Call Sign May 2007 - Page 24 & 25 - ALLEN TOGWELL’S MARKETING PLACE

ALLEN TOGWELL’S MARKETING PLACE

I’m aware I’m repeating a subject that was briefly mentioned in two previous editions of Call Sign but as there was little mention of the effect it has on our clients, I consider it important enough to elaborate further.
   The issue in question is the use of a hand-held mobile telephone whilst driving. More to the point;, doing so whilst in the process of transporting our account clients. Whether it be our clients or carrying no passengers at all, using hand-held mobiles whilst driving is not only foolish, but with the increase in the fine to Ł60 plus three points on your licence, can be a very costly experience and for persistent users, particularly amongst those in the taxi industry, it could well put your licence and your living in serious jeopardy.
   I cannot stress strongly enough the importance attached to being attentive at all times whilst undertaking a journey involving a passenger, because apart from the obvious requests such as a change of destination, temporary stop en route or wait and return, something far more serious may require your urgent attention. It is also important particularly in a busy City like London, that an element of vigilance is shown and the vehicle is driven safely - none of which can be achieved when driving one-handed whilst waffling non-stop on a mobile phone.
   I feel it prudent to mention at this point, particularly to those who may feel aggrieved at getting their collar felt by our new Compliance Officer, Allan Evans, for an incident that may well have occurred on one rare occasion, we have some 2,300 drivers (including journeyman) and if just a small number of those were to commit a one-off rare misdemeanour to the same client, for example using a mobile, the client won’t associate the misdemeanours to individual drivers; they list them collectively as repetitive incidents of which Dial-a-Cab is responsible. Assumptions are then made that we have no control over our workforce, which reflects badly on our quality of service. We all know this to be unfair, but try telling that to a client who has repeatedly experienced problems - and not just with mobiles.
   Its amazing really when one considers all the media publicity of late concerning the use of hand-held mobile phones, how many taxi drivers are still prepared to flout the law. Every day without exception when travelling from home to and from the office, I see cab drivers using their mobiles and in many instances, totally oblivious to the manner in which they are driving. That includes I might add, bus, coach and lorry drivers as well as a whole multitude of drivers in cars, many of which curiously enough are top-of-the-range and as such, one would have thought would have had a hands-free unit as a standard fitting.
   Close to where I live is a school where practically every pupil is delivered and collected by anorexic looking females driving the obligatory mammoth-size 4x4’s one-handed, while in the other hand a mobile is affixed permanently to their ear. Personally, I have never considered women to be naturally gifted drivers and even less so when driving one-handed and rabbiting on a mobile! The consequences are that - together with their arrogant disregard for other road users - traffic and pedestrian flow is affected and one day I envisage a serious accident occurring. However I’d like to add very quickly before our sizeable contingent of female members start converging on Brunswick House to set about my person, that I mention the above only to emphasise the effect using a mobile has on concentration and driving ability and that it does not just apply to women, it effects everybody and whatever the situation.
   Research has shown that driver's reaction times are up to 50% slower than normal when driving whilst using a hand-held mobile phone and there are 4 times more chance of having an accident. These statistics, together with the penalty if caught breaking the law, makes it absolutely senseless not to invest in a hands-free kit. There are literally dozens of different types of models on the market to suit all requirements, including the cost that can be as low as a typical taxi fare across town.
   Finally, whilst I don’t wish to undermine the seriousness of the above, I can’t resist commenting on some other facts, which could well be the reason why so many people have and will continue to break the law concerning mobiles. It’s estimated that around 500,000 motorists use a hand-held mobile each day whilst driving. Exactly how those figures are arrived at I haven’t a clue, but assuming that little bowler-hatted man at the ministry has got his facts right and assuming my limited ability at maths is correct, then in 2005
alone, approx 185 million people

would have been using their mobile phone each day whilst driving, out of which the entire 145,000 police officers from England and Wales managed to nick just 72,000 culprits. We are not talking about offences here that can be easily missed such as doing an illegal U turn or running a red light, we’re talking about holding a mobile for 5-10-15 minutes or more and in many instances in stationary traffic. Yet out of 185 million people committing this offence, 50% of the entire police force chose not to apprehend one solitary offender and the other 50% nicked just one culprit each in a whole year!
Far be it for me to understand the reasoning for this leniency, however it appears a purge is about to take place and knowing from experience how if anybody is going to get singled out when it comes to nicking motorists, its going to be our lot - twice if the PCO get involved and rightly so - then all the more reason why every one of you should get that kit fitted…

