Buying a new cab from M&O…
In early March, my night man and I decided it was time to change our 12-year old faithful Fairway, our choice was the new TX4. As we were cash buyers, we phoned both main dealers to see who would give us the best deal. Both offered similar incentives so we decided to go to the east London one which was both closer to home and which we have used before. On arriving at the showroom to place the order, we were told that as the TX4 was so popular, all deals were off. So we phoned Simon at M&O expecting the same response, fortunately he stuck to his word and we placed the order.
   We picked our new taxi up on 10 April, unfortunately it had some faults so Simon arranged to take the cab in and give us a loan cab. As we are on Dial-a-Cab, we had to wait a few weeks for one to become available. On 24 May, I  handed our taxi to Steve, the mechanic at M&O, with a list of my concerns. I was given a one-year-old TX2 with a DaC radio. What I thought was going to be a few days of repairs, turned into weeks. After about 8 weeks Steve, who had kept me informed of everything he had done to try and cure the droning and vibration problem, said the taxi was returned to the factory,
   On 13 August, I met Mr Divito and Mr Ali Tarkan-Ali at their request. They apologised saying they felt we had been without our new taxi for too long and as they were not sure how long it would take to rectify, they offered to order us a new taxi - like for like - and in the meantime we could continue to use their loan cab. We picked up the new taxi at the end of September.
   What I am not sure of is whether we would we have got the same level of service from any other dealer? Throughout this episode, M&O’s staff have impressed me with their customer relations and service. Although we were unfortunate to have a problematic cab, I am at least pleased we bought it from M&Os… 
Ian Connelly (T21)
   Thanks for letting us know Ian. Everyone likes to complain about bad service, few bother to compliment good service, so it makes a welcome change. Human nature I suppose. Ian picked up his new taxi in early October …Ed

Questions, questions - and rubbish answers!
 I refer to the letter from Mike Curwood (F51) concerning the carriage in licensed taxicabs of children under 10 years of age, which was published in the October issue of Call Sign. The subsequent reply from Judith Adams, whom we were told was senior Press Officer for TfL Surface Transport & Enforcement, gives me some cause for concern.
   This woman clearly has no conception of what is a licensed London taxi and has presumably never actually set foot in one. She states that: "The number of passengers is limited by the number of seat belts. If the vehicle is licensed for 5 passengers, it will have 5 seat belts and can take 5 people." How many seat belts are there in the back of your cab? Obviously she is a minicab user where she does not encounter rear-facing cricket seats.
   And these are the people who are licensing us and in charge of enforcement! Can I retire early, please?
Keith White (A16)
   I don’t know about your Metrocab, Keith, but newer TX cabs do have 2 seat belts by the tip-ups. They may be more suitable for wheelchair use, but they are there. Other than that, I tend to agree with your assessment …Ed

