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Call Sign’s
lost war…
Yep, I admit it. This magazine has lost
one of the battles we sincerely believed
in and the war along with it. No one –
not Ladbrokes, not William Hill and most
definitely not the Kahnawake Mohawk Red
Indian Territory where online casinos
provide far more business nowadays than
selling beads – is going to advertise
their gambling wares in Call Sign
during my tenure as Editor.
Sadly (at least for me), my little stand
has proved to have the impact of a
feather duster attempting to stop a tank
at the recent arms show in Docklands,
because I may soon be the only one left
who doesn’t accept them.
The UK introduced new laws on 1 September – The 2005 Gambling
Act - that will change the country's
gaming industry and regulate everything
from online gambling websites to TV ads.
The new act allows gambling operators to advertise on radio and
television and has pulled the plug on
membership requirement for casinos.
Among the many casinos soon to be
available will be those at places such
as Piccadilly’s Hard Rock Café and
Walthamstow dog track.
Mind you, if the 15 minutes between each race at Walthamstow until
the casino opens is too unbearably long,
you can always go to Wolverhampton where
racecourse operator Arena Leisure will
pip Walthamstow to become Britain's
first 'racino' – a combined racecourse
and casino, so that in between races you
can go and lose even more.
The gaming industry claims to have put into place a voluntarily
agreement not to show gambling ads
before the 9pm watershed except during
sporting events… oh, but I almost
forgot, they have kindly made an
exception and allowed one early ad that
gives the website address for an online
company offering advice for those who
have problems gambling – not how to give
up, more on how to win!
The British government has banned ads from online gambling websites
- but only those based outside the
European Economic Area (EEA). That puts
a block on around 1,000 online gaming
sites from advertising in the UK –
including on taxis – and has caused
several large companies such as William
Hill to move operations from their
current Dutch Antilles site in the
Caribbean to Gibraltar and Malta. The
Kahnawake Mohawk Red Indians have made
no such announcement, but having been to
several Red Indian reservations and
forgetting the obvious "beads" joke,
they aren’t mugs and I’d bet (whoops!)
that they’ll be back within months
operating from somewhere that no one has
ever heard of. It seems that the large
online gambling companies are happy to
take the UK’s money, providing they
don’t have to offer employment in
return.
Culture Secretary, James Purnell - who seems to have taken over
from Tessa Jowell without anyone
actually noticing - |
said at the announcement of the act: "I
make no apology for banning adverts for
websites from places that don't meet our
strict standards." Well boil my bunions
in a white sauce and make whoopee! He
failed to mention that those online
casinos based outside the EEA can
still apply to join the HMG’s list of
places exempted from the ad ban if they
can pass a "strict" litmus test of their
gambling regulatory standards. Without
knowing what this "litmus’ test
involves, we’ll take a guess that it
won’t pose too many problems.
The antiquated "membership" laws to UK casinos have long been out
of date and if that’s what turns you on,
or if the idea of dog racing with poker
in between races is your bag and you are
an adult, then I have no real problem
with it. Neither will it do the taxi
business any harm and probably help
bring more tourists in. My beef is
really with online gambling and kids
getting access.
Since I first made the comment several years ago at the onset of
this TV online phenomenon and expressed
concern that kids could get access to
parent’s credit card numbers without
ever needing the card itself and lose
fortunes, the mass media has joined in
and many cases of that nature have now
been exposed. Radio 5Live especially has
run several exposés on it.
So no doubt the cab trade will now be inundated with ads on how you
can now legally lose everything, while
still remaining in the comfort of your
favourite armchair. If other taxi trade
publications want to accept ads for
online gambling, that is up to them. I
do not care how much they offer, they
will not find a space in Call Sign
unless someone can prove to me that no
children read this mag – and I’m pleased
to know from many drivers and in letters
from wives and partners, that many
families enjoy reading different bits.
Nothing personal to William Hill, Ladbrokes and Rank (Hard Rock
Café casino), but even though I admit
losing the battle and the war, hopefully
I have kept my integrity…
Rubbish?
I rarely write about my
home borough of Redbridge and don’t
believe I have since they appallingly
took away TaxiCard rides from ComCab and
gave them to car companies, who had no
chances of providing anything remotely
akin to a decent service for the
disabled.
That decision was total rubbish. Speaking of which…
I like many others no doubt recently received a letter informing |
us that the recycling
service – which most people seem to use
– was increasing from fortnightly
deliveries to weekly. Surely a
noble cause, until you realise that
Redbridge Council must have been so
pleased with their decision that they
sent two identical copies of their
reduce, reuse and recycle 10 page
booklet, together with a separate
leaflet and accompanying letter all
published on double-thick glossy paper
and heavyweight envelope, to many
Redbridge households. At that rate we’ll
need daily collections!
Oh and by the way Redbridge Council, all the residents know that
the weekly collection of recycled
rubbish is a prelude to your next tune;
because recycling has been so
successful, the actual rubbish
collections will now come every two
weeks instead of weekly. No doubt we’ll
get used to the smell that is bound to
accompany the extended stay of the
rubbish sacks, but I just wanted to tell
the Borough of Redbridge that we may be
stupid to you, but even we know what you
are up to – and you know that we know
and we know that you know that we know…
York
Road, Waterloo…
I recently had an email
from a driver who told me about a friend
of his - another DaC driver - who
received a PCN from TfL for parking in
York Road, Waterloo, a 24 hour red
route. The fine was £120, or £60 if paid
within 14 days. The driver’s only
problem was that it was his dayman who
parked there!
Naturally the dayman paid up, but she had been stopping at the same
coffee house in York Road for the past
12 years to pick up a coffee and never
received a ticket before. So it looks as
though there must be a new camera in
York Road, so beware – however good the
coffee is there!
Where are
you all!
I do dislike this time
of year. Everyone seems to have been on
holiday and not given a monkey’s
whatever about whether I have any
stories from drivers or not! Selfish I
call that! Let’s hope you all had a
great holiday and have come back loaded
down with stories for Call Sign!
Then I’ll forgive you all…!
Greetings
Can I wish all
Call Sign’s Jewish readers a
belated Happy New Year and hope you had
a successful fast for Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur. For our Muslim
drivers and staff, I wish you a
successful Ramadan - which this
year runs from 13 September to 11
October – and a happy Eid ul-Fitr,
the celebration at the end of the holy
month.
As for me, I wish myself a very happy birthday on 9 October!
Christians will have to wait for the
December issue…
Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com |
