Southampton Row U-turn success
Hi Alan
   Just received a letter from Camden Council informing me that they are refunding me my £60 for making a u-turn in Southampton Row. They admitted the signage was not visible from Vernon Place. Many thanks to everyone that wrote in Call Sign with advice.
Stephen Brady (Nova 31)Pleased to hear that Stephen.
   Last month’s Call Sign had a similar letter from Gerry Tobin (L32) who had his U-turn ticket overruled after taking our advice of keeping on at the council. No doubt many others have now realised that an incorrect signage means that you cannot "fine" drivers. If you give in, they won’t offer you a penny. They are taking your hard-earned money. At least make sure they are in the right before you give it to them …Ed

Cash bookings?
Because of the severe economic downturn it looks as though it could be a long, hard winter on the streets, so I wonder whether the Board might consider bringing back pre-bookings for cash work. Yes, the odd one might blow out, but the vast majority are usually ok. Perhaps more to the point, can we afford to let any possible work go? Allen Togwell always used to say that you could never tell what might lead to someone opening an account; perhaps a return to allowing cash pre-bookings might help?
Antony Hizer (E63)
   I asked the Board and I believe that cash bookings are already back. Drivers can assist in the publicity by picking up two additional door stickers with the DaC cash phone number on. These fit below the CCC logos …Ed

Dear Alan
I have seen on the screen of my MDT that there is a TX2 for rent with "full back up." I have a TX4, I have searched it from front to back, top to bottom, but I can't find a back up on it. Are they unique to TX2s? What is a back up? How much does a back up hold? Will a cab work with an empty back up? These are important questions to which I need answers; can anybody help…?  
Alfred Cook (A62)
   Are you trying to pull my plonker, Alf? You wouldn’t like me if you got my back up …Ed

Dial-a PCN???
I have just read the Peter Hopkins (W60) article in December’s Call Sign re the PCN he received whilst mopping up his spilt hot drink and cannot tell you how angry this has made me. Not because once again the Evil Empire has successfully extorted money from an honest taxi driver trying to make an honest living, but because it seems that Mr Hopkins just rolled over and accepted his fate. Where is the fire in your belly, Peter? You've found the time to meet Call Sign but couldn't be bothered to write an Appeal! Once again Westminster has seen its ongoing persecution of the Taxi trade justified.
   I don’t want to dig Peter out; I just am fed up hearing about our colleagues giving away £60 a time on stupid PCNs and then moaning about it afterwards! Well, boo hoo, let’s begin to do something about it!
   Nuala at Driver Services has in the past contacted me on behalf of drivers and I have happily given advice on how to keep your money in your pocket. That support is available to all! Just call Nuala and she will put you in touch! The only thing I ask is that you do not leave messages. I will not return calls as that could turn out to be very costly! But my phone is always with me and you will get through eventually.
   We are now chest-deep in recession and about to enter a traditionally quiet period for the trade where this year we may genuinely wonder where our next fares will come from. We must not allow the "thieves" at Westminster reduce our takings any further! Fight back!
   Be lucky, be strong!
Martin Hizer (M47)
Martin has probably won more PCN Appeals than anyone on DaC. As you can see from this issue, Call Sign was invited to Westminster’s CCTV centre where although they treated us immaculately and answered all our questions, it was fairly obvious that our visit wouldn’t change anything. However, soon after and also in this issue, a DaC delegation met Westminster and that has given hope of special treatment. In the meantime, Martin’s offer is genuine …Ed

