Dear Tom…
Sorry to read about the unfortunate incident with regard to your bedroom ceiling falling down whilst you were sleeping, but happy to know that neither you nor Ann were hurt. Speaking as a reasonably competent DIY man, I cannot stress enough just how important it is to make sure that a bedroom ceiling mirror is correctly fitted.
   As you will appreciate, I do not know the size of your mirror but needless to say glass is heavy. If these ceiling mirrors are not secured in the proper manner they will, with time, put stress on the plaster board, resulting in the ceiling collapsing. Using a bradel (which is a strong pointed tool) try to ascertain the location of your ceiling joists. These are positioned approximately 14" apart. You can use toggle bolts, (no, not Togwell bolts) but No.8 raw plugs and screws will suffice.
   Hope you’ll find this information helpful. Wishing you and Ann a Happy Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year.
Steve Shaller (R75)
   PS: Glass shards can seriously damage your health.
   I’m sure Tom appreciates the advice Steve. He did tell me once that the ceiling mirror is only there to make it easier to find his slippers in the morning after the dog had finished using them! …Ed

On-line enquiry from California…
Call Sign on-line magazine has been of great assistance to me in my ongoing project. My grandfather, Joe Lestock, was with ODRTS from 1963 until 1967. My parents together with my sister and myself moved to sunny California in 1995 and I now attend the UCLA where I am majoring in transport studies including the history of taxis.
   I have finished studying the US system (it didn’t take too long) but I wonder whether you could point me in the right direction for studying about London cabs, the most famous of all.
   Thank you for any assistance…
Aaron Lestock
Culver City, California
   Hi Aaron, one good site to get you started is the BBC’s history of the London ‘black cab’ trade HERE and good luck with your studies …Ed

And from Georgia…
We have just seen the Sept Call Sign online and had no idea you were going to do a full page article about our incident involving private hire, however, it was a nice surprise and written very well. I hope that it helps with your endeavours to make ‘real’ taxi service a mainstay in London. I can attest that it is very much needed. I can't believe that anyone would want to promote ‘private hires’ as it is obviously not a reputable service.
   I do hope the next time we travel to London, we will have the opportunity to meet in person.
Dan & Robin Tharpe
Columbus, Georgia, USA
   And not forgetting Australia!
Dear Alan,
   Recently I became of aware of the Power Pill. I have seen your name on testimonials for it and am wondering if you could please let me know if Dial-a-Cab are still using this product and if they still find it as useful as the original testimonials stated? I live in Australia and I am very interested in this product as a means to reduce my personal carbon emissions. I understand your time is precious and would truly appreciate your answer to the above questions.
Melissa Colliton
W.Australia
   Difficult question. DaC do not use it as a company, but many of our drivers did - until recently when the London agent who supplied them appears to have vanished. The supply has now totally dried up and we cannot get them any more. A brief report was in our last issue on page 17. I know it is much easier to get them in New Zealand where they apparently originated from, although I'm not sure about Oz. All I can tell you Melissa is that yes, if you can get them, they do work. They reduce smoke while giving more KPG. Any more help, just email ...Ed

But Somerset?
I saw your magazine online and wonder if you can help? My great great grandfather lived at Brunswick House, Offord Road, Islington. His name was William Henry Messer. Is the building still there? Any info would be much appreciated. I live on the Somerset and Dorset border and do not know Islington at all.
Many thanks…
Jo Gardn
Somerset
   Sorry Jo but I don’t think it’s there. If it is, then it is well hidden. However, your obvious inference is that it might be our old office. It’s not that far, but not the one you’re looking for …Ed

Salieri
Does the Salieri still give Dial-a-Cab drivers a 25% discount when eating there?
Alan Sullivan (F20)
   They certainly do, Alan. They also give excellent food and magnificently friendly service. One point; as you know, nothing is for nothing in this world – even inhaling cleaner air costs many DaC drivers £2000 each! So, if you go there and enjoy the experience, please tell your passengers …Ed

Bus lanes
Interesting to read the article about the Sevenoaks taxi using the M4 bus lane (Dec Call Sign). I live in Sevenoaks and even though it is outside the Met area, I have parked my cab on the main cab rank in the High Street for many years whilst doing some shopping. I once checked with a Traffic warden who said that to him taxis mean taxis so he didn't have a problem with them parking there. So here's one DaC driver who's been taking full advantage of the rules and doesn't mind a Sevenoaks taxi using the bus lane!
Richard Potter (T51)
   Most of the drivers that have contacted me since the article came out were as shocked as I was to discover that London bus and taxi lanes could be used by any taxi driver from England and Wales. However, only one pointed out the little PH disk the "taxi" had on the back windscreen …Ed

Spent on parking tickets?
I cannot believe how much we are spending on parking tickets and it’s about time we passed these back to the account holder. All tickets issued while doing a Westminster account ride should be billed back to Westminster. Maybe this would help them think twice before they issue one? As for other accounts and bookings, if a ticket is issued before booked time, it’s down to us, but after booked time it should be passed onto the account holder. What you do
with ASAP jobs, I have no idea! Perhaps a Board member could come up with something?
Bernie Silver (G08)
   Brian Rice replies: Not a bad idea Bernie, however, what would happen if the account holder - Westminster or whoever - refused to pay? There is not a lot we could do

