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Either write to Call Sign at Dial-a-Cab
House or email us at
callsignmag@aol.com iPhone Applications
Dear Callsign
I was using my iPhone today and noticed that Addison
Lee are a step ahead of the Licensed London Taxi trade. I felt disappointed
when noticing they now have a booking application, which is free to download
in the iPhone Application Store. At the moment it looks like the Application
is available for account customers only, but it’s a big step in the right
direction for Addison Lee. The Application takes you to their website in
order for you to create an account there and then. The Add Loo App is
using GPS for customer’s location.
I'm writing to Call Sign to ask if DaC would be able
to have an Application available, so users of the iPhone can send in
booking requests for account / credit card and cash jobs. To survive, I feel
we need to move forward with technology. We work hard to re-claim our work
night after night, but in other ways we let ourselves down. So DaC, I'm
asking if you would look into this.
I am proud to be a member of Dial-a-Cab, especially after all the
work the despatch team have done in the re-claim our work campaign. Lets do
something else productive...
Dawn Cooper (C80)
Brian Rice responds: Dawn, it's nice to see you are aware of
the latest applications! However, I have met Apple representatives to
look at this one in great detail and at the moment it is not good enough for
DaC. The application is only for the iPhone and ideally we need an
application for all phones, especially the Blackberry. When the client calls
up the application and presses the button denoting they require a vehicle,
the co-ordinates are passed to the vendor. That tells them roughly - and I
repeat roughly - where the customer is and the driver will then have to ring
the client and ask for their exact location. So as you can see, it is not a
precise science and at the moment, just not good enough for our clients and
members. After all, I’m not sure our members would want to cruise up and
down the road looking for the customer, or indeed have to ring the client to
find out exactly where they are. I believe one big difference is that
Addison Lee often cater to a different type of audience than us and that
their drivers are prepared to search for the customer, whereas our members
have a choice - they can work the street.
Finally Dawn, I am not dismissing this application, but it is still
very experimental and I would not be prepared to offer it to our clients and
members until it was perfected; that is probably the reason why we are
different from the rest!
BBC racism?
I was recently left feeling very disturbed by an item on the BBC’s
local London news (25 Nov) regarding what they referred to as a Taxi
/ minicab ‘turf war’ in Mayfair. The item was centred on the rank outside
Nobu in Berkeley Street and several taxi drivers gave brief comments.
However, what irritated me was the comment of a minicab driver who alleged
that taxi drivers uttered racist comments against him. It irritated me
because although several taxi drivers were asked about the ‘turf war’, none
were asked to respond to the racist accusation. Having met many taxi drivers
over the years through my connection with the Dial-a-Cab Credit Union, I’d
be surprised if the minicab driver’s accusation had much truth to it and my
belief is that it was the BBC who came out of that particular section as
being the racist party.
Barry Epstein
Dial-a-Cab Credit Union
Thanks for that observation, Barry. I saw the piece you refer to and I doubt
whether many viewers believed the minicab driver. But you are right, they
didn’t allow a response on the driver’s quote and that was bad – if not
surprising - journalism. |
The real pity was that the Beeb picked
a rainy night in Mayfair to shoot the item and as such, the rank was empty.
That must have thrilled those "guarding" the front door to Nobu more that
the item itself, knowing how much of a fight they put up NOT to get the rank
in the first place ...Ed Olympic Route Network
Dear Alan,
As we approach Olympic year, I start to think what a wonderful
advert for London and indeed the country it will be, although I would have
preferred it to be somewhere else so that we wouldn’t have to foot the bill
for the next ten years! At first it was a walnut whip a week for every
Londoner, now it seems more like a box of Fortnum’s best chocolates a week!
However, now that we are approaching the big date, wouldn’t it be
the right thing for the authorities to allow the iconic London ‘black cab’
to be allowed to use the special Olympic Route Networks out to the
Olympic Park and back into the City of London for all the visitors that will
be coming here, not only to see the Games, but to sightsee around our
magnificent city with surely the envy of the world, the London black cab and
their knowledgeable drivers.
Gathering opinions from most of my cab driving friends, none of
them will want to traipse out to the Olympic Park via the congested roads
that we will have to use. A fare out there and a traipse back into town to
look for another fare could end up costing the driver money. If the fare
came to £25, took 90 minutes before you got back into town for another fare,
that equals around £12.50 for 45 minutes less diesel and wear and tear. Not
good economics!
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t pick and choose my fares, I accept
whoever hails me and go north south east or west, but just for once wouldn’t
it be nice for the London Black cab trade to be recognised for the fast
efficient, safe, reliable and utterly trustworthy service that we provide?
The use of that ORN out to the Olympic Park would contribute to the success
of the games and the visitor attraction to this city of ours...
Roy Martin (R42)
Brian Rice recently attended a meeting re the Olympics. You can read about
it on page 4 ...Ed
Grandads and seat rests!
Hi Alan,
On behalf of my family, I thank you for the DaC welcome to the
new member of the Lessman clan, and may I add my congratulations to Brenda
and Brian Rice and Lorraine Carruthers and their families on their new
arrivals. The pleasure, pride and joy of being a grandparent, especially for
the first time, can only be understood by personal experience, but I should
remind Brian that the 'I can give them back when they cry' bit doesn't
always work!
On a more serious note, I read with interest the report in the
current issue of TAXI from The Mole in the Merc, but I have to pose
the following thoughts. Is the removal of the rear centre headrest PCO
approved and if it is, why are the owners of TX4s penalised by not only
having
this fixed obstruction to a clear rear view in the first place, but also
being unable to adjust it - even if only to clean the glass without breaking
a wrist?
