Never in the history of Dial-a-Cab’s in-house magazine have so many written in about the mag itself – or should we say the lack of it! At one point there were over 200 emails waiting on Editor Al’s PC. Not to mention the fact that his phone was burning with subscribers all asking the same question: Where is Call Sign!

   The problem was that as far as Alan knew, they had all been posted – over 2000 of them, just as they are every month.
   Then a further batch of emails and phone calls that had a slightly different tone, which enabled more of an understanding about what had happened. These drivers were in two camps. Some said they had the mag put through their door along with the usual mail, but that it had a yellow sticker placed on the envelope, claiming that the postage had been underpaid by 24pence. However, there was nothing that said anything about actually paying it.
   Drivers in the second camp weren’t quite so lucky. They had a card pushed through along with their daily post informing them that they had something waiting for them at the sorting office that had been underpaid by 24p in stamps and that there was an extra £1 to pay for administrating the envelope!
   Most drivers seem to have gone and picked it up, which Call Sign took as a huge compliment. A few didn’t and one phoned us from the sorting office asking for the £1.24 from the mag’s editor before he

would get it! He later admitted he’d been joking and paid the £1.24.
   But why was it underpaid? That goes back to the printers who were in the middle of a name change from John Brown to PJB. The problem was that they couldn’t use their previous franking machine and the new one was not yet available. So the post office had to issue stamps. The first 800 or so had no problem, because they all had ordinary stamps attached. For the following 1300, the printers were given special stickers that they were told would cover the postage – second class large. They paid up and left. Unfortunately the Post Office had cocked-up and given the incorrect information!
   When drivers began phoning, emailing and going to Driver Reception to see what had happened, we sort of knew something had gone wrong!
   They may have cocked-up, but at least the Post Office did the decent thing and held their hands up. As a result, Call Sign has been given a donation of £500 to give to a charity and decided to present it towards The London Taxidrivers Fund for Underprivileged Children’s Xmas party at the Grosvenor House in January. The donation will not be addressed as coming from Call Sign but from The Drivers of Dial-a-Cab.
   The Fund’s Chairman, David Lessman (D19), told us that the donation was very much appreciated and asked us to thank all those drivers that had paid the £1.24 and not claimed it back, leaving them the complete £500.

Ron Yarbrough