MAILSHOT

Just a thought...is it not possible to put SE75 back into Zone 1? When you look at the zones to book into, Zone 2 is usually full and you cannot see how many taxis are booked in, whereas Zone 1 has less postcodes and therefore drivers can always see how many are booked in. Can you please ask the man upstairs to see what he can do?
Mike Appleby (L73)
Hi Mike, Keith Cain has spoken to Theresa Whitfield in our IT department and she said that whilst Zone 1 is also pretty crowded, it looks possible that SE75 could be moved to Zone 3. Keith spoke to the BoM and as there were no objections, SE75 will in future appear in Zone 3 …Ed

Why won’t taxi drivers pick me up? So often I try to get a cab after midnight from Queen Victoria Street to Blackheath and no cabs will stop for me? I am usually in a suit and perhaps I’ve had a glass or two of wine, but I’m never drunk. So why is it that I usually have to end up getting a minicab – who incidentally are around twice your prices ie £50 instead of £25? My thanks to the Dial-a-Cab driver last Friday who proved the exception to the rule and who also told me to write to you…
G.S.McGrath
London SE3
Dunno! As I’m usually home by the bewitching hour, I can only assume that you are throwing up from your ‘glass or two of wine’ because I wasn’t aware that it was that busy out …Ed

 It has been drawn to my attention that articles have been written in Call Sign magazine regarding allegations of suburban drivers plying for hire outside of their designated areas.
   The articles had been written anonymously by the wife of a Dial-a-Cab driver, which started the rumour mill amongst drivers in all sectors. One sector has decided, without any evidence, that the persons involved in these allegations are my wife and myself.
   In a recent edition of Call Sign, Michelle Haslam signed the letter. This person is not my wife. I hope this will put an end to these malicious rumours and allow us and any other drivers affected to get on with our lives.
Chris Havis (O65) 
Sorry to hear that you and your wife are having these problems as a result of the Call Sign series of stories re yellow badges working in London. The actual stories were obviously true, otherwise the PCO wouldn’t have put out a press release afterwards warning yellow badge drivers of the consequences of working out of their sector. However, they had nothing to do with you or your wife and I’m happy to confirm that in print. One thing puzzles me though; those who were putting the rumours out about you and your wife, were they the ones working in town? As the Call Sign stories were trying to assist in getting rid of those hurting the yellow badge business, surely these people should be congratulating whoever it was …Ed

Alan
I back Martin Hizer's stance against PCNs as I would challenge every one too, but are we leaving ourselves open? We cant wait, so why do we? We can stop to set down or pick up on any street or urban clearway, even if controlled by loading restrictions, also at bus stops (except broad red line ones) without fear of a PCN. We can even enter to set down / pick up in bus lanes that taxis are prohibited from (except king cross) so long as we exit immediately. So if you get a PCN and you’re just dropping off, challenge it all the way because it’s been incorrectly issued. I know some wardens are cheats and liars, but let’s reduce the risks of PCNs by not leaving ourselves open. On cash rides, when asked to wait at shops or ATMs, say no unless it’s safe. If they want a shop, drop them off, get them to pay and say get another cab when you are finished. Instead of an ATM, offer them the facility to pay via our terminal or drive them to a safe ATM. No waiting time in the world will be greater than the £120 PCN you might get, so why risk it? I know it’s impossible not to illegally wait on radio jobs, but that's something that needs addressing with TfL and the trade, but we must still appeal any ticket because you never know.
   The only way to stop this PCN onslaught is to cut its money supply and if we keep playing into their hands by waiting at ATMs or park on yellow lines outside the Queensway WCs when the Royal Oak with FREE parking and a WC is just 1 minute away, then we're printing money for them.
   Alan, petrol stations; we can stop and wait at an ATM or shop on their forecourts, or if we ask nicely, even spend a penny without fear of that PCN. Most now have either one or all three services, which I believe are never more than a few minutes or slight fare detour away from wherever you are. For example, Texaco City Road and Shoreditch High Street both have ATMs and WCs. Shell garages at Old Street, Southwark and Bayswater also have both facilities. Perhaps Alan Nash can compile a list of petrol stations with ATMs and WCs for us?
   Just don’t give the council your hard earned cash and fund their cameras. Start using petrol forecourts… it’s safer...
Michael Beevor (N76)
Thanks for that Mike. Passengers do often tend to exaggerate how long anything takes. Thirty seconds usually means 2 minutes, while one minute means five. And yes, both could mean at least a £60 fine to us by which time the actual passenger will be a distant memory. However, so far as work accepted via our DaC terminal is concerned, you will have read in this issue that as of 1 April, PCNs will be appealed using the services of the UK’s biggest expert, Barrie Segal. When you get a PCN, give it to Nuala in Driver Services and she will enter the details onto a spreadsheet. That batch will then go into Barrie Segal’s appeals procedure. If turned down, tell Nuala once again and it will be appealed again - all the way to arbitration if necessary. Having spoken to Barrie several times, believe me when I say that what he doesn’t know about PCNs just isn’t worth knowing! As was the case (reported in the Jan 2009 Call Sign when Barrie forced the Adjudicator into the impossible and got the Controlled Parking Zone for the central zone of London’s West End declared illegal! He isn’t a guarantee of success, but he certainly narrows the odds a bit. As for Alan Nash making a list, that’s a full-time job. Go to www.nashsnumbers.co.uk for all previous issues back to 1997. To register for his UID (useful information document), which is packed with information you can use on a 

