Call Sign May 2006 - Page 15 - DIAL-A-CAB FLASHBACK - WANT HELP WITH YOUR PARKING TICKET?

Every issue of Call Sign takes a look back at ODRTS history through the pages of the magazines of the time with a…

DIAL-A-CAB FLASHBACK

This month’s Flashback goes back to Christmas 1997 and a time when few DaC drivers were on the Internet and Vince Chin set up only the world’s second taxi chat list…
From Call Sign, December 1997

WELCOME TO DISCUSS!
On Wednesday 12^th November 1997, I created the UK’s first taxicab discussion forum / list on the Internet. It’s also is a first for any taxi trade in Europe. Worldwide only the Americans have beaten us! I'll give a brief introduction on how it will operate...
A discussion list operates by email. When you subscribe to a discussion list, your email address is added to all the other subscribers. To actually take part in a discussion, you send an email to discuss@taxicab.co.uk. Everyone who is subscribed will then receive that email. This all

happens instantaneously, so if you're sitting at home in front of the PC, you could have a live, open discussion with like-minded taxi drivers. Taxicab.co.uk's very first thread of discussion was - surprise, surprise - Dial-a-Cab's flotation.
What I'm trying to attempt in this discussion list, is to unite the
trade by giving all trade organisations the ability to talk under an impartial moderator. Naive maybe, but I had to try it. Since I belong to no organisation other than the Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers, I feel I'm in the ideal position to moderate the list. When I say moderate, I don't mean restricting individuals opinions, I mean coming into a discussion when it seems to be getting out of control or when someone is being flamed (verbal abuse, swearing etc). Other than that, I'll stay well away from the content…

Jaw rather than war?
We all know that in this trade of ours, we're constantly at each other throats, maybe creating this discussion list will encourage more Jaw-Jaw rather than War-War - as Winston Churchill famously said. There is no cost involved in subscribing, it is provided totally free of charge to our trade, but to subscribe you must fulfil certain requirements.
These mandatory requirements are that you must not be related in any way or form to the Private Hire industry or to unlicensed minicabs. You must also be one of the following: A Knowledge boy or girl, a Licensed Hackney Carriage driver, a Taxi manufacturer or a Taxi trade supplier of goods/services.
So if you know anyone that fits these requirements, please tell them to visit our taxicab website and to subscribe.

Vince Chin
Call Sign online

WANT HELP WITH YOUR PARKING TICKET?

Most Dial-a-Cab drivers know that if presented with a PCN whilst on a DaC trip, the fine will be paid should the appeal fail. But what if you get caught when out shopping with your wife?
   DaC driver David Baker (S07) has told Call Sign of a very interesting website that provides assistance should you find yourself in that situation.
   The site is at www.appealnow.com and according to David, it takes a bit of navigating around to find what you want but appealnow.com have discovered that all Westminster parking tickets that were issued within a certain period are illegal because they do not comply with one of the Road Traffic Acts.
   "It is just a technicality," said David, "but a valid one nonetheless. They should have a date of issue as well as a date of offence on both the ticket and the tear off slip, however some Westminster PCNs do not and that makes them void."
   There is a one-off fee of Ł7.95, but for that, the site guides you through the whole appeal process in minutes to help you in your challenge against the ticket. They are not always successful, but do have an excellent success rate.
   According to the website, local authorities are increasingly using the fixed penalty and parking ticket system to raise money. Gone are the days, they claim, when parking tickets were used to keep the traffic flowing - they are now a major money-spinner and with that commercialism comes the increasing likelihood that a parking ticket is issued unfairly, incorrectly or illegally.
   Barrie Segal, AppealNow.com's founder and an acknowledged authority on parking tickets in the UK, estimates that as many as 5 million parking tickets per annum could be illegal and unenforceable.
More people than ever before are lodging appeals (appeals are 30% up year-on-year in London alone) and 63% of all appeals are upheld by the parking adjudicator and the chances are that your parking ticket can be appealed.
   That’s www.appealnow.com. Write it down now…

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