Rudeness in Call Sign
Dear Alan,
   I have been reading your editorial with great interest. It is the only reading material I have to hand at present - albeit I could have read Abstracts of Law relating to cab drivers within the Metropolitan Police District. It was a close call…
   I was flicking through the pages of Call Sign when to my surprise I spotted my name in print. I thought that this was unusual as I usually only read between the lines. I was flabbergasted; nay embarrassed to say the least, that you should
refer to me as a "master of friendly sarcasm." What a wonderful compliment. After all these years on the circuit, recognition at last. I was going to apply for a Master’s Degree from The University of South Carolina, available on line for the meagre sum of $50, but now that you have bestowed upon me this title I see very little point in doing so. Can I use this title after my name eg Steve Shaller MOFS (not to be confused with the insect closely related to the butterfly)? In doing so would I offend or undermine those on the circuit who have been awarded the MBE?
   It has been said that "sarcasm is the lowest form of wit," well that doesn’t surprise me at all, Alan. Many years ago a guy told me that I was full of it. Well I think that was what he said?
   On a more serious note, I have to agree with you regarding the rude and offensive letters and your right not to publish them. The basic rule is never to abuse or insult on a personal level and if you wish to criticise then it has to be constructive. Although my vocabulary is limited, I am fortunate that I can string a few sentences together - but not everyone can. Not being able to express themselves properly may (in some cases) be the reason why some writers or speakers are rude.
   Thanks for giving me something to write about, the ink in my printer was starting to dry up!
Steve Shaller (Red 75) MOFS
   How nice to know that you only had Call Sign in your possession! I’ve been editing this magazine for almost 11 years now and if I am still nowhere near professional standard, I have learned the difference between someone who isn’t as literate as they would like and someone who is rude. I go through every letter as carefully as I can – regardless of whether the comment is pro or anti anything – and make sure that the letter looks as the writer would want. Not everyone spells as well as you do, Steve, but hopefully no one reading that particular letter would ever know. Sure, when someone criticises me but can’t spell it, the temptation may be there, but it will never happen because I won’t allow it to. All I ask in return is that criticism is not mixed with outright rudeness.
   As for someone telling you that you were ‘full of it’, I thought the late Jack Taylor once shouted across the road to me as he was going into Euston and I was exiting: "Hello you oil tanker!" It took me some time to realise what he actually said! And by the way Steve, in addition to no outright rudeness, my other rule is only one letter per issue. Luckily for you I am currently drunk and can’t see your first one! …Ed

Crossword cock-up!
Just to let you know that I have completed the crossword (Dec Call Sign). I did it for the challenge and not for the reward. Keep up the good work…
Stelios Stylianides (C27)
   This letter from Stelios was one of many drivers who successfully completed the Christmas Crossword, but because some of the black boxes were put in the wrong place, I decided that it would be unfair to let the competition run – even though I had advertised it on the terminals and ended up with a large portion of egg on my face! Although the crossword wasn’t mine, anything that goes wrong in Call Sign is my responsibility. As you can read elsewhere, I decided to donate the £100 to a trade charity …Ed

TX4 complaint
So the TX4 is deemed a success as the Editor reports. If having a TX2 for 5 years with minimal problems, then going to a new TX4 that is now 12 weeks old and which has spent more time in M&O than one of their own staff is called success, then I’d hate to see what failure is! The rear page ad in the December Call Sign read: The TX4 - a Christmas cracker! Hmmmm, the Trade Description Act comes to mind here. It should surely have read: A right Christmas crapper! I could fill an issue of Call Sign with the problems on my TX4, the best advert I can give for the TX4 is for anyone thinking of buying one, go and first sit down in one of the dealership waiting rooms. It’s a little shop of horrors, believe me. 
   Is it also true that Chrysler VM engine has been having problems, that the Italian army sent back their VMs and Islington council cancelled their contract with VM? Also that a chief fitter at M&O told me that SGS are not retesting 07 & 57 plate TX4s on emissions if they fail first time. My cab has been back 6 times in 12 weeks, each time a new fault appears on top of the last one. All they keep saying is that they reset the on-board computer, drive it for 3 days and see how it goes. Every one I speak to with a TX4 (well 9 out of 10 of them) are having major problems, but it seems because the trade and papers ‘bigged’ up the TX4 18 months ago, to slate it now would see them eating humble pie or could these papers not survive without the vast advertising revenue paid to them from LTI.
   Amazing this: Type TX4, then hold down the shift key and do it again and you then get TX$. I think the $ says it all. Thank God there wasn’t a TX3 or would have been TX£…!
Michael Beevor (N76)
   Sorry to hear about your problems, Michael. Let me clear up one misapprehension that some seem to have. Yours isn’t the first letter of complaint about a cab that I have published and neither do I expect it will be the last, but not once have LTI made the remotest threat to cancel any advertising. On the contrary, they often go out of their way to give me any information when I question them about any aspect of a taxi. On this occasion though, I thought it more prudent to speak to T&J’s Rescue. They also advertise every in every issue, but they go out onto the roads to repair taxis only, so get the stories first hand.
   According to them, most TX4 owners seem reasonably happy with the cab and the main problem seems to be in connection with the turbo pipes failing. A new tougher one is being brought out soon, if not already. They have also heard rumours about TX4s overheating, but hadn’t had any call-outs for that problem. They did say, though, that if there were a problem, drivers would probably phone the RAC (included in the price of

