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Continued from April... For the next two years I rented a full flat cab, with weekly rentals being around £10. To put this into perspective, a long day man would hope to take around a £10 a day when it was busy. A new cab cost about £1,100. At first I rented a cab from a medium-sized fleet. The father of Sam and Derek - the Harris brother - ran the garage from what used to be an electricity substation in Kingsland Road. The building was very impressive with its grey stone pillared front and vast interior, but the cabs were carts, many having been converted from petrol to diesel power using the infamous Ferguson tractor engine - noisy at any speed and with not enough power to pull an FX3 up Fitzjohns Avenue in third gear! If you had four punters and luggage, then even with a run you ended crawling up hills in second gear and the engine sounding as if it was going to blow itself to pieces at any minute! After a few weeks suffering, I saw an advert for full flat BMC diesel powered cabs - with heaters! This advertisement was in Steering Wheel, the only real London taxi trade newspaper in those days. The owner lived in Golders Green, had three cabs, drove one himself which he said he used as a spare to provide backup if either of the other two had a problem. He kept his three FX3's in excellent condition and even had them fitted with stylish Ace wheel trims. These bright |
"Sunset Strip" has now handed his badge and
bill back to the PCO after 50 years - much of it with ODRTS.
These are his memories… FIFTY GREEN YEARS… |
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chrome rim trims made the FX3 look very smart,
but the real ace in the card was the one I was going to rent –
which was on the ODRTS circuit. So we agreed terms, still
at £10 a week paid in arrears, and I was to pay the radio
circuit direct. I spoke to a lady called Florrie Culverwell at ODRTS about a change (I had been on before), she passed my request on and I was back at ODRTS. In those days we trusted one another when it came to payment, in any case the PCO reacted very quickly if drivers didn't pay their debts. This latest rental lasted until his son also passed out and the spare cab was no longer a spare. The owner also kept asking to use my cab when I wasn't working. The final straw came when Mark, my second son, was born |
and he demanded to use 'my' cab when I needed it
to work and visit the Victoria hospital in Barnet to see my wife
and new son. In those days, mothers stayed in the maternity ward
for a minimum of 8 days and more often than not, for 11 days
before returning home with their new baby. Personally I think hospitals were kept much cleaner then, helped by restricted visiting hours. With many of today's hospitals, the sooner you can get out the better. Doctors are today worried about patients catching infections whilst in hospital. Bring back the old style battle-axe matrons and sisters who ruled with a rod of iron, but kept their wards clean and free from infection… Continued next issue… Sunset Strip |
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