Call Sign April 2009 - Page 23 - Mike Son’s bits and pieces…

It has been some weeks since my last article, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank the membership for supporting me for another 2 years. Towards the end of the previous period, there has been a tremendous amount of activity within Dial-a-Cab. As you know, in an effort to cut costs a small number of redundancies had to be implemented. This was most certainly an extremely difficult decision for us to take, let alone execute. As well as the number of staff who were in line for redundancies, those that were involved in carrying out the procedures were undoubtedly also distressed due to the fact that some members of the team had not only been with Dial-a-Cab for many years, but were also good friends with other staff and Board members socially. Making multiple redundancies - whether it is senior managers or other members of staff - is I believe something previous BoM’s have never had to negotiate. Together with a Human Resource personnel, a Board Member and the	Mike Son’s bits and pieces…
	Chairman and following all guidelines available, the process was carried out with humility and dignity. They should all be commended in the way they carried out an extremely difficult task. There can be no nice way of giving someone the dreaded news of being made redundant, but Chairman Brian insisted on speaking personally to every one to whom the decision applied to and assured them all that it was the position that was being axed rather than the person. I believe that whilst no one liked it, most appreciated the fact that	there was no hiding behind heads of staff in giving the news. And some good news… New accounts are continuing be opened, even during these difficult times. Although taxi usage has been reduced, nevertheless the DaC Accounts Department personnel rigorously monitor the situation. However, any client information is valuable. As drivers, if you hear a passenger is dissatisfied or complaining about any aspect of our service, please let us know. It is so important that we make contact with customers sooner rather than later. You never know; you could be instrumental in stopping the account moving to a minicab company. Naturally, if you hear something positive that a client wants passed across, let us know about that too. It could be something useful that we hadn’t thought of… Mike Son Special Projects

Ed Thompson: We’re sorry!

The PCO of late have been sending out their notices as if the licensed public and private hire groups are one. This has annoyed the taxi trade press who constantly point out to Penton Street that we are not private hire drivers, just as they are not licensed taxi drivers. It has also been pointed out that the Knowledge of London is available to anyone with a clean record and on completion of those 3 years or so, they too can become taxi drivers.
   So when 10 months ago, the PCO sent out a notice under the heading One strike and you’re out, the impression given was that any licensed driver could be accused of touting and would then immediately lose their licence. Up till now, the trade has been calling on the PCO to rescind that notice so far as taxi drivers were concerned. It ended with the February 5 demo at Trafalgar Square, where many drivers were seen to be waving a copy of the one strike and you’re out PCO notice.
   Finally the PCO – in the form of Taxi and Private Hire Director, Ed Thompson – has sent out an apology for inferring that the notice applied to taxi drivers. However, they have sent it out as a letter to all 25,000 of us rather than as a PCO notice, which would then be circulated to the world via different national outlets just as all PCO notices are. We do not know if they have also sent out an additional 54,000 to private hire drivers informing them that the notice only applied to them, because the original notice was also published in the minicab press.
   Call Sign believes that the apology should have been sent out as a notice in addition to any letter; or if they wanted to avoid the cost of 25,000 stamps, instead of the letter. Either way it should be put into the public domain and Call Sign is doing that now…

One strike and you're out
In my letter of July 2008, I set out the new policy of revoking the licences of any licensed private hire vehicle (PHV) or taxi driver who was convicted by a magistrate’s court of touting. This policy was

targeted mainly at that minority of licensed PHV drivers who illegally seek to tout or ply for hire. As a result, the PCO has revoked over 50 PHV driver licences following magistrate’s court convictions since August 2008.
   There has never been any intention to change the historic and unique right of licensed taxi drivers to ply for hire in London. The policy of ‘one strike and you're out’ highlights the fact that PHV drivers do not - and never will - have the right to ply for hire. The PCO upholds this principle and it is well understood in the magistrates’ courts.
   Magistrate's court convictions for touting by licensed taxi drivers are rare - there have only been two in the last two years (both of which have arisen from incidents at Heathrow Airport) and none since August 2008. The PCO would generally not revoke a taxi driver's licence for such an offence. In the unusual event of a licensed taxi driver being convicted for touting and failing to overturn the conviction on appeal, it is not our intention to apply the ‘one strike and you’re out’ policy. The previous policies and procedures will apply.
   I apologise for any confusion caused by including licensed taxi drivers in the ‘one strike and you're out’ policy.
   TfL and Westminster City Council have agreed to work together with the licensed taxi trade and others to improve late night travel in the West End and deal with illegal touting and related offences.
Regards,

Ed Thompson

Taxi and Private Hire Director

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