Call Sign January 2010 Page 23 - Thank you, Martyn!

A new DaC client asks Call Sign to pass on a big thank you to Martyn Madden (Y97)

Thank you, Martyn!

   "On Sunday 20th December after 10pm, myself and a friend who had become very ill through alcohol and stress, were waiting on the Southbank for a minicab that had been called but did not arrive. My friend could hardly stand and I was worried she was having some kind of breakdown. I asked several minicab drivers if they could take us and all said no. Eventually a black cab drew up. At first the driver said that he was about to get another fare, but when I explained that I was desperate to get my ill friend home, he agreed to take us to Dollis Hill, where she lives. I could see my friend was too ill to go home alone - she was barely conscious - so I travelled with her although I wasn’t sure how I was going to get back to South London for work in the morning. Early on, the cab driver asked whether there was anything we should be doing for my friend? I said I thought she just needed to get home and thanked him for his concern. I could tell that he was monitoring our situation, which felt very supportive but not at all intrusive. After a while he said that he thought the situation had calmed down and I replied how nice t was of him to be so concerned, when actually it was my problem. He said very firmly that it was both his and my problem now. When we got to my friend's house in Dollis Hill, it was 11pm and I asked the driver where the nearest tube was? He indicated the direction and asked me where I lived. He said he was concerned that I might not be able to get all the way home on the tube at that time since I lived quite far away - in Stockwell. I said I’d better get a cab, but noticed that the fare at that time was close to Ł40.
   He said he would turn the meter off while I got my friend inside her front door and then I could go in and take as much time as was needed to settle her down, including making her some tea if needed. He would wait in his cab outside and then, if that was what I wanted to do, he would take me home. He said I shouldn’t worry about the fare and that we could sort it out when I got home.
   When we got back to Stockwell, the meter again showed a similar amount – close to Ł40, making just under Ł80 in all. The cab driver then said that all he

Martyn is a regular for the DaC golf team but this time he showed how kind he is as a cabbie

wanted was Ł55. I offered him Ł60 but he insisted that he only wanted Ł55. He gave me a Dial-a-Cab receipt.
   The following afternoon, I had a phone call from my optician who asked if I had left a pair of glasses in a cab? They said a minicab driver had phoned and told them my approximate address saying that he hadn’t been sure which house I'd gone into and had no name. They had trawled through all their records to find me. I told the optician the story and her words were: "How amazing! Was he driving a black cab? They're so wonderful aren't they!"
   The cab driver had left a name for me to phone and that is how I know his name – Martyn Madden. When I phoned, he said that he'd drop the glasses back through my door as soon as he could - the next day in fact. I said I’d like to give him a token to show our thanks, but he insisted that he would simply drop the glasses through the door. He said what he'd done was all part of a London taxi driver’s job and that he did that kind of thing every evening. I had paid the fare (which of course I hadn't completely) and that was the end of it. When I said that I'd never come across a cab driver like him, he said that many of his cabbie friends were similarly kind and helpful with some of the people they picked up all over London every evening in a similar terrible state.
   So whenever I need a cab, I’ll be calling Dial-a-Cab in future and my grateful thanks to Martyn Madden..."

Ms M.Maguire

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