MAILSHOT

Making an example?
Hi Alan,
   Re my letter in the last Call Sign (Cars v Taxis), it was never my intention to insult Brian and if I have, then I apologise.
   When I say passion, it is more than just getting accounts; it is setting examples. If a Board member drives a cab, it should be in one less than 3 years old with all-round air-con so that he may inspire others to follow his lead, not in a clapped out Metro or Fairway. When new applicants wish to join Dial-a-Cab, the criteria should be the same.
   Furthermore, air-con should be an attribute so we can ensure that when directors are being transported, they are not carried in a sh**cart that shakes, rattles and rolls. That is passion.
   Can you imagine the ammunition it would give to our sales team if they could guarantee an almost-new taxi with full air-con for every trip? Well that’s what Addison Lee and others are doing. Being professional is no longer enough and when clients ask for a car, they should be informed that we offer a premier taxi service. It must be more comfortable in a cab, being able to stretch your feet rather than sitting in a Prius or Merc with your knees under your chin. Stephen Field (F68)
Brian Rice responds: I couldn't agree with you more Stephen and as for insulting me  - you didn't, I have been doing this for far too long to be insulted, I just wanted you to think about what you had written!
   I recently attended a meeting at the PCO where the topic under conversation was the Mayor's Air Quality Strategy (MAQS). Being discussed was at what age a taxi should be scrapped - perhaps 10,12,15 years of age - or more. Driver’s associations were arguing for a taxi to be at the maximum age before being scrapped, however I do know that the two association representatives present both own taxis over twelve years old, so perhaps they have a vested interest in allowing taxis of all ages to ply for hire and perhaps should not have been present! As the meeting progressed, one association’s representative - or should I say 'Club’ representative, became very animated and threatened to block roads in London and was in my view, extremely confrontational and just showed himself in his true colours. I just listened to the 'bovver' boy and wondered how much harm he was doing our trade by not being capable of negotiating, but just doing what he has done all his life with people that did not agree with him - and that was to threaten them! 
   Anyway, the Director of Taxis and Private Hire asked me why I was so quiet, which was not usually the case, and I told him that there were a sizeable proportion of taxi drivers out there that do invest in our business by changing their cabs and how could anyone possibly argue about the London taxi fleet being more modern and greener? However, the problem as I saw it was purely finance, the trade can't afford it! Perhaps the Mayor or TfL should come up with a sizeable scrappage scheme for taxis if he wants to make the fleet more modern? The 2012 games are going to cost around £10billion and the Mayor will incur a fine of 300million euros if he does not clean up the air in London, so a substantial scrappage scheme looks to be very modest by comparison! All without any confrontation with TfL and even more importantly, members of the public. So you see Stephen, we are not far apart in our theories, the only thing that possibly separates us is the money to make our theories materialise.

Where are the Apps?
Dear Ed
   Every now and then mankind comes up with a way of communicating that changes the way we go about things. From the Penny Black to the telephone to the world wide web, companies have had to embrace the latest technology or be rendered obsolete. Well mankind - or rather Apple - have done it again. I’m talking of course about the iPhone and in particular the iPhone applications. For those uninitiated, the iPhone is a mobile phone more technologically advanced than Apollo 13. It is the fastest selling phone of all time, not just in the gadget-obsessed world of the 18 to 24 year olds, but most business users too. The chances are your passenger is comparing your route on his iPhone right now. The Blackberry has all but become the Betamax of the phone world. There are over 100,000 Apps to choose from and the bad news is that one of the best belongs to Addison Lee. And it has just been advertised on ITV. Passengers who would normally walk out to the street to hail a taxi can now at the press of a screen have an AL car at their GPS location in ten minutes. They can even see the fixed price before they confirm the booking. This service is available to both cash and account customers.
   So there you have it. Every time a passenger uses this system, another yellow light remains on and our much valued account customers have to bellow down their mobile like Dom Jolly. So my point is where is our app? Why are we left behind? We need to be on the iPhone now!
David Ballard (N28)
See Jon Winterburn’s article in this issue on the new and brilliant DaC website. Never mind just the iPhone, what about Blackberry and Android etc? Our new website does everything - bar cover the actual work! ...Ed