Fare increase?
Re your Editorial in the December issue of Call Sign. The public are choosing their transport carefully, not purely on price though. Remember, there are lots of travel options, taxis, private hire, buses, trains, tubes, coaches,  riverboats, DLR, cars, bikes and even walking. A once a year rise ain't going to lose us our customer base because, let’s be honest, did we really have one to lose?
   It’s a free market and people only use us when they want to, or when it suits them. The same goes for other forms of transport. Just look at last year; 50-99 uncovered jobs in EC5 regularly, this year 99 waiting cabs! I think that alone proves my point. I'm not sticking up for PH, but it does annoy me when we say that P.H are nicking our work. How can they be? It’s not our work in the first place, we have no right to claim any work out there and the London streets, public and businesses owe us no living. People have the right to choose how they get from A to B. Ask Tom Whitbread how he gets from Dalston to the West End? I bet when it suits him, he gets a 38 bus or if it suits, he gets a cab. Instead of moaning about what others are doing, we as a trade need to promote ourselves more.
   My concern about no 2009 fare increase would be that when the slowdown ends - and it will end - people will be jumping into cabs as if nothing had happened and with no rise there is a danger that we could be driving people around right up to 2010 on 2008 prices. And what happens then? We’d have to have an 8% rise in 2010 to cover 2 years and then people would really moan.
Michael Beevor (N76)
Thanks for an interesting perspective, Michael. Your logic is sound – my problem is that I don’t think logic comes into this scenario as much as it did the last time we faced a similar situation. Yes, there are lots of travel options but I don’t think you are right in believing that cost doesn’t enter the equation. It might not for someone who takes the occasional cab, so yes, your scenario may well apply so far as street work is concerned. But it surely doesn’t apply to a corporate client on radio that spends £3million a year with DaC? Let’s assume it’s a bank that’s trying to keep the City happy with its finances and they hears they can save 20% of their taxi cost by using PH – and yes, 20% has been touted around as a possible saving. That comes to £600,000 a year and hardly chicken feed. Whether those car companies could afford the discount is another matter, they’d still take the work and to say it isn’t ours in the first place is being a bit pedantic.
   I agree that we need to promote ourselves and that was my point in the Editorial. Other than being the best – which everyone knows anyway – we need something else at a time like this and I felt that being the only major form of transport not to take an increase this year could help us. Yes, we’d somehow have to claw it back when the recession ends, but reading your letter, Michael, it’s as though you believe that this time next year we’ll be back to normal? I doubt it, although I hope I’m wrong.
   For some time to come, we are going to struggle to find fares and my belief is that we might just get some extra work if we do not take the increase. If we do and it is the 3.9% that I’ve heard touted around, then for every £100, you’ll get an extra £3.90 – not even the price of one job. Your words were that we as a trade need to promote ourselves more; for the loss of that £3.90, I think we could

Yellow licence plates?
I was rather shocked to read the ongoing saga of yellow badge drivers picking up in town, but there does seem to be a logical answer to the problem. When a cab is passed, the PCO / SGS find out whether it is to be driven by a green or yellow badge driver and issue the plate either in the usual white for a green badge or tinted yellow for drivers with that colour badge.
   For those proprietors who rent cabs out to both sections, they can have one of each and should affix it to the cab’s rear after being shown the driver’s badge and bill. After checking that the numbers correspond and the

Those foreigners from Northern Ireland…!
I am an independent producer for the BBC and had a bad experience with one of your cab drivers this afternoon. I had just returned from Belfast after a broadcast event and took a Dial-a-Cab taxi with a client and her toddler from Paddington Station to Tavistock Place.
At the destination, the driver refused to take a Northern Ireland £10 note, claiming that it
was not legal tender as Northern Ireland was not part of the UK. Not only is this incorrect, but it was extremely embarrassing to me in front of my client. The driver was indignant that he would not take the note and I managed to scrape together some English pound coins to pay him. He refused to give me his name or licence number and drove off.
You say that you pride yourself on customer service. I will definitely spread the word amongst my colleagues at the BBC to only use your company as a last resort if this is the kind of treatment I receive – especially with a client. Could you at the very least instruct your fleet that Northern Ireland is part of the UK and that its’ currency is legal tender.
Lou Stein
   Thank you for your letter Mr Stein. I am sorry that you were embarrassed, but to avoid you in turn embarrassing your colleagues, the BBC only use us as a last resort anyway! Your tone reminds me of someone who says they will refuse to watch the BBC again because the wrong person was kicked of in Strictly Come Dancing! I suspect the driver just didn’t want the hassle of having to take it to the bank, as I’m sure you realise Mr Stein, that it isn’t a note many would readily accept. In fact Bank of England notes are the only ones that are legal tender. Scottish and Northern Ireland banknotes are not legal tender anywhere. However, neither are they illlegal and those that wish to accept them are free to do so if they choose. Their banknotes are promissory notes as against legal currency, so they are not actually legal tender in the sense that we usually mean. Those banknotes are a bit like cheques. If both sides are happy with it, then it’s fine and most cab drivers, garages, stores and of course all banks will accept them. But they don’t have to.
   However, your story also reminds me of an incident I faced some time ago at the Hoilday Inn hotel in Kings Cross Road. Having taken my passengers on the short £4.60 ride from Kings Cross Station, they gave a a Scottish £20 note. I accepted it as I usually do (and NI notes too) and proceeded to give them their change – 40p in coins, a £5 note and a Scottish £10 note. They refused to accept the Scottish note saying that it would be too difficult to get rid of! I neglected to ask them if they worked for the BBC!…Ed

