London taxi tests prove it!

The amount of sooty smoke that pours out of some of London’s taxis could easily be reduced, a group of licensed taxi drivers have just demonstrated. Drivers found that black smoke emitted from their exhausts was reduced by as much as 83 % after just a couple of tankfuls of using a cleaner diesel fuel. And this is no new fuel. BP Ultimate Diesel has been available at BP forecourts all over the country for almost four years!
   Andrew Barnett, MD of Ubiquitous Taxi Advertising in London, whose drivers took part in the test, told Call Sign: "We were all astonished by the results. Perhaps it’s time that cab drivers were incentified in some way to use better quality fuel all the time."
   Tests were carried out around London by five cab drivers who had the black smoke emissions from their cabs tested at a regular Kwik-Fit MOT test centre before and after filling up with two tanks of BP Ultimate Diesel.
   BP Ultimate Diesel is an advanced premium fuel formulated to clean the inside of the engine and together with its high cetane, helps it to run more efficiently. This can lead to lower emissions and better fuel economy when compared to ordinary fuels. The five cabs tested were all TX2s registered between 2002 and 2006.
   Based on this independently run study, the average reduction in black smoke recorded for BP Ultimate Diesel was just under 50 per cent (46%), but one of the cabs registered an astonishing 83 per cent drop compared to ordinary fuels.
   BP spokesperson, Sheila Williams, told Call Sign: "If reductions of this magnitude were recorded in relatively new black cabs, imagine what the effect could be in some of the older vehicles that we see on our roads today? Black cabs are mostly driven by owner-drivers who tend to keep them for a longer period of time, that means there tends to be many older-tech, higher polluting cabs on our roads."
   Brian Kent (55), from Buckhurst Hill in Essex who has driven a taxi for 18 years told us:
   "I can normally see clouds of black smoke in the mirror when I’m stuck in a jam - but after using BP Ultimate Diesel, I couldn’t see any at all."

Caroline McGowan: 25 years at DAC…

On 22 July 1982, a young, shy girl walked into the Maida Vale headquarters of ODRTS and asked Company Secretary of the time John Bernardout if there was a job going as a telephonist - call takers not having been invented yet!

It wasn’t the best time to ask for a job, Chairman Peter Fennymore was on holiday, there was a rail strike in the capital and the Society were focussing all their energy on their exclusive short-term account – ferrying the Pope’s staff around while the Pontiff was on an official visit to London. And on top of that, we were still looking for new premises closer to the city in addition to thinking of a new trading name. ODRTS was considered too old fashioned and the name Dial-a-Cab hadn’t yet been thought of. AND a Board member, Mickey Gee had just resigned! But Caroline McGowan got the job…

On 20 July 2007, DaC celebrated Caroline’s 25 years at DaC with a surprise luncheon in the Boardroom. That same "young, shy girl" has been one of our senior Account Managers for years and is on first name terms with many leading account holders. She still looks young, but certainly not shy!
   Caroline told Call Sign: "I can't believe it's been 25 years already!"
   Congratulations Caroline on a momentous achievement…