Still on DaC...
Hello Alan,
   You may remember I was leaving DaC in April because of a lack of work, but at the eleventh hour I decided to remain a subscriber for the foreseeable future. I have decided to try different hours for the summer months and I hope this will achieve some change in the amount of radio work I will be offered. I will now work in the mornings until approximately 3pm. I thought it only polite to inform you.
   I still don't quite agree with Brian Rice's view on 30 years being a fair way to distribute reduced subs, but I accept it. I will not after all be able to reach 30 years service. There are other drivers who could manage 20 years or more and they are the ones who it would help.
   I look forward to continue reading Call Sign and maybe contributing in a small way...
Tom Reynolds (O85)
Pleased to hear you have had a rethink Tom ...Ed

Not a tank!!!
Al,
   Gotta say I was disappointed with your reference to Jim Thomas as Thomas the Tank in the May Call Sign. I think Steve McNamara first referred to him as Thomas the Tanker, which of course is slang for w**ker. Our magazine has a lot of admirable values (no sleazy advertising, no anonymous content etc) so I must say I thought this was beneath you. Hope you take this in the constructive spirit it was sent...
Mark Sherlock (W41)
Thanks for pointing it out Mark. I hadn’t realised I’d written it until I got your email. It was a pure accident with obvious thoughts of my grandchildren and the younger ones semi-addiction to Thomas the Tank engine. I should have referred to Jim Thomas (of The Anderson Shelter) as Thomas the Taxi. I emailed him to apologise and he accepted the apology ...Ed

Credit card authorisation?
Hello Alan,
Re-reading the information from Keith Cain and Allan Evans in recent Call Signs regarding street credit card hirings, I am a little confused. Why do I have to take a rubbing of the card to prove it was present if I have to swipe the card to get authorisation? As keying in the detail is not permitted and I'm not psychic, is this not a duplication? Am I to no longer get a signature on the 'till roll' from the terminal if the banks will only accept a signature on a paper slip? On two occasions recently, my passengers have refused to sign twice fearing, mistakenly, that I am operating some kind of fraud! If the banks insist on paper rubbings, thus suggesting DaC technology is worthless, are they prepared to provide an imprint machine that will give a more readable copy of the credit card over the miserable reproduction I can currently achieve? Placing the credit card under three paper slips only gives an embossed imprint on the two flimsy bottom copies, with just the blank top copy being of a quality that will accept a signature.
David S. Lessman (D19)
Warren Smith, DaC Financial Controller responds: Dear David, I would like to clear up your confusion by answering each of your points and giving you a brief explanation as to why we do the things the way we do them. Firstly, you are equating the act of getting the authorisation code with proving the card is present. This is a common misconception among drivers. As you rightly say, you are not allowed to key a card into the terminal. But if you did, you would still get an auth code as you would with a swipe, but only with the words ‘swiped on the till roll’ means the card is present. It is on this slip that you require a signature.
   Secondly DaC technology is

 not worthless, but like all technology it is limited and our limit is the periphery of the M25. If you are out of range you will not get a signal and therefore not be able to print from the terminal. It is only then that you need to make rubbing of the card and get a signature on the second copy (after calculating the fare and handling charge correctly) that you keep. Only one signature required – why did you ask your passengers to sign twice? Both the ‘swiped on the till roll’ and the rubbing of the card show that the card is present and so we satisfy the requirements of the bank. We still however get drivers that key cards into the terminal and if we receive notification for a chargeback on these transactions, then those drivers will lose their fare, as they would not have followed the correct Dial-a-Cab procedure.

BBC and Addison Lee ads – the Beeb respond...
   The May Call Sign contained an article by DaC driver Divyesh Ruparelia (V59). He had complained to this mag about BBC presenter Tim Westwood, who on his digital Radio 1Xtra programme kept mentioning Addison Lee. Divyesh had previously complained to the Beeb but got no response, so he asked Call Sign to try. The Beeb then responded...
Dear Mr Ruparelia
   Thanks for your e-mail regarding Tim Westwood’s broadcast on 13 April 2010. I understand you felt Tim mentioned the private hire firm Addison Lee too often and thus broke the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on advertising. I've since liaised with the Executive Producer of the programme, Andy Worrell, who explained:
"As the Executive Producer for Tim Westwood's show, I do take on board your comments regarding Tim's reference to Addison Lee during his show on 13 April. Striking a balance between reflecting the real commercial world in our output and avoiding undue prominence or promotion of products and brands, poses a test for us as broadcasters. In Tim's defence, I would say that the remark came about as the result of an innocent question regarding the car Tinchy Stryder drove, rather than direction promotion. I will have a conversation with Tim and the production team to remind them of the BBC's guidelines however."
I trust this explains the BBC's view on this topic and thanks once again for taking the time to contact the BBC.
Andrew Martin
Divisional Advisor, BBC Complaints
Not ideal, but I doubt that Tim Westwood will be so careless again ...Ed