Dear Al,
I thoroughly agree with your Editorial when you say that taxi drivers using satnavs make us look like private hire. I don’t think these drivers realise the damage they are doing to the licensed London Taxi drivers’ reputation by having the satnavs sitting on their dashboard, although I do believe some feel embarrassed about using them because they tuck them away into the far right hand corner of the windscreen using their body in an attempt to shield the satnav from the passengers view.
   However, may I offer a different angle on what I consider to be the short sightedness of some licensed London taxi drivers when it comes to our reputation and future? Consider this hypothetical situation:-
   You have two Vito vehicles waiting for custom. They are identical in every sense – year of make, colour, vehicle condition etc – except one is private hire and the other a licensed London taxi with a ‘for hire’ sign.
   Question: Which one should a potential customer choose? My heart says the taxi but why should that happen in reality? After all, they are identical vehicles! But, you say, the licensed taxi has the better quality driver. Whilst I agree with that statement, there’s no guarantee the customer automatically would. So, in order to choose, the customer has a closer view of the two Vitos and notices that both vehicles are using identical satnavs.
   Question: Now which vehicle should the customer choose? They may consider spinning a coin at this stage? After all they can see no difference apart from a ‘for hire’ sign.
   And so we go a step further with the customer choosing on-line. They see the identical Vitos and they now ‘know’ that everyone uses satnav and at this stage they don’t even consider the quality of the driver. No – they just notice the price! And because we’re now offering the same product as private hire, what else have they got to make their minds up? And can you blame them?
   Guys, every time you dilute and devalue our brand and reputation you are giving our work away. People trust certain brands – they know what they’re getting. But if you remove the recognisable brand, as with the traditional Taxi profile and reputation for knowing London, you blur the criteria for the passenger’s choice.
   Just for the record I believe the TX taxi can do with huge improvements, but I wouldn’t trade in our world-renowned brand if it meant losing our work - and consequently, our jobs…
Doug Vogel (R05)
Thanks Doug. There is of course the possibility that some out there will believe that you don’t really exist and it’s me writing under a pseudonym! As I’ve said many times, I have nothing against satnavs. I carry one in my bag and have used it on a few occasions when going out into the sticks. But I find it almost humiliating when passengers get in and offer me their postcode, obviously having had it accepted by a previous driver with a satnav on display.
   And of course I agree 100% with your Vito sentiments. I have nothing against the Vito as a car, but any vehicle already being used by private hire should never be used as a taxi. It is an offence to use a taxi as a private hire vehicle – but the same doesn’t apply to the Vito. So yes, I think it’s the beginning of the end for the trade with the blurring of the edges into one big meatball…Ed

I recently accepted a cash trip on my terminal that turned out to be pre-booked. I thought we had stopped taking cash pre-bookings because of the possible legal implications if one of our cabs arrived late or not at all? When I queried this with control at the time, I was told that I was wrong and that we now did them because of a request in Call Sign by one of my peers. Having checked this out and finding it to be correct, I also used the Call Sign search engine to locate Allen Togwell’s answer when this point was raised in April 2000. The decision was made then to stop taking cash pre-bookings because of a recent court case where a taxi operator was sued successfully for failing to provide a cab at the pre-booked time. So what's changed? Surely a legal precedent is a legal precedent? Can we now afford to take on the judicial system in these difficult times?
   Also whilst working recently, I noticed that I seem to be able to get a WIFI connection when I parked near some Addison Lee vehicles. Having made some enquiries, I can confirm that Addison Lee are now offering this facility in all their Mercedes. What a great selling point! Why did they think of it first ! It's starting to look like we really are playing second fiddle to a glorified minicab company. We should be ahead of the game and not playing catch up.
Steve Gander (V20)
Keith Cain replies: The Board decided to accept cash bookings because of the reduction in account work we are currently experiencing, with that cash work carrying a handling charge which the driver has to collect at the end of the journey. We felt that making our terms and conditions available to the caller prior to them making the booking, was a way to reduce any possible legal challenge being successful. 
   With regard to your second comment regarding WIFI connection in cabs; I don't agree that DaC is playing second fiddle to anyone. WIFI technology has been around for a long time and it has only become more popular in the past few years. The City of London back in 2007 launched one of Europe largest and most advanced WIFI Networks. It was designed and built onto existing street signs and lampposts. Since then, the advancement of mobile broadband has been fascinating and it would not surprise me if this were not one of the most cost effective methods to use.
   The Editor contacted LTI recently and asked about the

