|
The atmosphere in
Dial-a-Cab’s Boardroom was tense with anticipation. Who would win
the biggest prize ever given away in a licensed taxi trade
competition – a magnificent brand new ‘gold’ specification TXII
valued at around £35,000? And then there were the second and third
prizes - six weeks in the sun for up to 6 people complete with a
hired car for as long as their holiday lasts and a year’s free subs!
Rumours flying around EC5 on the previous week suggested that DaC
Board member Mike Son had won the cab – even though the draw had not
even taken place yet! But on Friday 10 February as 3pm drew near,
Board members and staff eagerly gathered in the Boardroom. Chairman
Brian Rice had invited Roy Ellis, Head of the PCO, to
make the draw… The software that provided the necessary information had been devised, written and thoroughly tested in-house by DaC’s John Bankes. All driver entries were electronically ‘shuffled’ to ensure total randomness. When Roy Ellis made the first ‘click’ of the mouse on the ‘start’ button, the information on all drivers eligible for entry was loaded onto the system. Prior to the actual selection / draw process, Mr Ellis was asked to name aloud which of his ‘clicks’ would count as the winning name for each prize in order to introduce a further level of chance. Then, entirely of his own choice, he clicked the pause button. The system automatically stopped at a name and badge number and the trades most eagerly awaited competition had a winner displayed on the giant screen! Mr Ellis went through the |
RICHARD WINS DAC’S GREAT TAXI GIVE-AWAY…
 Waiting for the winners name to appear |
|
|
same process on another two occasions to pick
the second and third prize winners. Brian then phoned the TXII winner, Richard Barford (R39), to tell him the news. Richard was driving his taxi at the time and Brian asked him to pull over first in case he hit something on the road from excitement! "You’re kidding," was Richard’s reply, heard by everyone in the room on an open box phone. Brian assured him that wouldn’t kid him for a £35,000 taxi; Richard could only mumble "Oh my Lord," at which the Chairman roared with laughter! Whether that signified a |
crafty prayer from Richard before the draw,
we’ll never know! Those in the Boardroom – including Call Sign -
could almost hear Richard’s heart beating with joy! Call Sign asked Roy Ellis if he had ever made a draw like this before? "Well," he said with a broad grin, "I’ve done many things during my time at the PCO, but no, I’ve never given a new taxi away - and just at the click of a mouse as well!" The holiday winner was Terry Goldsmith (R74) and Gerald Ward (G53) won the year of free subs… while Mike Son went back to his trusty Metrocab! © Call Sign Magazine MM6 |
|
 |
Powered by NetXPosure |
| Copyright 1997-2006 Dial-A-Cab Ltd, All rights reserved. |