The art of taxi driving...?Sir
   I was rather bemused by the letter from Keith Holbrook (T92) in the May Call Sign regarding the state of the trade. As the owner of a Fairway of some 930,000 miles and quite a lot of years experience, my work has hardly changed. The majority of work is still the middle classes and tourists; the biggest change being the advent of the mobile phone, which is usually the first thing that clients attend to. If I may venture some thoughts regarding passengers, the prime objective is to convey them to their destination safely and swiftly.
   Your vehicle should be clean and odour-friendly, your dress sober and clean. Your driving is more important than the vehicle and smooth braking and accelerating with no violent manoeuvres is de rigueur. Talk only when spoken to, remembering that the client is hiring a private space, so keep the partition closed. Music should be soft and neutral, I find copies of the Guardian and Mail on the rear shelf a welcome extra. Cough sweets and tissues kept handy is an often an appreciated touch.
   If you must drive an oversized van conversion with doors closing like crematorium curtains then so be it, but SatNav and copies of The Sun are out, as is the awful hearing aid type of phone attachment. And few passengers appreciate the egotistical ravings of a driver.
   Many tourists prefer the shape of the taxi they saw in the brochure, along with Routemasters and red phone boxes.
   Finally, keeping a reliable cab going is way ahead in the saving the planet stakes, as the carbon cost of manufacturing and the use of shrinking resources to make a new cab are grossly excessive. You know you are doing a professional service when you hear a quiet
   "thank you for a lovely journey" at the end of the trip. Surely fair reward for a job well done.
Joseph Batty (W90)
   Thanks for the letter Joseph, your point is well made. One problem is that there are many out there in the passenger world that equate good with new. The other problem is that not every 900.000 Fairway is as well looked after as yours is ...Ed

Taxis and supermarkets!
Dear Alan
   I would like to ask Paul Dacosta (L68), who wrote in the May Call Sign that he would be losing out if he tried to undercut minicabs, where his partner goes shopping? Does she go to the corner shop or does she shop at the supermarkets? The reason supermarkets do so well is because they apparently undercut the corner shop. Assuming it’s the supermarket, while there does she buy just what she needs or if she sees some bargains, does she buy those too because she is saving more money buying them there? Our situation could be similar to that. If we offer rides a bit cheaper, would it not encourage our clients to start using us more because they are saving money on trips? It is time we worried less about what was on the meter and more about how much we can take in an hour!
Ivor Belkin (C97) 
   I think we have to be careful here because once you start to reduce prices what would happen if the competition then reduced theirs? Would we reduce ours again? Don’t forget that the competition couldn’t care less about what their drivers earn, because if they don’t like it they can go elsewhere and someone else will always be waiting to take their place. However, it is interesting that the PCO have only recently allowed drivers to charge below the meter should they want to ...Ed

Taking the Mike?
Hello Alan,
   Having just read the May Call Sign article by Mike Son, I have been left a little shocked at his apparent naivety. Mike Son seems slightly nonplussed as to why we, from time to time, have to endure the very random and rare PCO and police checks. The reason is simple; there are a sizable number of taxi drivers out there amongst us who are Yellow Badge drivers and a number that do not even have a badge, be it green or yellow. These drivers are not just cheekily picking up a fare should they happen to be dropping off in town, they drive straight in assuming they have as much right as us! Some pop an airport pass holder onto their windscreen just to look a bit authentic and may chuck an LTDA badge holder around their neck with no badge on the end, obviously as that might be seen. You may have realised how sometimes the work picks up a bit when there is an event at the ExCel, so there’s obviously no need to come into town on those days. Food for thought?
I may have misinterpreted Mike`s article, but I for one welcome the checks whether your POB or not, most punters would be more than understanding once told its a security check.
Alec Wilkey (W83)
   At the risk of offending a Board member, I agree with you Alec! Mike allowed himself to throw into a series of excellent articles concerning our trade, a piece on the PCO / TfL where he allowed his anti-minicab feelings to encroach onto his main point – they were still hanging up on street corners. Call Sign has, over the years, given much publicity to the fact that during quiet periods, yellow badge drivers were working in town and asked that the authorities try to do something about it (several were recently caught on the Eurostar rank). Now they are, and it may be inconvenient for us but if it catches out yellow badge drivers then that can only be a good thing because in my view, a suburban driver deliberately working in town is no better than a touting minicab driver and if anyone tells me that it’s better a yellow badge than a tout, I swear I’ll scream! ...Ed

