Moving on...
After almost 20 years, the Chairman has
decided to give me a break from being
the Compliance / Complaints Officer and
give me the more pleasant task of
managing the Roman Way Depot.
The job of being a Compliance Officer can be very stressful if you
allow it to be, or you can address it as
a challenge. Trying to sort out
complaints can be like making up a
jigsaw, you start off with the basic
pieces, then work to view the whole
picture.
It’s been said that I applied myself to the job like a duck to
water as I had a mind that could work
both sides of the fence. Firstly, on the
honest side of the fence, but also on
the opposite side – that which villains
who wanted to cheat had decided to
settle on. I could put myself into the
position of either of these groups,
therefore seeing the problem through
their eyes.
Because I love working out problems and puzzles, this allowed me to
work out and catch those minority of
villains who were operating scams to
gain an advantage over their fellow
honest colleagues – the majority.
During the 20 years, many a driver has been amazed at how I was
able to unravel the complicated schemes,
whether on voice or data despatch. It
has been more challenging since being on
data, as I had to learn all about
computers and their workings before
gaining solutions.
Since my move to Roman Way was reported in a previous issue of
Call Sign, I have had many
phone calls from drivers regarding my
past record - and my future. They
weren’t just from drivers who never got
to be put on complaint, but also from
some who had suffered suspensions. The
latter group surprised me by their
comments; they were sorry to see me
moving on! Why was this? Because they
enjoyed trying to get one over on me,
but if I won they knew it would be
handled in a fair and honest way and I
can honestly say that I have never tried
to "fit up" any driver - there was
enough work to keep me fully employed
with ongoing complaints without trying
to make up fictitious ones.
The honest drivers were sad that some dishonest drivers might now
have a much better advantage over them.
One driver even asked me whether he
could put the Chairman on complaint
saying that he was giving the villains
an unfair advantage! Although he was
exaggerating, I was still very happy to
hear these comments as it proved to me
that I had applied myself to the job
with the best of my ability and I
appreciated hearing them.
I’m sure that Allan Evans can learn quickly and put his full
attention into the position that he has
now been given - it is a job that needs
your complete attention without getting
too involved in other member’s jobs -
which could detract you away from the
main task.
Each Board Member has his own area in which to devote his working
time. If you are unfamiliar with them or
new to the circuit, address your queries
as below:
Michael Son is involved
in special projects and selected clients
accounts.
Keith Cain runs the call centre and drivers journey |
queries.
Allen Togwell’s expertise is
advertising and the designing of
Dial-a-Cab material.
Allan Evans will be covering complaints.
I will be doing the day-to-day running of the Roman Way Depot.
Shelagh Adkins deals with new drivers, driver’s fittings, training
and marshals.
Daren Morley and Christine Conn deal with the hands-on training and
queries of drivers re working of taxi
terminals and the rules you need to
adhere to when working them.
If you would like to contact any of these people via email, use
their first name and the first letter of
their surname, then add @dialacab.co.uk.
My email would be
TomW@dialacab.co.uk.
As some of you may remember, I used to manage Roman Way when Peter
Thurston was there, this was within the
Driver Operations department that I
managed, so some of the fitters have
worked with me in the past and hopefully
will not be upset by the change. In fact
they might enjoy me being back and
chasing them to achieve the standard
that I expect!
Assisting with aerial
signals
I have been asked by John Bankes, our IT
Supremo, if I would travel around London
in my car with a set of computer
recording equipment. This equipment
would constantly record the strength of
aerial signals from all parts of London,
then it will be up to our experts from
the USA to try and improve the quality
of these signals with the information
gained.
I’m sure that at some time during these excursions around London, I
will come across the little band of
drivers who have been so intent on
discrediting me. When they see the
aerials on the roof of my VW, they will
no doubt once again incorrectly report
back to their gang that I’m earning a
living driving a minicab - just like the
story they put about that I owned a
minicab firm which was driving the Royal
Family around. But if that’s what rocks
their boat, let them!
Is he allowed to
have a taxi badge?
At this years AGM, a subscriber took
great pleasure in going up to the
lectern and stating that he thought I
should not have a taxi badge due to my
"heart problems." It wasn’t true, I have
not had heart problems, I had
preventative surgery on my arteries –
the implanting of stents.
So due to another subscriber who had written to the PCO and
informed them of this, I had a call
asking me to have a Bruce Protocol
Test. I informed all those at the
AGM of this along with the date and an
invitation to join me just to make sure
that I was not telling a lie. Before the
date, I asked a driver who had completed
the test what levels and speeds they
expected?
I then went to a gym and tried myself out on the treadmill at his
given levels. Being the type of person
that I am, I completed the
10-minute test and then did it again.
Yes, I did break out in a sweat on the
second go, but I just |
kept thinking of Kelly
Brook and there was no problem!
On the day of the test, I attended the Homerton Hospital and was
met by an attractive young lady who took
me through the test. At the end, she
asked how I found it, I said very easy
as I had been practising and this seemed
much easier. She asked what levels I’d
been practising at and when I told her,
she said that it wasn’t surprising that
I had passed, I had been using the wrong
levels - more suited to a 20 year old!
When we finished the treadmill test and I sat for the 3-minute
cooling-off period (they are watching to
see how quick your blood pressure goes
back to normal), the young lady said:
"Don’t worry, I’ll strip them off in a
minute." I quickly informed her if she
did that, my blood pressure might shoot
up! She very quickly assured me that she
meant the ECG wires that she had
attached to me to gain the readings.
Just my luck again…
It was the same when I decided to go to a gym, I looked through the
brochures and picked the one with all
those young ladies in skintight lycra
suits. But when I came out of the
changing room, what was I confronted
with? Female senior citizens in
elasticated stockings and smelling of
wintergreen.
Then when you go into the showers and you see all those other naked
fellows parading about flexing their
muscles, straight away I knew why some
had described me as hung like a hamster.
I went into the toilet to use the urinal
when a well built black guy rushed in
next to me and said: "Just made it." I
looked over and said: "Can you make me
one like that in white?"
Wash and brush up
As I will now be down at Roman Way, I’ll
see at first hand in what condition and
state of cleanliness our taxi fleet is
in - and that includes the drivers. So I
will be able to see if some of the
complaints that I’ve been dealing with
regarding lack of cleanliness, were
true. As many of you know me and that
I’m not backward in coming forward with
my views over something that is not up
to the Dial-a-Cab standard, I will tell
you if your taxi is dirty. In this day
and age, even if you are too lazy to
wash your taxi, there are plenty of
cheap and efficient taxi washes.
If you come into the Roman Way Depot with the drivers compartment
in a filthy condition as I have seen in
the past, stale food, rotting fruit and
other unmentionable articles lying on
the floor, I will ask you to clean them
out before a fitter is allowed to work
on our equipment. I would also ask you
to lock any top shelf magazines in the
boot, as the fitters need to do a
certain amount of work in a day, I do
not need them to be any more knackered
than they are at the moment.
In finishing off this article, again can I wish Allan the best of
luck in his new job at complaints, he
might need it in keeping some drivers in
line.
Anyone attending Roman Way will find we do quite a nice cup of
coffee and we are cheap.
Be Lucky and drive safely…
Tom Whitbread
Roman Way Manager |