About these signals…
We are now in our sixth year of having new ‘state of the art’ terminals. Over the six years, we have experienced very poor signal quality and Brian has stated previously on many occasions that the DaC Board have endeavoured to rectify the problems using various methods and at substantial costs. Over recent months we have moved to the new premises at considerable expenditure and all we hear Brian banging on about in Call Sign is how fantastic the premises are, having all the latest technology and state of the art facilities. He is forever blowing his own trumpet about how DaC is such a flourishing business. Well that's all well and good Brian, and we all want DaC to flourish, but I think the Board have lost their way over the last few years. You have all certainly forgotten what it is like to be on the shop floor with the boys. I am of course referring to the signals yet again! I only wish that the Board still had to drive their cabs and experience the problems first hand. All of the state of the art technology in the world is useless if we can't send or receive signals and supply cabs to the ever-waiting customers.
   Please don't insult me and ask me to take my terminal to Roman Way again, as I have been on numerous occasions only to be told that the terminal is working adequately. I can honestly say that I speak for the entire membership, because you can talk to any driver you wish to and they all agree on the signals issue. I am sure that if the AGM were still compulsory, you would come under fierce criticism. When you talk to other drivers, they will all tell you about jobs that have been lost from their screen. I can also tell you that it is not just during busy periods, but at any given part of the day. It is so frustrating when drivers lose jobs from the screen, be it 'bread and butter' jobs, being point cab on a physical rank, roaders, jobs into work, jobs home or wrong details appearing after you accept a job and getting booked-off after having a decent queue position. These are just some of the scenarios that are occurring on a regular basis. We are all really fed up with the situation, but all feel that we just have to grin and bear it. I have never written to you before, but feel so aggrieved, I felt I needed to tell you what the drivers are saying on the shop floor as so far you have failed to listen. I also read your replies in Call Sign and sometimes find them patronising and never apologetic.
   How long do we have to wait please, Brian, before you finally put your hands up and admit that there is a much bigger problem than you are realising? How long will you keep your head buried in the sand? We are paying our subs monthly, so feel that we are keeping our half of the contract but feel that DaC are not honouring their half by letting us down on a regular basis. When will you finally offer the drivers of this circuit some compensation as a gesture of good will of say one month's subs for all of the inconvenience and jobs lost from the screen over the last six years? And finally, when will the situation be resolved once and for all?
Paul Taylor (M0l)
   Paul, I know you addressed this to Brian, but as your letter notes, he has constantly responded to the problem and other than agreeing signals aren’t good, there seems little point in getting the same response. I’m a driver as well, Paul, and on strike days there were times when I almost gave up trying to get an account ride. But I also work on normal days – which are obviously in the huge majority - and whilst often getting a delay in a signal response when it’s really busy, I cannot remember the last time I lost a job. You obviously have, so what do you think should be done that hasn’t been tried? Everything called AD? I’m pretty sure that would cure the problem. Is that what you’d like? I’m not sure that I’d be too mad about the suggestion even though in all probability, unless you were looking to go home, it should make no difference. As you say Paul, the BoM have tried everything (other than making everything AD) and it’s all very well complaining about signals, but do you have a positive suggestion? After all, logically, if we are doing so well, it must mean that most of our incoming trips are covered because clients wouldn’t hang around if signals constantly prevented them getting a service. New terminals aren’t too far away, but will they cure the problem? I’m not so sure because having used PCs for almost 15 years, one thing hasn’t changed – the more different facilities I use at the same time, the slower it all works.
   My advice as a driver to anyone interested is this; Take an extra second to check that the busy sign isn’t on when you accept a trip. When you do send something and the sending sign appears at the top right of the screen albeit for just a few seconds, don’t press anything else until you get a response or resend message – even if it seems you are waiting an eternity (or 20 seconds). It works for me. And I don’t think wrongly calling Brian Rice ‘patronising’ and ‘never apologetic’ helps, because the Board seem to spend half their time trying different ways of improving signals …Ed

War graves offer from Holland…
I read the article by Jon Robinson (Call Sign online, October) and it gave me goose pimples.
   I am a war child of Arnhem (11-years.old) and we lived near the bridge that Jon wrote of. My dad was the GP in the area. We had the battle all around us followed by a forced evacuation of 9 months and then years of Nazi occupation. I may say, we had it all - as so many did.
   Now I am a pensioner, it gives me some time and it all comes back in my memory; therefore I try each year to meet the veterans and assist in giving them a good time, as my thank you for still being alive after what happened to all of us. We lost everything - but no relatives. I like driving them in my London cab (FX4S) and they tell me that "now we feel at home..."
   So if any of your drivers or their relatives want to write to me, they are welcome and I will try and comfort them by (hopefully) finding information they are seeking after so many years? I have found graves and sent pictures to relatives in the past. The digital camera photos even makes some moving shots possible of the environment of the cemetery etc.
   The Commonwealth cemeteries are very well looked after. We attend each year several commemorations by the visiting veterans groups like the Old Comrades Group of Market Garden and the Anglo-Dutch Bond.  That last group we meet yearly at Venray.
   John and Margaret Sleep, being veterans (injured badly at the end) have come for the last 21 years to this area and now have many good Dutch friends; we still see them as our liberators!
   John fought from 1940 in Libya, North Africa as a paratrooper as well as Sicily, Italy, Normandy and into Holland until April 1945.
   He told me war is a dirty business, not only because of politicians who decide what happens (!if you meet a politician, shoot him,") but also as they themselves came after days of fighting at Venray, covered in dirt, tired, filthy without washing, unshaved, smelling, with lice on their head, having lost comrades and they felt really terrible when meeting the first freed citizens in the town.
   Any veteran visiting Arnhem and telling in a pub "I fought at Arnhem" will always get a free drink!
Hans Dooren
Holland
   If any DaC driver or their family would like to take up Hans’ offer of trying to search for war graves at Arnhem, let Call Sign know and we’ll pass the message on. Hans is an old friend of Call Sign running the Dutch section of the London Vintage Taxi Association …Ed