Going back in time...
Dear Al,
   I was interested in the Eddie Goodhall (S26) article (May Call Sign) regarding Jack Taylor’s war cry of Cover the Work. I can go back even a few years earlier to the early sixties and dispatcher / Board member Bernie Lyons (B45). He used to plead with us to cover the work with the saying: "Come on gents, you can only put money into the bank – not diesel! It doesn’t matter if you use a gallon a day more – you’ll earn more in the long run."
   These are words I have never forgotten all these years later and because of that I have always earned a good living on ODRTS / DaC...
Gerald Webber (E11)
   Thanks for the letter Gerald. Bernie Lyons served the Society for many years, finally retiring in 1967 through ill health. He died later that year at the age of 52 and the Board of the time decided as a mark of respect to never re-issue the B45 call sign again. Many years later, due to a long waiting list of drivers, it returned and the current driver honoured with that call sign is Serdar Eryuzlu ...Ed

Selling your cab...
Alan,
   Could you let me know how I can advertise the sale of my cab through Call Sign please? In addition, how do I arrange the

 advert to go out over the terminal?
Mark Gower (A32)
   I’m publishing Mark’s letter because I get quite a number of similar ones asking about advertising their cabs for sale. I used to have a page of ‘cabs for sale’ ads but received several complaints that because Call Sign is monthly, had they sold their cab early on in the month or even prior in a private sale, their phone would continue ringing with enquiries. Otherwise I had no problems doing it. The mag goes on-line as well, so a few drivers were getting phone calls for months afterwards! There were also complaints when messages went out over driver’s terminals saying that they were getting fed up with the stream of ‘for sale’ ads. So now the only option is to put the ad onto the driver’s notice board in the DaC rear reception. I wish I could help more ...Ed

RMT and tachographs – Bob Oddy responds
Dear Editor
   Your readers will be aware that the LTDA has during recent months, expressed concern that the RMT union has supported the introduction of a restriction on taxi drivers’ working hours and the fitting of tachographs in all taxis. In the May 2010 edition of Call Sign you provided Eddie Lambert (V27), the outgoing chairman of the RMT London Taxi Branch, an opportunity to outline the RMT’s official position on this very controversial issue. Eddie denied that the RMT were pursuing such a policy and stated that the RMT "saw no need for tachographs in London taxis". This statement is untrue. In October 2009, the RMT in its official response to the Department for Transport’s Review of the Domestic Drivers’ Hours Rules, stated that the current restrictions should be extended to include "all drivers who carry passengers" including taxi drivers. The RMT also stated that the fitting of tachographs should be made mandatory. Eddie would be well advised to remember that official responses to Government Consultations are a matter of public record.
Bob Oddy
LTDA General Secretary