Dear Alan,
Call Sign magazine had discount deals for Eurostar; are these still available to Dial-a-Cab drivers or has this offer finished? I must add that I enjoy reading Call Sign very much - the best read in the trade.
Brian Marcantonio (R73)
Hi Brian, Eurostar would always make room for a former Taxi Driver of the Year winner (1993) and more importantly, a Call Sign caption competition winner (Jan 2006)! Yes, the deal is still on and all you need do is go to DaC House and pick up a form. The reason I haven’t been publishing the ad of late is because the service was busy and getting your preferred dates wasn’t quite so easy. With everything quietening down, the deal is back to normal – although you still can’t guarantee your first choice date, but the chances are good. For those that don’t know, DaC drivers get a return Eurostar trip for £49, or if you fancy something a bit more luxurious, you can go first class for £99 return. And for anyone looking for a relaxing short break that hasn’t yet tried Lille, I’d recommend it. Incredibly just 80 minutes from St Pancras, it’s a very walkable city filled with shops, bars and restaurants …Ed

I was watching my husband, Russell Poluck (T55), turn his terminal on and was a bit shocked to see ‘The Gentleman’s Circuit’ appear as a screen saver. I’m not sure what the ladies on Dial-a-Cab think about this and I do understand that many years ago you only had men on the circuit, but in this day and age I think it should be looked into. Yes I know I am not a taxi driver, but I hope I am speaking on behalf of all the lady cab drivers out there. As a parting shot, I was reading the March Call Sign as I like to keep up with the taxi world, but discovered an error. On page 13, you have put (hubby) Russell as Chairman of the War Disabled Charity, but he is actually the Chairman of the Taxi Driver of the Year Charity - although he was on the WD committee many years ago!
   Keep up the good work.
Barbara Poluck (Mrs T55)
The title of The Gentleman’s Circuit came after several drivers assisted former Board member Joe Assenheim on a day when his cab broke down - around 45 years ago. The title stuck and I don’t think anyone has ever raised the point that it could be sexist. I believe we have 22 lady drivers and if any of them would like to comment on whether Barbara is right, I’d be happy to publish their views.
   As for the mistake, it comes from sitting through the meeting twice! Not that it was boring, you understand, but Linda had to come and wake me up twice whilst I was going through it again afterwards! Apologies to Russell …Ed

I recently had an urgent need to use a loo and as I was close to the Roman Way fitting bay, I thought I’d pop in to use theirs. There are two toilets there – one for men and one for women. Never having been in the gents, I have no idea about how it is left, but I had a shock when I went into the ladies because while there could be no complaint about the cleanliness of the toilet itself, there was a rather delicate problem involving the pan itself. Without going into detail, the phrase skid marks comes to mind! I know that there can’t be many more than around 20 lady drivers on DaC, so that loo is probably used far less than the gents. Whenever I have used it in the past, I’ve got the key from Dana because it was always kept locked. The problem I mentioned earlier came at a time when the key to the Ladies had gone missing and whilst not impossible that the last person could have been a longsighted female, it was more probably a male who couldn’t wait for his own loo to become available.
   Had they not left the previously described marks, I’d have never known because as I said, Dana always makes sure the loos are clean. That leaves me with two questions; why didn’t the person using it earlier use the brush that is always next to the pan and why can’t it be locked as it always was?
   The delicate assistance of Call Sign would be appreciated…
Janet Fox (G35J)
I once went on the old London Transport skid patch at Chiswick, where the experience was frightening - but it was infinitely more pleasant than the one you describe! Anyway, Jacqui Chart at DaC had a word with Dana and the toilet is now kept locked. Any Ladies needing to use it should ask Dana for the key …Ed