The last few months have been busy for all
of us. Michael Son and I have attended meetings with Eurostar at
St Pancras Station regarding the rank and pick-up points for
account clients.
Westminster City Council Parking Services was another good meeting
where we discussed the number of parking fines issued to our
drivers.
Both Allan Evans and myself met with Canary Wharf Management
Services regarding the parking problems within the Canary Wharf
area and in addition to these, we have had the day-to-day
business to deal with…St Pancras
International
The lay out of the new ranking facility at St Pancras
International does leave a lot to be desired. While all parties
accept the rank layout is causing problems, we have been asked
by St Pancras Station to try and go with it until the building
works above the rank are completed. Once completed, it will give
a much larger area to pick up passengers and a longer distance
for vehicles to pass and leave the rank. One of our problems was
the collection of account clients. We have started to advise
clients that our taxis will wait for them at the northern set
down points to the station in Pancras Road. The ideal place is
outside the M&S food hall and those clients that have used this
have found it easy to meet the cab. However, until recognised by
Camden Council, it could change at any time. We have suggested
to station management that they approach Camden to put signage
up here that clearly states Radio Taxi Pick-Up Point. We
did explain it would be no different to the operation at the
airport and they were responsive and will meet with the council
in the New Year. We have agreed that in the event of a Eurostar
shout - that is the late train service - all cabs will go to the
coach park area and wait for instructions from the DaC marshal.
The coach parking bays are positioned under the station and the
entrance is at the front end of the northern set-down point.
The actual number set points for the station is
very large. Hopefully and to avoid confusion, the area
immediately on the left having entered Pancras Road from Euston
Road opposite Kings Cross, is classed as the Eurostar set-down
point. Continuing along Pancras Road and through the traffic
lights is the set down point for St Pancras Midland Main Line.
Westminster City Council
We had a good initial meeting with the parking services
department at Westminster City Council. The meeting will
hopefully be the first of many for us to be able to work towards
reducing the number of parking fines issued. It was pleasing to
note that the Council are aware of our problems and prepared to
look at solutions to improve the situation. We were |
asked by them to be mindful of the fact that the majority of tickets that
have been issued to drivers have been to those who have parked
on double yellow lines. They said the law is very clear about
this and there are no exceptions to allow a driver to park on a
double yellow line at any time. It was requested that we ask all
drivers where possible to park sensibly and if it is at all
possible, please find an empty parking bay to use, even if it
means we have to get the client to walk a little way. The
Council have meetings with other trade organisations scheduled
to take place before Christmas and have agreed a second meeting
with us to take place in the New Year. I hope we can get
something out of this, not only for the driver on radio but the
trade as a whole. If we can work with Westminster, then I see no
reason why other Boroughs should not work with us as well.
Canary Wharf Management
Allan and I had a good meeting with Canary Wharf Management and
their Security over the parking issues and the numbers of
occasions cabs are being stopped and searched before entering
the island.
We pointed out that the number of Private Hire vehicles allowed to
park in what should be restricted areas for various length of
time, was preventing Taxis from waiting outside buildings for
their passengers. They were forcing cabs to double park and
causing confrontational problems when security staff, with
obvious justification, were instructing drivers they could not
do it. We explained that the frustrating part of all this was
that many of the cars waiting were doing so without having being
allocated trips. Their response was good and they said that
another PH company had also approached them on the same subject.
We also spoke of the perception drivers were having that more taxis
were being stopped and checked than cars. Drivers had informed
us that because of the number of incidences that have occurred
between drivers and security staff, they felt there was
resentment of the taxi driver and deliberate disruption to their
working day was in place. We were assured that their instruction
to staff is to randomly stop all vehicles. They again promised
to look into this, but asked drivers to understand that vehicles
are stopped due to the high level security risk they have to
deal with. They were also mindful that if drivers had the
perception that to enter the area |
would
cause them hassle, then they know those drivers would not return
- a situation they would not wish to happen. Hopefully, we will
see some improvement and will be monitoring that situation very
closely.
Booking-in on the ‘island’
While on the subject of the ‘island’ and as a reminder, the
booking-in procedures on E140 is that you must be inside the
security cordon unless instructed otherwise by the Call Centre.
The only reason controller’s change this to being within 15 minutes
is to assist with coverage when it’s busy. But unfortunately,
when doing this, still some drivers see it as an opportunity to
try and gain an advantage by booking-in incorrectly. When it’s
busy, the controllers are working flat out to deal with the
driver’s line and helping telephonists with client problems, the
last thing they need is to have to monitor the system for these
drivers. However, they do it and Allan Evans has spoken to many
of them. Controllers do not want to have to issue complaints
against anyone, but if they are forced to, then their
instructions are to take no prisoners. In the coming months when
it gets a little quieter, they will have a lot more time to
concentrate on monitoring, so please follow the procedures.
Excellent coverage!
By the time this issue of Call Sign has been
received, we would have completed another very busy Christmas
period. From the call centre point of view, we have seen
first-hand the effort made by drivers to cover work and it has
been absolutely brilliant! We’re reasonably sure that the
incentive had something to do with it, but it has also proved
that when trips are accepted quickly, a lot of pressure is taken
off the call centre as a whole. Controllers are under far less
stress, which allows them to deal with drivers and clients more
efficiently.
Telephonists are under a lot less pressure with not having to deal
with irate clients.
The number of calls waiting to be answered drops dramatically
because clients get through the first time of trying and far
less calls are received enquiring where the taxi is! Already
many clients have complimented us on what a big improvement
we’ve made this year on service. Therefore, we have proved
conclusively that when drivers cover the work it has a
tremendous impact on every facet of our service and the change
in people’s attitudes from clients, drivers and staff is so
noticeable.
I never had the opportunity to offer you all seasonal
greetings before Christmas, but I would like to now wish all of
you and your families a very happy and prosperous New Year…
Keith Cain
Call Centre Manager
Driver Operations Manager |
