Slightly premature!

We are still a week away from Christmas and yet here I am sitting at home writing yet another report for the Editor, as he informs me everything has to be in early due to the printers closing for an ultra-long period over the Christmas holidays! 
   I had no sooner finished my report for the December issue, then this one is due whilst in the meantime I have also had to write a 2000 word piece for our End of Year Report.  As a consequence, I am not entirely sure what I have written or where it went, so life is currently very confusing! 
   However, what I can remember is that in the End of Year Report I informed members that the sale of Brunswick House was imminent, well the situation has now moved on from there and I was informed late on the afternoon of Friday 14^th December that the sale had been concluded and the £2.75million would be in our account on Monday 17^th. And to save anyone worrying needlessly, any interest that had accrued on the £2.75m over that weekend will be payable in its entirety to Dial-a-Cab’s account. 
   I must say I was extremely pleased with the price we received for Brunswick House and I believe it was an excellent piece of business for the Society. To receive £2.75m for a building that is just in excess of 7,000 square feet and to replace it with a building in excess of 15,000 square feet together with a large car park for £3.7m is fantastic business and something I am extremely pleased about. It will prove to be a very valuable asset for the Society in the future.  

Coverage and the Christmas incentive
As I wrote earlier, there is still just over a week to go before

Christmas and the coverage does not seem too bad in comparison to last year - although things could change in the next week.  However, I don’t think this will be the case as things should slowly start to quieten off. I believe the improvement in coverage is due to the incentive and in part to a slight ‘drop off’ in street work. 
   Many members have told me how quiet the radio has been – this is a fact that is totally untrue and not borne out by our figures, which are holding up very well against last years. As I explained earlier, the difference is that members are accepting the work rather than rejecting, as they know each trip will attract an extra £5.
   Quietening off? Thursday 6 December was the busiest day we have ever experienced in over 54 years of trading. In fact, at the end of November we invoiced our clients to the tune of £5.1million and just like 6 December, this too was a remarkable achievement and something we should take great pride and pleasure from. 

Downturn or recession?
Much has been written regarding a downturn in 2008 and I am totally convinced that we can talk ourselves into a downturn by making everyone feel nervous and reluctant to spend any money, which just exacerbates the situation. All I can do is to inform you what I perceive to be the situation. There certainly has not been a downturn in our figures and they are comparable to last years,

in fact slightly better.
   Is this going to continue? I really don’t know, however speaking to our account clients in the financial sector they do seem to feel there will be a blip, although not a prolonged or deep one as the UK economy is in pretty good shape and some of the larger financial institutions in the city have hardly been affected by the problems in the inter-banking system and events in the American mortgage market. 
   However, what I am aware of is that clients are already talking to me about reducing costs next year. They will all be examining the economy extremely closely and the more money they can save, the better and one of the first places they will look will be at their ground transportation.
   What they all require is the same service they receive now, but at a cheaper cost and the first thing they will endeavour to do is to transfer more taxi work into cars as they are perceived to be cheaper, while giving the same service. We all know that is totally untrue, but what the truth is doesn’t matter, it’s what people believe that is important. Consequently, we will all have to try a little harder in 2008 to maintain our market share and remain the premier radio circuit in London.
   In the meantime, you should all soon be receiving my End of Year Report in the accounts that you receive with your AGM bundle and which should arrive sometime in January. I urge you all to read my report as it is extremely controversial and depending on the outcome, will definitely affect the whole future of the Society.
   Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a healthy 2008.

Brian Rice
Chairman
Dial-a-Cab