Gas matters…
I am sitting by my computer looking at the photo of the TX1 emblazoned with words London’s Greenest Taxi shown in Malcolm Paice’s recent article in TAXI newspaper.
   Whether they call this an advert or a statement, one expects it to be true. If it is not true, then it must be removed because it is a false statement. I have asked a number of people what they thought the statement meant and all took it that it was the least polluting taxi in London.
   Malcolm stated in his TAXI reply to me: "We have been quite open with the emissions data." If that is the case why won’t he produce the data? Then he says: "The taxi is still undergoing the 10,000-mile PCO test and they cannot verify the data at the moment." So how can he make any claim for the vehicle?
   In his TAXI article, he also stated: "LPG conversions have been available for some time, but at almost twice the cost of the Gastech solution." Does this mean the Gastech will cost under £6,000?
   It was difficult being a pioneer when the LTDA made fun of me for trying to make London a cleaner place instead of supporting me so that we could all have been driving gas cabs today!
   With regard to Malcolm’s statement: "With diesel currently averaging 99p per litre and LPG stable at 40p per litre…" that is the biggest untruth I have seen for a long time. The fact that ComCab can buy LPG at 40p per litre does not mean that the price is stable. Stable in The Little Oxford Dictionary is defined as: "Firmly fixed or established, not fluctuating or changing." If Malcolm has to refuel away from his own supply, he will not find it anywhere in London at 40p. The price at the BP station at Hatton Cross is 50p per litre, so a driver who uses that station and has purchased the Gastech engine (when it comes on the market), is faced with a fuel cost 25% higher than Malcolm’s calculations.
   I look forward to the day when the Mayor of London decrees that only gas taxis or hybrids can be built with a 15-year phase-out of diesel taxis. I guarantee the first organisation to protest will be the LTDA!
Stanley M. Roth MITG (Y53)

Emission systems…
I am not a radio circuit driver, but happily earn my keep from the various ranks, streets and stations of London. I also read your online version of Call Sign.
   In the September Mailshot page, Jon Francis (A39) asks about driver’s experiences of the emissions systems that are currently on the market. I had the Van Aaken system fitted in May this year to my 1998 TX1. Since the fitting, my fuel consumption has gone up by about 10%, the cab now runs hotter than it used to pre-fitting, but most of all it's sluggish and slow. Whilst it was never the fastest cab (a Friday cab) the journey home to Hertfordshire is now painfully slow.
   In short, I wouldn't recommend my emissions system choice. I don't think there is a perfect system, but rather it's a case of finding the best of a bad bunch.
Greig Smith (badge number 65476)
   Thanks Greig. If any DaC driver wants to add to the comments on the September article where 12 of our drivers commented on their emission systems, feel free. Please keep any negative comments polite and constructive! …Ed

Touring the new building
I can still remember the fuss and fanfare that took place when Dial-a-Cab moved home from
Shirland Road to the new prestigious building called Brunswick House. I’m not very good where time is concerned, so I cannot remember what year that was. What I can remember though is the BoM’s pride with what had been achieved by them and the membership.
   Consequently the members were invited on guided tours (over the weekend periods) to view the new state of the art building. Can we expect the BoM to extend the same or a similar invite to view Dial-a-Cab House so the membership can see the fruits of their labour? Needless to say I would remove my shoes and change into my slippers.
Steve Shaller (R75)
   That tour took place on October 19 and I’m sorry you had to miss it Steve (he had booked his return home and he lives in Spain). Incidentally Steve, because I like you so much and wouldn’t want to upset you by reminding how long ago our move from Shirland Road was, I won’t give you the date of 22 August 1984 – Oh sh**! … Ed

