 When Sheila, Dial-a-Cab driver Malcolm Levant’s (F24) other half, ran the Temple Shelter from 1982 until 1984, she decided to decorate it with taxi memorabilia. One of the items she managed to get hold of was a Halda taximeter from the late 1950s / early 1960s. The initial hiring charge "dropped" at the pre-decimal rate of 1/9p – equivalent to around 9p today! When Sheila’s time at the shelter ended, she took the meter home with her and until early this year, that was where it stayed. It was in mid-July that Malcolm phoned Call Sign and told us about their 50-year old meter and asked whether we knew of any good use it could be put to? We knew straightaway of one organisation that could be guaranteed to find it a good home – The London Vintage Taxi Association. It was on a warm late summer evening that Malcolm Levant met up with Call Sign Editor, Alan Fisher - ironically opposite the Public Carriage Office – and handed over the meter that had been the cornerstone of his shed for all those years! Alan, perhaps more used to later versions of taximeters, wasn’t expecting it to weigh so heavy and his first touch of the item that could have sold for several hundred pounds on eBay, was to almost drop it! However, the meter made it safely into Alan’s taxi and he immediately contacted some of his LVTA contacts – John Freston in the USA, |
JOURNEY ENDS FOR SHEILA’S HALDA METER As Call Sign finds it a new home... |
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Hans Dooren in Holland,
UK-based Chairman Doug Cheshire and their magazine editor, Bill
Monroe. However, it was someone this magazine had totally forgotten about who we eventually presented it to. Keith White (A16) has been on DaC for many years and as a former Chairman of the LVTA, had written several articles on old taxis for Call Sign. He is also the proud owner of one of only two prototype Metrocabs made in 1969 – some 15 years before the first Metrocab went into London taxi service. Just prior to his prototype, the ill-fated "jelly mould" Winchester came and went! So Alan made arrangements to meet Keith and as a complete opposite to his meeting with Malcolm Levant, picked a cold, rainy winter’s evening, using the DaC reception as at least somewhere dry to take a photo. Keith handled the meter like a new parent and gave Alan a run-down of its history, including telling the Call Sign Ed the name of the person (Eugene) who fitted the original Halda meter to his 1969 prototype. At no extra charge, Keith also pointed out that Eugene was still fitting Halda meters to the Metrocab in 1984 when it finally became passed as a licensed taxi. The last word came from Alan: "I don’t think we always realise the amazing history the London taxi trade has and we should offer huge thanks to the LVTA for helping to preserve it..." Daniel Forbego |
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