Epilepsy and taxis…
Whilst I do not know for certain, I’d feel fairly safe in betting that among our 2200+ drivers, more than a few have members of their family who sufferer from epileptic fits. If that is the case, then undoubtedly you would know what to do – or not to do – as the situation demands when close to someone having a fit. It’s probably just as safe a bet that the majority – myself included – wouldn’t have a clue what to do if their passenger suddenly began to have a fit in the back of their taxi. And that brings me onto my tale…
   I was due to pick up an ‘as directed’ account trip from Old Bailey at around 7pm one February evening. After several minutes, a young lady came out supported by a male colleague. My first thought was that she was drunk and was going to throw up over my new carpet. But looking again at her, it was obvious that she wasn’t drunk but ill. She got in and her colleague said to me that she should be ok, but that if she collapsed then I should take no notice, but just wait until she had recovered! But I was not to try to help her!
   You could say that I was rather concerned, but assumed that wherever she was going wouldn’t be too far at 7pm. But it was Barnet – not that far at 11pm, but something of a schlep while the "peak hour" was still with us.
   As we pulled away, my passenger asked me the most unusual question that I think any passenger has ever requested in my 36 years of cab driving. I’ve had the opposite, but never has someone asked me to continue talking to them for the whole journey home! She explained that she was epileptic and had been so for many years. She also had regular fits – many of them fairly violent and she knew from previous experience that she was going to have one almost certainly before we reached her home. However, if I could continue talking to her and get her to respond, the brain activity brought on by the conversation could possibly delay the fit until we reached her home.
   By the time we reached Highgate, we were on first name terms and I knew much more about epilepsy than I knew before. More importantly, the thought of her having a fit before reaching Barnet no longer frightened me. She told me about her 13-year old son who had lived with her epilepsy since his very young years and how he had given talks to the London Ambulance Service on how to deal with an epileptic!
   She then explained what I should do if – and apparently when – she went into a fit. The answer? Nothing! Just wait until she comes round. Don’t try to make her comfortable or worry about her swallowing her tongue – epileptics rarely did that.
   But – and this put the you-know-whats into me – if she failed
to regain consciousness, then

there was a special card in her purse called the London Ambulance Protocol. I was to dial 999 and quote the card. By this time, her sight had almost gone, something that always happened to her just before fitting.
   Just before we reached her home and with my throat beginning to feel sore after almost

Mistaken identity…?
While writing about my fares, I must add this one. Incredibly, it was on the way back from the above trip.
   A lady came up to me at the lights on the corner of Archway and Holloway Road and asked if I could take her to Highbury Corner. I rarely do street work, but couldn’t turn this one down as it almost took me back to the City and EC5.
   We’d barely travelled 200 metres when she called through the partition: "Hello Alan." Admittedly, I’m not very good at remembering names, but I can usually remember whether I know the person or not and her face rang no bells at all. Could it be a driver’s wife who had seen my photo in Call Sign? Whoever it was, I had to answer – especially as she was now asking how I was keeping?
   What I should have said was: "Sorry, but I don’t remember you. But in a rather cowardly fashion, I said I was fine and asked how she was, hoping that her answer would give me a clue as to who she was.
   "I’m fine," she replied. No help there.
   "How are things at home," I queried, hoping that her answer would mention a name that I was familiar with. Her answer wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
   "Everything’s great," she said, "we’re having sex again. The operation worked really well."
   By now we were closing in on Highbury Corner and as she came round to pay me, I could see a look in her eyes that she hadn’t displayed via my rear-view mirror! In that second, we both realised that whilst she coincidentally had the right name, she had the wrong person!
an hour of non-stop chatting, she decided that instead of her son getting on a bus to meet her at home, we should pick him up as it was just a 5-minute ride away. As he entered the cab, mum went into a fit and lay on the cab floor shaking. Astonishingly, her son and I just sat there talking whilst his mother lay there, from where some 10 minutes later she began to come round.
   We made for home and managed to get her in – not easy with someone who is only semi-conscious. But we managed it and I said goodbye and left.
   I learned something on that day and I’m hoping that you would all be interested, because my passenger intends writing an article for Call Sign on living with

E14 success?
Sadly, it is a fact of life that there will always be some lowlifes whose only way of getting money is to take it from someone else. Until mid-January, there were very few days when at least one driver (and on several occasions their worried wives / partners) didn’t phone Call Sign to talk about someone they knew being robbed in the E14 area.
   There was little we could do physically, but we certainly made sure that those who should know about the problems, did know about them. Thanks to Tom Whitbread, Call Sign attended meetings with the Crown Prosecution Services and various police departments, and explaining about the problems this trade was facing in the Docklands area.
   They assured us that the matter would be taken seriously and we later heard of police driving around the area in taxis. We were also told of arrests and imminent arrests.
   What became of those we have not been told, but the message seems to have reached those who would try to rob us and the number of incidents has dropped markedly.
   It will always be an ongoing battle and some will just shrug their shoulders and carry on working. But there are also several drivers on Dial-a-Cab who told me to pass on to the police that they were ready to attend ID parades or even court if necessary. It is to those drivers that any thanks must be directed.

Metrocabs, TfL and emissions?
Last month I suggested that the Mayor’s office could help subsidise the cost of a new Nissan engine for Metrocab drivers with a donation towards the cost from the drivers themselves.
   Now we hear of the 2-year battle between TfL and Newham councillor, Simon Ademolake, who was caught by a warden parking his car for several minutes just over the edge of a red route line on the roadway. He drove off before the warden had completed the ticket, but was then sent a demand to pay. He disputed the legality of it and appealed to The Parking and Traffic Appeals Service, who confirmed that as he had driven off before the warden had placed the ticket on his car, that he was not liable for the fine. However, TfL disagreed and chased the matter through the legal system for two years, until recently when the High Court ruled that Mr Ademolake was not liable for the ticket.
   My question: How many Metrocabs could TfL have bought with that sheer waste of money

Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com