Ranting!
Just reading my letter in Call Sign and it looks like a bit of a rant / tirade. I didn’t mean it to be rude or derogatory. Would it be possible to have the email address of Mr Rice so I could clear a couple of points up rather than write another letter? And DaC is far better than ComCab… believe me!
Daniel Priddle (N96)
   It was emailed to you Daniel and I hope you thought the exercise worthwhile …Ed

Nuala wedding
Please pass on my best wishes to Nuala and Mark on their wedding (Call Sign September)    The photos were fantastic! Roy Manix (K98)

A Waste Of Time?
Yesterday, a Monday, I accepted ten account trips through my terminal. Almost all were bookings with a lead time (on rate 1) so my meter was turned off for almost 6 minutes each trip to avoid exceeding the run-in. Rate 3 means meter off for even longer. If my maths are right, that's an hour of my day with my meter off. Only one of those trips made more than £15. My reward? At least I could use code 3 having spun more than 5 trips. So after a scrub in EC2, which booked me off because EC5 is now disbanded, I press code 3, book into a zone and look in the bids. There are around 100 trips across the EC and E140 zones. So here we go, a long average day should now become an alright day. I press a trip bid and make my choice of EC2 as that's showing most trips. I press EC2 and watch as the terminal says sending. It shoots off into cyber space and returns no bid trip in EC2! Ok, another go! Press trip bid again, but it’s wait for x number of seconds. I press again and find EC2, which has now moved across the screen! This time it says resend. Press again, off into cyber space and it returns no bid trip. Repeat this with left arm outstretched and unsupported left index finger fully extended for 1 hour before getting booked off! Go home with a sulk and wonder why you bother to pay subs for all that?
   How doing this for an hour gives customers and members a service, I don't know? How pressing and sending trip bid 4 times a minute for an hour cuts down on airtime, I don't know.
   I know why… because sometimes it works. Perhaps another journey up to Roman Way to see if the signal is good to be told "its the signals..."
Jon Robinson (E88)
   Keith Cain replies: I don't quite know what type of answer there is to this type of letter. Is it a comparison between radio work and street work? Jon refers to the time he is driving to a pick up with the meter off, but all taxi drivers during their working day have the meter off between trips. I wonder what the time would add up to between each street hiring? Is it the cost of an account ride compared to street work, bearing in mind that the account work undertaking on this day was specifically chosen by him? Street work is all A/D until you stop and speak to the passenger. Assuming a driver is playing by the rules, there is no choice about where you go then.
   Jon remarks on the number of unmatched trips there were and makes the assumption that there must have been something going in his homeward direction. On the evening he writes of between the hour his code three was engaged, there was in fact only one trip going to one of his back-up zones. Unfortunately, that went to another driver who was also bidding. He missed it by seconds. Prior to the time he began bidding, there were four trips going his way. The signals on this day played very little part in how Jon’s day progressed.
   Is it fair to say that not all days are the same? Some will be good, some will be bad, some will be very good and some will be very bad. That's what happens when you are driving a cab. Weighing up the cost of being on a radio circuit and what it can offer, in my opinion can only be decided by the individual…