Taxi and PH licenses
I was shocked to see I had made the cover of the December Call Sign in addition to the actual article! In regards to the article (Bus / Taxi lane sensation) there was no mention that this car was also a licensed minicab. I was wondering if this car is playing the system, whereby getting the vehicle a private hire licence in London avoids the congestion charge, likewise a Hackney in Sevenoaks would get access to bus lanes. I assume that when this vehicle went for either plate, he left the other off the car because surely you can’t be licensed for 2 areas? It would be interesting to see what area this car actually covers
Barry Spear (Y16)
   Call Sign asked Luke Howard, Senior Strategy & Integration Manager at the PCO and the person who assisted with the article for his view. Incidentally, we mistakenly referred to him as Luke Richard last month, so apologies to Luke on that: He told us:
   Your reader is correct, it should not be licensed in two areas. We're not sure whether Sevenoaks' Hackney Carriage regulations prohibit this, but the London PHV ones certainly do. Our compliance teams have spotted other vehicle keepers removing the clip-on licence plates in order to get their outside-London hackney carriage or PHV licensed as a London PHV and these have been dealt with - we will now follow up this vehicle in the same way.
   A minor correction to the last paragraph of the article - the coach licence is not equivalent to a Hackney Carriage one, it is a passenger-carrying vehicle so equivalent to a bus. A coach (I think 9 or more plus driver, not 8 or more as you said) can use a bus lane as long as the sign is restricted to 'local buses' or some such - so coaches can use bus lanes that taxis cannot.  

Parking appeals…
The achievements of the DaC Board and circuit have been commendable. I would not like you to take the following criticisms out of context, but the main point is this. I feel I have had a very poor response from Michael Son in dealing with what is now becoming an all too familiar problem with parking tickets. I did four account rides for which I received, despite being as careful as I could, four PCNs. Potentially £480 fines. Over the ensuing four weeks I wrote up to eight letters, viewed the video evidence at Victoria Street and appealed directly to the Head of Parking (Westminster), Kevin Gould. The outcome was that the fines were cancelled. A damn good saving to DaC ultimately. I put to Michael Son a suggestion that, bearing in mind the saving that was made, a minor reimbursement could be offered to compensate me for all my time and expense. This resulted in a terse phone call from him dismissing my suggestions. His response was lazy and uninspiring, bearing in mind I had taken the trouble to write to him. There seemed little thought as to how to confront this problem, which has bedevilled, in particular, taxi drivers on booked account rides. That would never have happened with Allen Togwell. One always received a carefully thought out written reply. I believe my request was an equitable one.
   There has been much correspondence of late regarding the mightily impressive DaC achievements, in particular the new premises. The approach of Michael Son seems to be emblematic of the DaC Board. Ostensibly, you have created an aura of a prosperous, forward thinking company that looks after its stakeholders; the reality does not fully bear this out.
   The fact is the situation regarding these PCNs should have been resolved long ago. It needed a delegation of the four 'Chairmen' of DaC, XETA ComCab and Mountview meeting with Kevin Gould, Head of Parking Westminster, and Ken Livingstone, or a representative, to reach a solution once and for all. This has got to stop It is worth remembering these things at the AGM and Board of Management elections. There are a prodigious number of cameras in the Soho area to be wary of. I find I am now rejecting more W1SE jobs than I am accepting, partially negating the point of being on a radio circuit. To counter the pernicious activities of the cctv camera, when I do an account ride in the WISE area near a known camera point, I pop my bonnet up or park directly underneath the camera, their lens cannot seem to focus on the plate this way. Obscuring the number plate is not an option, though dropping the boot down prior to pick up might be considered. Quite frankly though, we should not be having to resort to such machiavellian tactics. To date I have not received any more PCNs. I will continue to be vigilant as regards parking on radio jobs, but at the first sign of a PCN coming my way, I am going to slap it on Nuala Glavin’s desk like everyone else does and I will only take a principled stand and appeal if it is not on DaC business.
   On another unrelated matter, I did write in excess of five weeks ago to the DaC Sales Dept. I was curious to understand how Mountview won the contract at the House of Commons for meter rides, when we lost it doing fixed price rides?
R.Lyle (W39)
   I can’t speak for Mike Son (he was in Sweden visiting family so I couldn’t ask him) but I sincerely hope that you will revise your decision to no longer battle against those who seem to be using us to balance their budgets! As you will see from Keith Cain’s article in this issue, he and Mike Son had earlier visited Westminster City Council Parking Services and hope to have further meetings soon …Ed

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