Thank you to the 25 proposers....
I would like to thank the 25 plus drivers who signed my proposition to change the Going Home procedure. However I have withdrawn it for this year at least because the current computer system cannot store cumulative number of jobs done.
   The proposition was to make it harder, ie do more jobs before you had the option of using Code 03 but they would be cumulative, so if the level for Code 3 was 20 jobs this could be done over many days. In return and when engaged, all jobs offered would show destinations, to include EC5, E140, 07:00-10:00 SE75 "O" attributes etc etc. I have withdrawn the proposal but asked the BoM to consider future system re-writes being able to count cumulative jobs for a future proposal. After all we need something done with the almost current useless Code 03 facility.
Alan Nash (A95)
   Alan, no one appreciates your efforts more than I and your Nash’s Numbers over the years must have assisted many thousands of drivers. However, I have to say that your proposition would have had much opposition. Why would a driver bother booking into EC5 or SE75 when the point cab(s) can stay there until they get a roader going the way they want, when roaders are not quite as frequent as they once were? …Ed

Watching out for ‘clipboard Johnnies’
Whilst I'm sure many subscribers keep an eye on the PCO notices published by our masters at Penton Street, others might not have clicked their way through the TfL/PCO website recently. There have recently been some useful reminders about PH operations, both regarding operators and drivers, which, whilst we all know the rules they should operate under, serve as a useful reminder of the specifics that we should all find useful when reporting touting activities. It particularly helps clarify the 'Clipboard Johnnie' question - if it isn't the licensed premises - it's touting! If the clipboard approaches the punter - it's touting! 
   The obvious touts (with or without the yellow window stickers) are sadly an ever-present feature of our city and whilst we can report 'hot spots' to the Police/Carriage office we simply have to live the fact that there's the occasional headline grabbing 'Police clamp down' which disrupts their activities for an hour or two! However, the group I find most annoying are the smart suit brigade - the PHVs and their drivers around the posh bits of town. The PCO notices serve as a useful reminder that unless a passenger makes a booking themselves, by phone or in person at an operators address, the trip is illegal. Whilst I'm sure many hotels are licensed PHV premises, the rules still apply about who makes the approach. A doorman asking a guest leaving the hotel if they need a cab, then getting his smart PH mate to pick up the job is outside the law. 
   I'm sure we all know this, but if more complaints go in to the Police and Penton Street, we can hopefully regain some hotel, club and restaurant work from our ranks.
   Kinds regards and a Happy New Year!
James Griffin (T97)
Call Sign has recently been in touch with the tout squad following one of DaC’s female drivers volunteering to go out with them to see how often she is approached outside clubs etc. For obvious reasons, I can’t give her name but if something comes of it, you will naturally read all about it here …Ed

RTG and Addison Lee
I won’t bore you with the reason I was looking, but if you go to Radio Taxis Group internet site, then click onto the London Taxi Times link, what do you find? An advert for Addison Lee. No joke! How this must please their driver/share holders…
Nick Steventon (J65)
Naughty Google I suspect! You can read bout Addison Lee elsewhere in this issue …Ed

Why are Camden breaking the law?

When Dial-a-Cab driver Martin Russell (T10) phoned Call Sign to tell us he had been sent a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for doing a u-turn in Southampton Row, our initial response was to tell him to appeal as the signage had been incorrectly displayed for some time and it was still worth a shot.
   Our obvious question was to ask when the offence had taken