What is Dial-a-Cab?
Dear Alan,
   Regarding the Chairman’s reflections in the October Call Sign. £7million worth of extra work was put in the back of member’s taxis last financial year. Well done everyone, well done. But hold on, who did this work, the pixies? Fairies? Shouldn’t that be, £7million extra that the drivers made for DaC? The same drivers who pay a subscription for the privilege of doing this work and earning this money. It didn’t fall from the sky, it was earned. And despite the best efforts of TfL, PCO, SGS, the Mayor and not to mention our own signals. And for what? Does it make DaC an even juicier cherry to be picked in the future. What good is this to me and all the other drivers that have been made to sign away any share or cut of possible spoils should the Society be sold? Figures are up every year - well yours are, not mine. I’ve only got a limited number of hours in my day, yet all I’m ever told is my coverage must be better. I’m scruffy and I’m wrong to want to pair myself up with a ride going my way at the end of my shift. DaC don’t even give mushers a week’s subs break when we can’t even drive our own cab while its in overhaul. I feel the Board slap each other on the back when things go well, but any problems… let’s blame the drivers. That’s it, tell every one it’s the drivers fault. Oh sorry, we do get a Christmas present. Last year 2 curly collard poor quality polo shirts and free access to the tea machine at our office. You’re really spoiling us! Last night, when it wasn’t busy - more cabs than jobs while EC5 was disbanded - I booked into EC1. I was in Smithfield and given a non-rejectable pick-up in Tower Hill EC3. I’m glad this new system is working well then.
   Lastly and on a lighter note, Mr Togwell says he took eight books on holiday this year and finished five of them. For God’s sake, somebody tell him it wasn’t Harry Potter who died in the end. Oooonnnly joking!   
Nick Steventon (J65)
   Thanks for the letter Nick. Surely no one has suggested that it’s the BoM who have made DaC the huge success that it has become, any more than your suggestion that it’s really the drivers? Who gets the accounts? And when we get them, who covers the work they provide? And when we cover it, who collects the money from the clients? We all need each other and the expression ‘Dial-a-Cab’ refers to the BoM, the drivers, the DaC House staff and everyone who works for the Society.
   The question of a subs break was brought up in a past Call Sign Mailshot by Sid Nathan (K88), with the answer that if you want to pay more, then the suggestion would probably be feasible, but that our subs already were (and still are) already the cheapest of all the circuits.
   As for signing away your right to any profit if selling your share, you knew the situation when you joined ...Ed

Reply to Keith Cain
Hi Alan
   I’d like to reply to Keith Cain’s response to my letter in the October Call Sign. As usual it was a BoM fudged answer to a member’s question. My question was what’s to be done about coverage of work on E140 after the link is closed, EC5 and SW zones in the mornings. I’m sorry, but the answer that when jobs are dispatched As Directed, the signal is better doesn’t wash with me. My signal is worse than ever even during quiet times. Resend, resend, resend. But the point I was trying to make was like last night at around 10.30pm. 14 unmatched jobs on E140 and the screen crying out for help, but the problem wasn’t just the signals. It’s the fact that cabs can’t get to the Wharf. Same as in the mornings, most cabs are in the City / West End and nowhere near the SW11s, SW15s, SW18s etc, so why on earth has this not been addressed? And as for drivers being offered 80 trips in a morning and rejecting all 80, well I find that very hard to believe. Did anyone ask this driver why he did it?
   The point about the Society being ‘them and us’ was, I believe, proven in October’s issue with Keith Cain and Tom Whitbread’s pages. A photo of a building and one of him took up one third of Keith’s page - as if we forgot what he or DaC House looks like! As for Tom Whitbread describing a cabbie look-alike, someone dressed in jeans and a fleece (are these the same fleeces given to us for Xmas last year) and is he insinuating violence? Let me tell you, if I walked into the fitting bay and as he claimed an "edgy fitters actions speak louder than words" on me, I will defend my self and then press full charges on this person. Then again, isn’t it an ODRTS offence to threaten violence to another member? Should he now be on complaint for this? But I too was robbed on my last visit to the fitting bay; £130! Yes, that’s what I was charged as a member for the crime of buying a new cab and having it fitted with a terminal. Them and us? You decide…     Michael Beevor (N76)
   Hello Michael, I’m proud of Call Sign and hopefully most people enjoy reading it, so I’m sorry if you didn’t approve of my lay out of Keith Cain’s article last month. It’s been said 1000 times, but there are still apparently some who think that it’s just my name on page 3 but that the mag is really written in some dark corner by the BoM every month. Sorry to disappoint those who think that, but it’s all my own work together with those who regularly write for me or send me correspondence for Mailshot. It’s all appreciated and without it, there would be no mag, but it is all put together by me. Keith would not have known what his page looked like or what - if any - photos were to be used. Even Brian Rice, who is the only person to see a proof of the mag’s text on its way to the printer, doesn’t really know what the finished product will look like or which photos I may use. Had I not used the photo of DaC House (which I thought showed the new building well), what do you suggest I should have filled up the gap with? Keith said all he wanted to say and I suppose I could have put some press release in that you would have read in every other trade mag, but it would have been nothing of particular note otherwise it would have been in anyway.
   I’m sorry you took offence at Tom Whitbread’s article, but some could say that your response also falls short when it comes to accusations with the inference that Keith was lying in regard to 80 jobs being rejected. Ask that driver? Reread the article and he doesn’t use the word in its singular use – it was drivers! Why don’t you ask Keith Cain if you can go and see for yourself how many trips are rejected and get a general impression of how the call centre operates? Then write in again with your honest observations and suggestions as to whether you think it can be improved. I’ll be happy to publish those observations AND give you a nice photo to go with it! Whaddya say Michael? …Ed

