottom of
the pile and now we sit proudly at the
top. That is certainly worth an extra
photo or three…!
Working in Hackney
I believe the new PCO initiative of
allowing suburban taxi drivers
|
from Haringey and Waltham
Forest to ply for hire in parts of
Hackney is an idea well worth pursuing.
The yellow badges will
be able to use the rarely worked ranks
at Manor House and Stamford Hill – one I
remember as being very busy in the 70s
and 80s.
Sadly, these and many other ranks have faded into ignominy as we
have forced ourselves more and more into
the centre of town where we perceive the
work to be. The result has been the
growth of minicabs to the point where so
far as numbers are concerned, they push
us into a corner. Why? Because they work
everywhere and we don’t!
I know some will say there is a never ending queue of empty cabs
with their lights on coming through
Clapham Common 24 hours a day, the
problem is that those cabs in the main
don’t really want to go back to where
they have just come from and really have
their for hire sign on in the hope that
a passenger wants to go somewhere that
we fancy. That isn’t criticism, just
human nature.
This trade needs the ranks that are no longer used to be given a
resurgence of life because there can be
no doubt that private hire are aiming
for the sky and that means plying for
hire. They’ll start by asking for ranks
and the excuse will be that licensed
taxis don’t use them and that someone
has to provide a service to Londoners
that don’t live in the centre. I for one
would rather have a yellow badge moving
in slightly that a minicab and Hackney
seems as good a place as any.
Those wishing to take up the initiative will have to apply to the
PCO and undergo a one-off Knowledge test
of the area and that may well involve a
yellow badge driver sitting on the Manor
House rank with a passenger walking up
to them and asking for Gibson Square. I
think the candidate had better know that
one…!
Happy holidays for
some…
This may be a fun time of year for most,
but not if you are editing Call
Sign! The issue you are
currently reading is December and in a
perfect world that should mean that
there is a month before the next issue
comes out. Sadly for me, but great for
the printers,
|
the next
issue has to be done and
dusted by the time they leave for
their Christmas hols, which means that
-postage allowing – the next issue
should be with you around Christmas Eve.
So… the bottom line to that is that if you have any letters for
Mailshot or questions to those standing
for the Board at the AGM, I need them
much earlier than usual – probably by
the 14th December for letters and 12th
for election candidates. The extra two
days is to allow me to get a response if
relevant.
So, if you see me around and wish me the season’s greetings and I
look as though I don’t know what day it
is, you’ll know why!
Wrong
again?
I had two
complaints regarding last month’s issue
of Call Sign, one from a driver
and one from the Chairman of another
trade organisation, the LCDC. Both
raised the point that in the November
issue, there was an article on the LCDC
retest of taxi emission systems and that
only the PCO version was given with no
room for the LCDC response.
The reason for that was because the article came in at the last
minute and I would have had to leave it
until this issue had I waited for a
response – by which time it would have
been well and truly yesterday’s news.
Whilst that didn’t entirely please the
driver, he accepted that publishing
schedules can bring their own problems –
the above being one.
Alan Fleming, when raising the same point, asked me why I had
published without asking them first for
a response? I gave him the same answer,
but also pointed out that it was a
two-way process. In a previous issue of
their newspaper, The Badge, they
had published an article by a DaC driver
which gave a totally misleading version
of our figures. When I asked Alan why
they had not checked with DaC first
before publishing that article, no
answer was forthcoming.
I’m not having a go at Alan because as I’ve said before, I greatly
admire his grasp on the legalities of
our trade. However, life is a two-way
process and even then it’s difficult to
keep to it…
And remember…
So as I don’t really have much of a clue
as to when your postie will drop the
next issue through your door, can I wish
you all everything you wish me! That
should cover most eventualities.
But whatever you do, enjoy the holidays and remember how hard it
was to get your taxi licence and how
that could all go with just a few
drinks. If you’re not sure, then get
someone else to drive…
Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com |
