CitySprint Group
In a shock deal I would not have wanted
to see – one that pushes the
CitySprint Group’s annual revenue
over the £70 million mark - they have
now announced the acquisition of
Burgundy Cars. The group already
includes WestOne Cars.
CitySprint is the delivery side of the group and last year did over
6 million trips that pro rata,
the three major radio circuits would
have done between them a few years back.
Exaggerating? Ask those who have been on
DaC more than a few years and who
remember a time when we had so many
deliveries that we would put 3 or 4
together on separate dockets just to
clear them off the dispatcher’s board!
How many do taxis do nowadays?
Now CitySprint have merged two of the largest PH companies in
WestOne and Burgundy and added them to
their expanding group. Anyone who thinks
that doesn’t represent competition needs
to rethink - and fairly soon - because
that organisation is now in a position
where they can compete with licensed
taxi radio circuits.
It isn’t my job to go on about DaC drivers’ service levels and I
rarely do. The majority of my own work
consists of account work because it
suits me to do so. However, having been
with DaC since around 1974, the Society
has become a part of my life and I feel
proud of the success it has become. But
when I read that we are in danger of
losing accounts not because we do not
have enough drivers, but because many of
the drivers we do have just keep
rejecting trips during peak hours - even
when they are on top of the job - it
does upset me.
Anyone can cover work when it quietens down, but having been told
how many rejects we have during an
average morning peak hour, it amazes me
that our account clients show such
loyalty. Dial-a-Cab do still leave other
radio taxi organisations standing, but
sadly that is now no longer enough.
WestOne claim to have grown by over 30%
last year. Even if that figure includes
some exaggeration, there can be little
doubt that we are no longer up against a
few tiny car companies with scruffs
going around in rust buckets. These
organisations are run by financial
experts who know exactly what they are
doing and as much as it hurts me to say
this, we are in danger of being
overtaken unless we pull our fingers out
and realise that we can no longer fob
clients off with a "nothing in the area;
shall we keep trying," until one of our
drivers decides to accept the trip.
We now have an amazing building that stuns me when I think back to
my early days at Sutherland Avenue and
how Board members of the time thought
that was amazing compared to our
first building in Pentonville Road. We
have a system that has proved itself
time after time, but what we don’t have
is a team of robots who will accept
trips regardless. Thank God we aren’t
robots, but we are shareholders in what
I am often
told is our Society! If it is our
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Society… should we not at
least look as though we care?
We’ve had warnings before and some of you will no doubt poo-poo
this as being a set up from the Board,
but believe it or not, every time I
write an Editorial it comes from me. If
you choose not to believe that and are
just content to carry on doing whatever
you want, then I fear that the warning
may have come too late.
LCDC and private
hire
Keeping with the above topic of
successful private hire, the London Cab
Driver’s Club launched a rather childish
attack on me in their June issue of
The Badge in which they claimed I
had "…gone to great lengths to try
and discredit The Badge and obviously
the LCDC." Perhaps rather less
surprisingly, it was unsigned.
In May’s Call Sign, I went to great lengths to say
how much I agreed with their Vice
Chairman’s article in The Badge
regarding the use of SatNavs. I ended
with a much smaller piece saying that I
disagreed with their decision to publish
a press release that was obviously aimed
solely at the private hire market and
which was promoting the Dodge Avenger as
being "appealing" to that market. Was
that discrediting the LCDC?
Their answer was headed "How to put your foot in it" and
claimed that there was nothing wrong
with stating a fact. What fact? What Mr
Anonymous put into The Badge was a press
release designed for the PH market. It
may well have been a fact to the non-cab
driver who wrote it because his company
gets paid to do so, but it isn’t a fact
to a London taxi driver because he has
no interest whatsoever in which cars are
appealing to the PH section. The info,
if put into perspective and discussed
isn’t a problem, but how many of their
readers are PH drivers? I refused to
publish it and I would have expected The
Badge to also do so. They didn’t and I
asked them why, so they took umbrage,
obviously being incapable of admitting
an error that would have ended the
matter.
They then added their masterstroke; how DaC are "…in bed with
minicabs and a PHV company known as
Concierge," adding sarcastically how "…DaC
should at least be interested in how
their new business partners transport
their passengers!" At least The Badge
admitted who their article was aimed at
because who else but PH drivers would be
interested?
I wouldn’t dream of trying to explain what Concierge was to Mr
Anonymous, because I wouldn’t want to
spoil his rather sad answer and finale
that people
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in glass houses shouldn’t
throw stones.
Well, Mr Anonymous, if I think something is wrong, I say so. If I
make an error, I apologise. Obviously
The Badge is incapable of admitting an
error of judgement and prefers instead
to try covering it up with a silly
response. I wasn’t trying to discredit
The Badge, The LCDC or anything or one
connected with it, but it’s up to them
if they choose to deny being anything
other than perfect. However, if DaC are
so bad and are "in bed" with the
opposition, why is it that we are the
first company the LCDC phone when trying
to organise a demo in order to get
drivers? Or are they thinking of
boosting their membership by accepting
PH drivers???
Wembley Pix
My thanks to
all those drivers who sent me photos
from their local papers featuring DaC
Wembley FC with their Dial-a-Cab shirts
on show. I can’t imagine many coming up
in July, but according to DaC driver and
Wembley goalkeeper Lee Pearce (J71), the
team will be back in training around
now. So whenever you do see any of the
players with our name on their fronts,
perhaps you could cut out the page and
send it to me at the new office.
Thanks again…
Ken’s good side
Ken
Livingstone will never be able to please
all London’s taxi drivers – especially
this one! However, I do believe that he
is proud of us and our reputation. The
problem is that he wants a situation in
London where everyone can get whatever
form of transport they want virtually on
tap. However, if that ever were to
include allowing private hire vehicles
into bus and taxi lanes – as he has said
on both LBC and Capital Radio phone ins
- then the Mayor will negate in one fell
swoop any use they currently have and
the actual thought is enough to convince
many that he is against us.
So I was pleased to hear that he had written to Gordon Brown before
the latter became PM, asking him to have
a rethink about including late TXIIs and
the TX4 from the new Band G vehicle
excise duty rate, which would otherwise
mean those owners paying substantially
more for spending a fortune on a vehicle
that was either Euro III or Euro IV
compliant.
At the time of writing I have no way of knowing whether the Mayor’s
request will be looked on favourably or
not, but I have a sneaking suspicion
that Ken and Gord could possibly form a
relationship that the outgoing premier
couldn’t and that would mean a ‘yes’ so
far as the road tax request is
concerned…
Into year eleven…!
My sincere thanks to all those DaC
drivers who called to congratulate me on
completing 10 years as Editor. I was
even more shocked to get emails from
some who aren’t on this circuit
following an article in the trade press
while I was on holiday. Thank you all… |