National Express
Re the article on National Express undercutting the cost of taxis (October Call Sign), I will do any five hotels in Central London at £22 per person. I have been a taxi driver now for 35 years and still don’t understand why everybody else can advertise prices, but we can’t. Perhaps you or somebody else can tell me why?
Terry Jackson (E56)
   Terry, I don’t think there is any law that prohibits advertising fixed prices on a pre-booked trip, providing that with normal street work you do
not charge more that what’s shown on the meter. There is also cab sharing and if it was that busy, I don’t see why it

Six-monthly cab checks
With reference to the current controversy over the mid-year safety checks, I have found a way round the problem. I recently took delivery of a new TX4 and have just received a request to carry out the safety check when the plate will have been on the taxi only six months. I firmly believe in the if you don't ask - you don't get
policy, so I refused. I told SGS that I would not bring my taxi for inspection until six months before the plate expired and they agreed.
David S. Lessman (D19)
   Who’d have thought that the Chairman of the London Taxidriver’s Fund for Underprivileged Children could also be a sarcastic so and so! …Ed

Email contact et al
Can you tell me if it is possible to contact various departments of Dial-a-Cab by email? I cannot seem to find any information in the online Call Sign. I particularly wish to ask for my bond to be sent to me. Could you assist please?
   On a separate issue, I see in Call Sign that some drivers are offered 80 jobs and refuse them all. I do not understand why they would do this, but from experience there are more jobs offered to me that I cannot do than there are ones that I can. By this I mean I get offered an untold amount of TaxiCard jobs that are in the next zone. Often the same job is offered many, many times. These are far too long a distance to be able to run for. Also, I get many jobs that are just not a reasonable distance to reach. If I am in Fleet Street and get offered Trafalgar Square, it can take 20 minutes to get there - or longer. This happens in many areas of London with the heavy traffic. It is not good for the customer to have to wait and not good for the drivers financially, so I often refuse them. I would love to have jobs offered to me that are viable to accept ie nearer, that is what I am on a radio circuit for, extra work. This is not meant as a criticism, just how I see it.
   Also, I have never had a parking ticket while on a radio job in 22 years of being on different circuits. Am I covered by DaC while on a TaxiCard job in the event of a PCN? What is the position I would find myself in if I was helping a TaxiCard passenger to their flat/house at the END of their journey and I received a PCN for parking? Is the rule as it is at the beginning of a radio job and I would be covered by the company?
Tom Reynolds (O85)
   Keith Cain replies: Tom, you can contact the Driver Services department by email. You need to send your request to either Nualag@dialacab.co.uk or Valerieg@dialacab.co.uk.
   While I accept that there are many trips offered to drivers from back-up zones, there are as many as 75% of all trips offered in the primary zone that are rejected first time round. I would love to be able to offer every driver a job when they are virtually outside the door, but unless the account is serviced by a rank, then this is not always possible.
   When we inform customers that we cannot get them a cab, you are right to point out that it’s not good for them. But I have to ask the question, have you ever thought what the client’s reactions are in these circumstances? I have said it time after time; it’s far better to inform a client that a driver is on the way, than have to say we have no cab!
   Not having received a parking ticket in 22 years is a tremendous achievement and long may it continue. The Society will pick up the cost of a ticket so long as the time the ticket is issued corresponds with the trip details from start to finish