AT and the curvacious Swiss au pair!
On a lighter note, there is a saying in marketing that "business has only two functions - marketing and innovation." Of the two, invovation is something that is rarely off the minds of most marketeers as ideas are often created from the most unusual of circumstances, including from previously related subjects. For example, I recently wrote an article about the likelihood of Polish immigrants coming into this country to work in the taxi industry, but before doing so would learn to speak fluent English, which promped me to wonder why it is that people throughout Europe, irrespective of their level of education, have the inherent ability to speak several languages. Yet English speaking nationals, even amongst those in the service industry where a second language would be considered an asset, appear to show very little interest in this subject.
   Proffesional footballers, for example, are rarely considered to be high on the list of academic ability, yet there are a considerable number of foreign players who speak very good English. One example is Philippe Senderos of Arsenal, who is from Switzerland and is supposedly fluent in six languages, yet he is only 21 years of age. Go to virtually any country outside of England and you can be sure to find local cab drivers who have a basic understanding of English, no matter how small, yet how many English born cab drivers in London can speak another language?
   Mentioning Switzerland reminds of a time many many years ago when I worked in that wonderful country in a place called Ebnat Kappel, which is a canton or region of St Gallen and whose population at the time was only a few hundred thousand. I was made to feel completely inadequate by the fact that children as young as 7 or 8 could speak three or four languages and there was I whose mother tongue was a dialect of English, incomprehensible to most people outside of the east end of London, struggling to communicate in pigeon German.
   Exactly how I came to be working in an isolated - but none the less picturesque - mountain village, knee deep in snow making Lederhosen of all things (leather shorts worn with embroidered braces, supposedly associated with virility and popular amongst neighbouring Bavarians) was in truth due to a combination of my own hot-blooded virility plus a pre-concieved notion of living a life of Riley!
   I was young, a bit rash and totally besotted with a curvacious Swiss au pair who pursueded me, - without too much difficulty - to go live with her and her parents who owned a hotel in Switzerland. In my ignorance, I hadn’t a clue where Ebnat Kappel was and assumed it was somewhere in Zurich. As for the hotel, the way she spoke I was thinking something more on par with the Hilton, not a small guest house purched precariously on the side of a ruddy Swiss mountain! But my time there was a happy one and also a bit of adventure for a young man at a time when travelling abroad was quite uncommon for people of my ilk. However I feel it to be true to say that I might have been happier still had I been more proficient in the language before I went.
   The beauty of travelling abroad, especially alone, which I did for 2˝ yrs, are the situations one encounters and which stay in the memory. One example being when my amourous persuit of glory first began. It was early February 1958. My Swiss girl friend had already returned home several months earlier and I promised I would follow when I had sufficient funds. I owned a clapped out Ford Poplar car, which I managed to sell for fifty quid - big bucks to me

back in those days. I went to
Victoria Station to buy a one-way train ticket to Zurich, but the doddery ticket clerk who was probably a bit mutton, must have misheard and he gave me a ticket to Munich - more or less in same direction but it was only when I
reached the train’s final destination did I realise the error.
   Even then I had doubts as to where I was. The station was crowded, I could see no signs and it was absolutely freezing. I had never seen so much frost, ice and snow in my entire life and the sight of everybody in heavy topcoats and boots wearing Russian
trooper-style fur hats gave me the sudden fear that I had arrived in Moscow! I had no gloves or overcoat, I couldn’t speak a word of German and thought I would die of hypothermia before I eventually managed to find a cab driver who spoke a little English and who kindly helped me to book a room at a cheap local pension.
   Late the following day, I was back at the railway station buying a ticket to Zurich when the headlines on a newspaper stand cought my eye. Curious, but not knowing how to ask if they sold English newspapers, I managed with the aid of a small English-German dictionary to put together a sentence in German which I hoped could be understood. I was a little nervous at sounding like a wally and for 10 minutes I kept repeating to myself, ‘haben Sie englishe zeitung bitte’ over and over again until I eventually picked up enough courage to approach the lady vendor who looked at me quizically when I spoke and then said in the broadest cockney accent immaginable: "Wot wun you want sweetart? Daily Mirror OK?" I couldn’t believe it and neither could I believe the terrible news that I was reading about how the plane carrying the Manchester United football team had crashed on take-off from Munich Airport the previous day, leaving 23 dead, 7 of whom were the famous Busby babes.The cause of the crash was ice on the wings and excessive slush on the runway.Tragic and there was I in the very City when it happened.
   So what, you might wonder, has any of the above got to do with the price of fish? Well I digressed a bit but it was about languages.
   Not surprisingly, almost every English speaking country considers the learning of a foreign language to be totally unnecessary because wherever in the world their countrymen travel, they expect to be spoken to in English - which is not only an arrogant attitude as well as being disrespectful, but by making no attempt whatsoever to speak or understand the simplest of words of the country you are visiting, is to deny yourself of a certain amount of pleasure and I might add, make your stay that much easier.
   One of the difficulties of learning a foreign language away from the country of origin for most people is the inability to practice what you have learnt. But this need not necessarily be the case for those in the cab trade because London being one of the most cosmopolitan cities in world, whatever language you learn you are sure to pick up a native on whom to try out your new found skill. I’ve mentioned in the past how driving a cab can become at times a pretty mundane occupation with little to occupy the mind, particularly whilst waiting for a client, so what better way to use that time and to stimulate the brain than by learning a foreign language? With all the gizmo’s and MP3 whatnots on the market that can be used for this purpose, learning couldn’t be easier whatever the subject. So why not give language a try? It’s also worth noting that apart from the enjoyment and immense sense of achievement, think also of what it could do for your Society and your future when our marketing portfolio includes the little fact that our members are bilingual. I repeat what I said at the beginning: ‘Innovation’ - the definition of which is something newly introduced, which is what your Society should always be looking for to keep ahead of the field.
   Finally, we are often asked how we measure our success and one of the analogies I use is the way grass grows. You cannot see it, but every week you have to mow the lawn.
   Au revoir, auf wiedersehen, arrivederci, hasta la vista…

Allen Togwell
DaC Marketing
allent@dialacab.co.uk

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