Open letter to London’s taxi drivers
Dear Colleagues
   The London Taxidrivers Fund for Underprivileged Children was established in 1928 by a group of well-intentioned cab drivers with the primary aim of taking London underprivileged children on days out to the seaside. Almost all of the children who went on those trips were financially bereft and identifiable as children worthy of a day out at the cab driver’s expense. As the years moved forward, the committee expanded its constitution and started introducing schemes such as buying equipment for homes and hospitals, and also helping out individual children - including cab drivers children - with a variety of things to make their lives more worthwhile and tolerable. All this was done with the best of intentions and the committee’s motives were never questioned about the type of children they were helping. In those far-off days, it was left to committee members to best determine how the funds that were donated were spent and what type of children benefited from its actions. The drivers who went on the outings never ‘looked for clues’ about the children, but relied on the committee to make the right decisions. Our fund now has a substantial database of drivers who regularly come on our outings and we thank them for doing so, as without them we could not function properly. Like the drivers of years ago, they ask no questions about the children but rely on the committee’s integrity. Nevertheless we now have a problem.
   It seems there are some drivers who decline to join our outings because they do not think that the children we are helping are in any way underprivileged and so miss out on what is traditionally a really important time in helping those children. Please allow me to remind you, long gone are the days when poor children walked about with their butts hanging out of their trousers and holes in their shoes, these days they are more likely to be wearing Gap track suits with Nike trainers, even though these clothes are very likely hand-me-downs and maybe the only decent clothes the child has, and there’s the rub. What the driver who looks at these children does not see is the hidden, usually unspoken problem, the child who has been sexually abused for most of it’s life, the mental scars of a child frightened to death every night when his father comes home drunk, the mental anguish of someone who is physically abused with a belt or a stick just for saying the wrong thing, a terminal health problem that you don’t know about, children surviving day to day in a woman’s refuge praying their father does not find them, ‘Gingerbread’ and foster home children, etc. All of our children are ‘special needs’ in one way or another and deserve all the help we can give them. None of our children have the privileges that we as cab drivers can give our own children.
   I could go on, but I think you get the point. Being underprivileged does not always mean it is visible, not every child can be in a wheelchair, or walk with callipers, some children are severely deaf, but you would never know it to look at them, some are refugees from war torn countries who will never get over their scars, lots of our children are from various ethnic backgrounds who may feel lost in today’s world The list is endless and unfortunately it will probably never end, there will always be a need for our cab trade charities.
   So I say to all those drivers old and new, come on these outings, maybe starting with our trip to Southend on 13th July, make a difference to a child’s life, don’t question the type of child we ask you to take, these children are not chosen lightly, (yes, we are aware of the ‘ordinary’ child who goes to the same school and has to accompany the group but sometimes we have no choice) we are in constant touch with various organisations making sure we get things as tight as possible. One day it could be a child you know who you want us to help but who may not ‘look the part’. Thank you for taking the trouble to read this, I hope to see you on one of our outings.
Malcolm Shaffron.
Hon Sec, London Taxidrivers Fund for Underprivileged Children

DaC’s knights of the road
   To my knights of the road at Dial-a-Cab, I can but use words to thank you all so much for the kindness you have shown to me and my late husband Norman whenever we used our TaxiCards. My rheumatoid arthritis may stop me running or even walking too well, but it will never stop me smiling and when you drivers smile back in return – as you always do – it helps make my day that much better. And of course I mustn’t forget to thank Carol Carpenter and your call takers at Dial-a-Cab. I can’t see them but I can hear the smiles in their voices. You are all my knights of the road and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart...
Carol Plaskett
London SW1
Thanks for the lovely words Carol ...Ed

Australians and London taxis...
Hi Alan, 
   A neighbour of mine has just returned from the UK visiting his son who lives in the Barbican. I had given him DaC’s phone number (naturally) so that if he needed a cab he could call. I gave him as many insights into London as I could, using aerial shots taken from the Flying Eye, the Master Atlas and walks around the city. He used cabs on a few occasions, two of which he came into contact with one of DaC's drivers, who I think I've correctly identified as Debbie Hope (W18). He was staying in apartments in Baltic St, beneath which is a cafe run by a Turk. This particular morning he was picking up a coach for a tour at the Park Plaza, Lancaster Gate, departing at 7.30am. He went down for breakfast and talking to the owner was asked if he had booked a cab? When told he hadn't, the owner took him round the corner into Old St to that scruffy little minicab office near the junction. He said he needed a cab for 6.45am but was told no and that it would pick him up at 7am! He expressed concern as to whether it would get them there in time. But so far as the scab owner was concerned, it was take it or leave it! They accepted and needless to say the scab had not arrived by 7.05, so they walked down to the junction of Baltic and Goswell and that’s where they hailed Debbie. She got them there in time and gave them her mobile number and that of her husband Duncan (R52). They did phone on another occasion, to which she duly obliged but on the third occasion, when going to Paddington for the Heathrow Express to go home, Debbie and Duncan were flying to Scotland, so he again hailed a street cab. Chatting to this driver, he learned he had a son in Oz and another one in the US. My neighbour then told him about me being an ex-DaC driver. When he dropped them at Paddington, he insisted on getting the bags out. He only had one driver who he considered a little 'off' with the rest being friendly and courteous. He also said that Debbie Hope was delightful! So well done Debbie and thank you from an ex-DaC driver for being so kind and helpful to my neighbour.
Be lucky,
Howard Sales (Ex-A11)
   Many older drivers will remember Howard Sales (ex-A11) who helped train so many drivers at the time of Dial-a-Cab originally going over from voice to data transmission in 1988. He later emigrated to Brisbane, Australia. Howard still reads each issue of Call Sign online ...Ed