What is a new cab warrantee?
I took my cab for its first overhaul and it failed on the smoke test, so I took it to KPM because it was more convenient for me even though I actually bought it from M&O. The head mechanic came out to look at it and shocked me by saying that the problem wasn’t covered by the warrantee and would cost between £90 to £120 to fix as they would have to clean the injectors and flush the system through. He asked when it was last serviced and I told him that KPM had carried it out. He then told me that if I could get it done cheaper elsewhere then I should, as they didn’t know when they could do it and I had a retest booked for the next morning.
   So I went back to M&O who told me that the whole thing was nonsense and that of course it was covered by the warrantee and they did it that day. Apparently they cleaned out the EGR unit, which sometimes tends to get blocked.
   Can it be that KPM didn’t like it because they knew I had bought the cab at M&O, even though I had the service done by KPM? M&O offered no problems, even though they knew they hadn’t done the servicing. I always thought that warrantee work could be carried out by any LTI Main Dealer and had no bearing on where you bought the cab?
Terry Lampshire (T68)
   Trevor Hattersley (MIMI), LTI Customer & Technical Support Manager in Coventry replies: LTI Vehicles empower dealers to carry out warranty repairs on our behalf. All dealers have the same policy and procedures manual that explains the terms and conditions of the manufacturers warranty and how to claim, as well as a procedure to follow should they require technical assistance or they require assistance on any arbitration issues. The dealer carries out the diagnosis prior to dismantling and makes a recommendation to the customer as to whether the issue is in fact warrantable in their opinion. The customer then makes the decision whether to proceed or not. The important thing to note is that a diagnosis is made without dismantling. Should a dealer suggest to a customer that the repair is not warranty and then find during disassembly that their initial diagnosis was incorrect, it is in the dealer's best interests to carry out the repair and claim the costs from LTI Vehicles under the warranty agreement. I am unable to comment on this particular incident as there are no records of the vehicle being to KPM for a repair.

Incorrect info?
Over the last few months, our letter pages have been dominated by letters from drivers complaining about our signals, which are well below standard. This has turned into a slanging match between the Board and the Fleet where a Driver complains and a Board member passes the buck back accusing us of overusing the system by requesting too many queue positions etc. While I agree that the signals fall well short of an acceptable level, only too often have I accepted a job only to lose it and get either booked off or given a queue position (why is it sometimes you get booked off and sometimes you get put back in the position you were already in?)
   One of the main reasons we make too many requests on the system and control room is the way our work is dispatched. Details stating ‘name and extension number to reception,’ only you don’t get an extension so you then get told by the receptionist that they need an extension so you go back to the cab and request an AAR or as has happened to me, you type a data message requesting the extension number only to get a reply asking you to try extension number 45454. Why not give it in the first place? It would save a lot of time. I got a job from Pall Mall this week to contact Kate at reception, that’s all just Kate no surname, no extension. A few weeks back I took a 3-cab job picking up from Queenstown Road SW11. When I got my details, I had a name and the pick up locations were Sun Gate, Queenstown Road and also Battersea Park Station. How could we be in 3 places at once? All 3 cabs then had to waste time contacting the control room by phone, ARR and data message, then we get sent to the corner of Prince of Wales Drive and Albert Bridge Road where the passengers were waiting. When we arrived, we were all well over £4.20. How does that happen? When the job was booked, which one of the 3 pick up addresses did the customer ask for I wonder?
   I could go on, no doubt other members could come up with a few stories themselves, but the level of dispatching we are receiving through our terminals must improve. Incorrectly spelled names, wrong extension numbers or none at all, slow us down. When we can’t make contact, we then have to make unnecessary requests putting more strain on our already poor signals. Why then, when we are under pressure, can’t we be given the extension numbers so we can make our own contact? I recall last Christmas waiting for over 20 minutes for an ARR! Could we also ensure that all jobs have the minimum of a name and contact number before they are accepted?
Darren Hawley (A80)
   See Keith Cain’s article …Ed