David Lessman (D19)
Call Sign asked M&O General Manager, Peter Rigden, to comment in
response to David’s letter. He told us:
"This is the relevant extract from the current London Conditions of
Fitness: 16.7: Head restraints must be fitted for all (forward and
rear facing) seats. The design of headrests should maximise rear sightlines
for the driver when any of the passenger seats are not occupied.
The centre division has been accepted by the PCO as the fully
compliant head restraint for rear facing passengers in both models of
vehicle. However, if my interpretation of the above is correct, then it will
not be a PCO approved action to remove the centre-rear head restraint for
the forward facing passenger seat position.
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Furthermore, LTI have taken into
account the full spirit of the above condition as we fit the TX4 with
"hollowed-out" head restraints specifically designed to maximise visibility
of the unoccupied seat areas. I don't believe the same is true of the
alternative vehicle."
Dear Alan
After reading the November issue of Call Sign, I
came into Dial-a-Cab House to pick up a form for Eurostar tickets and was
told at reception that this offer no longer existed. Can you confirm this
for me?
Tony Oswald (L72)
Call Sign has been offering these subsidised Eurostar trips since
December 2003. Sadly it does appear that Eurostar are pulling the plug. It
was great while it lasted and it had to end one day. Sad perhaps, but my
thoughts are that we should just say thank you to Eurostar for giving us the
cheap rides for almost 8 years. Incidentally, the decision (so I have been
told) was nothing to do with the loss of Eurostar taxi account ...Ed
Are coaches the same as buses?
Hi Alan
You may remember my unsuccessful four-year campaign to allow
taxis through the bus lane in Tunnel Avenue by Blackwall Tunnel? You printed
the article in Call Sign last year.
Since then, I regularly see private coaches drive through the no
entry sign that says ‘except buses’. The limit for me was recently
when I was in heavy traffic on the A102, just passing the exit from the bus
lane and I saw three private coaches drive through the
‘buses only’ no entry sign and get onto the A102 under the very nose
of a police officer who was hidden at the exit to catch the likes of we taxi
drivers, had we done the same as the coaches. The police just waved them
through. Astonishing! I contacted the police and still await their response.
What concerns me is the response I got from Greenwich council. It is
outlined below:
The traffic order defining the vehicles permitted to use the bus
lane states that buses and coaches are permitted to use the bus lane. In the
Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002, buses are defined as
vehicles constructed or adapted to carry more than 8 passengers exclusive of
the driver. Therefore as coaches have more than 8 seats, they are permitted
to use the bus lane.
As with all traffic orders, restrictions contained in the orders
shall not apply to anything done with the permission of or at the direction
of a police constable in uniform.
You will understand my confusion. Limousines carry more than
eight people. Are they allowed to use bus lanes? The police were not acting
in extraordinary circumstances where there were roadworks or an accident,
which could possibly require buses to go through. They were hidden to catch
illegal vehicles driving through. So why did they allow coaches through? Any
assistance or advice you can offer would be appreciated. I want to know if
Greenwich council could be correct. I do remember at the site meeting with
the PCO, police Greenwich council and TfL I was told only buses are allowed
to go through. Any ideas on who I might contact for more confirmation?
Tom Reynolds (O85)
Interesting scenario Tom. However, last year the PCO confirmed to
Call Sign exactly what Greenwich Council told you - ie that buses or
coaches with over 8 seats can use bus lanes. Taxis can only do so when it
says taxis on the sign, however, I agree with you that if coaches are
allowed, then so should taxis be able to go through.
As for stretch limos, I was told some time ago that they weren't
allowed to carry more than 8 passengers regardless of their capacity.
However, I’m still not 100% certain about that.
Who to write to? Try the Public Liaison Unit at mayor@london.gov.uk
and please let Call Sign know how you get on ...Ed |
Dial-a-Cab driver Jim
McClean (N08) is philosophical about Penalty Charge Notices. "If
it’s down to me, I’ll hold my hands up and call it a fair cop. But I don’t
like it when councils use me as a form of income – and that is exactly what
Camden Council tried to do. As a result, I fought them all the way to
the PATAS (Parking and Traffic appeals services) adjudication service – and
I won!"
Jim was travelling south down Bloomsbury Street towards Shaftesbury
Avenue. Close to the area where the Shaftesbury Theatre is, you have to
cross three yellow box junctions and that’s where Jim may have been caught.
We say may have been reservedly...
"I received a PCN soon after," said Jim, "showing a photo of my cab
in a box junction and giving the position as Shaftesbury |
Avenue, Shaftesbury Avenue. I remember
reading in Call Sign about the Dial-a-Cab driver whose PCN was
cancelled – also in Shaftesbury Avenue - because they didn’t specify exactly
where the box was. After all, there are quite a few there."
Jim appealed to Camden on those grounds and they threw it back at
him saying that he had been caught on camera and that was good enough - £60
please! But Jim wasn’t having that.
"I really am peed off with these councils who treat us as saving
accounts for them. They knew they were wrong, yet still refused to back down
and forced me to go to the adjudication service at the Angel. I explained
the situation - that the council hadn’t told me which box I’d been in. After
all, if they had told me, I might have remembered and there may have been a
reason, |
giving me grounds to plead special
circumstances. In addition, I also told the adjudicator that one of the
three boxes at the northern end of Shaftesbury Avenue was the wrong size –
that was also in Call Sign regarding the yellow box at the
Olympic Park. As a result, the adjudicator found in my favour. My only wish
is that Camden are made to suffer when they send out PCNs where the person
is obviously not guilty. But I know they have probably just moved on to
another poor taxi driver. That’s why we can’t give up the battle..." |
