Call Sign December 2010 - Page 20 - COMPLIANCE OFFICER’S REPORT

COMPLIANCE OFFICER’S REPORT

Hello Ladies & Gents,
Credit Cards
The use of Credit Card for taxi trips is becoming more and more common and the journeys can often be fairly substantial and lucrative. With this in mind, I have been once again asked to remind you all of certain measures that you need to take that will guarantee payment. Naturally that is even more important on trips outside of the London area when signals are flaky or simply not responding at all.
On trips from London postal zones, the card is swiped through the terminal and once you have estimated the cost of the journey, authorisation is received in the normal way. If you reach the destination and are unable to clear the trip and print a receipt through the terminal, it is imperative that you take a rubbing of the card on a manual receipt and match the signature up with the one on the card to safeguard payment. Furthermore, if you are handed a credit card at the actual destination or at the end of the journey if that is different and are out of signal

range, then in addition to the manual receipt it is very important to gain authorisation from the Call Centre. It can at times be quite intimidating if passengers are in a hurry to catch a flight and you ask them to wait until the authorisation is received back. But to find a few weeks later that the large payment for the trip you received has had to be taken back because the bank has refused to honour the payment, well to say it can be very hard to accept would be an understatement. Unfortunately, if you don’t follow the guidelines, then it can happen.

Rule violations
You will see below that quite a large number of DaC members attended a recent Complaints

Hearing and that the results have been published. With so many terminal messages going out on a regular basis, there really isn’t any excuses for certain rule violations and as harsh as the sentences may seem, there is only one answer – Play by the rules!
In the busy lead-up to Christmas, we really don’t want to lose any of the fleet but as I have mentioned so many times previously, these rules are in place to make it fair for us all. I could keep reminding you that you must be in the correct zone before booking in, that you must only press arrival when you are physically outside of a pick-up or that outlying zones are physical, but I am sure you have read it all before. But there you go, I’ve said it again!
It only remains for me to wish all of you and your families a very happy Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year. May you all be very lucky...

Allan Evans
DaC Compliance Officer

COMPLAINTS RESULTS
A Complaints meeting was held on 28 Oct 2010. The results are below…
Abbreviations: Rep – Reprimand, Susp - Suspension

Name/call sign Nature of Complaint Verdict

Paul Pryor (E05) Booked into EC5 when position was Strand by Charing Cross Rules 3, 11 Rule 3: 1 week susp Rule 11: 2 weeks
Total: 3 weeks susp

*Reginald Oliver (F51) Booked into EC5 when position was St James Square SW1
Rules 3, 11 *Three complaints heard as one

*Reginald Oliver (F51) Booked into EC5 when position was Great Portland Street Rules 3, 11 *Three complaints heard as one

*Reginald Oliver (F51) Booked into EC5 when position was Kensington Rd/Exhibition Rd Rules 3, 11 *Rule 3 total: Rep
Rule 11 total: 3 weeks
Total: 3 weeks susp

Colin Sparks (H22) Booked into EC5 when position was Great Dover St SE1
Rules 3, 11 Rule 3: 1 week susp
Rule 11: 2 weeks susp
Total: 3 weeks susp

Keith D’Urso (M57) Booked into EC5 when position was A40 by Edgware rd flyover
Rules 3, 11 Rule 3: 1 week susp
Rule 11: 2 weeks susp
Total: 3 weeks susp

George Attrill (W29) Booked into EC5 when position
Essex Rd by St Pauls Rd
Rules 3, 11 Rule 3: Rep
Rule 11: 2 weeks
Total 2 week (Upheld on Appeal)

Anicetus Mathurin (M51) Booked into EC5 when position was Store St / Gower St WC1 Rules 3, 11 Rule 3: Rep
Rule 11: 2 weeks susp
Total: 2 weeks susp

Murvel Clarke (M83) Booked into S99 when position was Heathrow (WW00)
All outlying zones are physical Rule 11 Rule 11: 2 weeks susp
Total: 2 weeks susp

Kevin Molyneux (B20J) Passenger complained driver spoke to him in an aggressive manner when he asked to go locally from Citigroup
rolling rank Rules 2, 3, 9 Rule 2: 1 week susp
Rule 3: 1 week
Rule 9: Not guilty
Total 2 weeks susp

Jeffrey Chandler (K03) Driver accepted trip and first refused to cover journey. Then became abusive towards Call Centre staff
Rules: 1, 2, 3, 9, 12 Rule 1: 2 weeks
Rule 2: 1 week
Rule 3: 1 week
Rule 9: Not guilty
Rule 12: Rep
Total: 4 weeks susp

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