New HQ
Seems we have a new headquarters and very impressive it is. As regarding open day, all this happens in 2 hours - 2000 + subscribers? I think in view of that, you should have booked the Grosvenor House and took us all out on the p*ss seeing as we paid for it. Can the BoM see their way to getting a couple of aerials on top so we can get a signal, it’s not that difficult. You say, Mr Rice, that we have the best technology in the world, then why can’t I accept a job around Finsbury Square? And don’t tell me your usual reply. We have heard it all, so don’t bother…
Patrick Noble (S55)
   This was an official launch and you would have enjoyed it had you come. Then you could have put your point in person and seen whether the answer was any different. Quite a few drivers did come along and those I spoke to were impressed, but they were hardly queuing around the block to get in! Not every driver has the desire for a tour around the building. They come out to work. When you realise that DaC are lucky to get 100 drivers to attend its AGM, I doubt that the Grosvenor Arms would be needed for your p*ss-up, let alone the Grosvenor House. And Patrick, is it really necessary to be so rude in your letter? …Ed

Plants in DaC?
Reading Brian Rice’s light-hearted suggestion in response to a letter of complaint from Daniel Priddle (N96) in the October Call Sign ie if he was a "plant," made me wonder if we have actually been infiltrated by a number of these from other radio circuits? Why else would some of these drivers join DaC, only then to refuse to do good work put towards them? Incidentally Daniel, on 4 September (the first day of the tube strike), I managed to do 9 account rides in my 9-hour shift, averaging £36. Yes, it was difficult in the early evening with all the resends, but if you were prepared to bear with it, you got by ok. But then I didn’t waste "four or five minutes staring transfixed at my stone age MDT and telegraph pole and asked myself what is the point?" I, no doubt like many other members, just got on with covering our work. You are at DaC and unlike ComCab, the work covered, not covered, lost, gained or binned is all our work.
   But back to the "plants!" The two drivers that refused to accept Natalie’s Chargecard at Eurostar (same issue) are definitely this month’s prize ones! Why join a radio circuit and pay subs if you only want cash on some days? Unfortunately, attitudes like that will jeopardise our livelihoods. Even more sad is the fact that they didn’t notice that the young lady had a small child and luggage with her. I hope those drivers managed to sleep well that night. Can anybody give me one good reason why those two drivers should not have been put on complaint?
   Anyone working into the early hours of Friday and Saturday nights will have noticed a lot of credit card work, which regrettably struggles to get covered. These jobs are mostly to the Gatwick Express or Eurostar, therefore it’s safe to assume that someone is going on holiday. They book the taxi knowing that the cab could turn up with up to £4.20 on the meter plus a £2 booking fee and a 12.5% surcharge at the end of the trip, yet they still phone us because they want a taxi and not a minicab. And then we don’t cover the work. Brilliant! We mess up the beginning of someone’s holiday and pee them off so much that they may never use us again. Remember that the next time you complain about minicabs taking all the work.
   I also find it sad and shameful to have read an article in Call Sign by Board member Allen Togwell where he has to explain how he is giving value for money to the Society. Once again this year we are enjoying an increase in work due to the efforts of the Board and staff at DaC. And I don’t mean just by accepting the figures given to us by Brian Rice in his October article, I am going by my own earnings this year compared to last. In fact I am struggling to take any cash due to the amount of account work on offer. But so long as I have another trip offered to me as soon as I clear my last one, I am happy not to have "roaders." The Board have been voted in by a majority of members and although that doesn’t mean we agree with everything they say or do, we could at least keep our disagreements civil and not personal. I think it is unbecoming of the Gentlemen’s Circuit for a BM to have to explain whether he is giving value for money or not…
Divyesh Ruparelia (V59)

November 2007 Call Sign Home Page

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