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It was February 2005 when TV viewers saw a
program called The Dragons’ Den in which a team of judges
considered the viability of new business schemes and told
Cabtivate MD Mark Greenhalgh that his new business of
placing TV screens in the back of taxis would never work. Just 16 months later, and certainly not their fault, the London PCO passed the system that was to put many drivers into debt. One of them was Dial-a-Cab driver Mark Lane (N97)… Unlike KPM’s Cabvision, which charges the driver nothing and pays them via direct debit every three months, Cabtivate signed up drivers to an agreement where they paid a huge £3500 at £88.50+VAT each month (around £104) for four years, with the apparent assurance that they would receive back around £190 per month after advertisers paid. When Cabtivate folded, it left the drivers – including Mark - with no programmes, but have to still having to pay off the 4-year debt. Mark Lane told Call Sign at the time: "It sounds silly now when you compare it to Cabvision, but it seemed like a good investment at the time – getting back almost twice what you paid each month. But looking at the sums involved, it wasn’t really that much more than what Cabvision pays its drivers without the risk. We should also have questioned why an LCD screen cost £3500!" most of the cab drivers, Haydock Finance, were 100% reputableand no doubt wouldn’t |
Cabtivate liquidation: Call Sign gets drivers debts slashed! |
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involved. They told Call Sign at
the time that the chances of Cabtivate having any money left
after liquidation was almost nil – and that turned out to be
correct with Cabtivate going under owing a small fortune. |
Call Sign decided as a one-off, to
send two DaC drivers, Mark Lane and Jimmy Parlour
(G41)who had both signed up with Cabtivate at the same time,
to see that same solicitor. He was a Partner at Glenisters, the
legal firm whose ads are seen in this magazine. Mark told us: "He was brilliant. We saw him twice and with the odds totally against us, he managed to get out debts reduced by over two-thirds! Whilst I hate the idea of even paying £1100, that is much better than £3500! I would also like to thank Call Sign who took honour to a new level when taking this on when no one could blame them for publishing a press release." As for this magazine, Editor Alan Fisher told us: "It wasn’t our fault, but I felt so much sympathy for Mark and Jimmy who had been saddled with a huge debt and got absolutely nothing out of it, that I decided to use some of our advertising revenue. Amazingly, the Partner at Glenisters, whose name I won’t mention in case he suddenly becomes inundated with requests for help, made just a nominal charge that under normal circumstances would not have even covered an hour!" Alan ended by saying: "I think this case shows that anything which looks too good to be true, probably is! And it most definitely was a one-off!" Dennis Laydon |
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