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Well, it’s that month again –
my birthday on 9 October! The question is whether I’ll get more cards from
readers than last year? Mind you, I don’t suppose 3 should be that difficult
to beat! Far more importantly, my sincere thanks to the many drivers who
emailed, phoned or even sent those funny things that go into envelopes –
real letters – all sending their best wishes to Linda for a speedy recovery.
It really was appreciated and extremely touching...
Copyright © 2010 The Press Association. All rights
reserved...
As an Editor, I see the above message numerous times. It means
exactly what it says on the tin – it’s their story and if you want to use
it, you do so via The Press Association. Sometimes there’s a charge,
sometimes there isn’t. The same applies to their photography department.
Either way, no one can deny the excellent credentials of that organisation –
especially the BBC who took and used the following story from the PA.
It was headed Taxi driver helps passenger give birth and explained
how a London taxi driver told of his shock after picking up a pregnant
customer going to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to have her baby – which
then popped out a week early, whereupon the driver helped to deliver it in
the back of his cab.
However, the PA story quoted driver Iain Coombes as saying: "I've
had many experiences as an Addison Lee driver, but nothing like
this!"
Addison Lee are no friends of Call Sign, but on this
occasion I have nothing but admiration for the driver and I don’t blame him
for the story. But LTPA should have a polite word with the Press Association
and explain the difference between private hire and real taxis. As for the
BBC, I gave them up long ago...
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Mobile phones and driving...
I try not to preach, so this is just a
friendly warning. If you are unlucky enough to be involved in a serious
incident while driving your cab and one in which the police are called,
there is every chance that they will check your mobile phone log to see if
you were on a call at the time. And if by chance you were, then be prepared
for the worst. Even if you can show you were using a Bluetooth, then that
still doesn’t mean you are in the clear. Whether you take any notice is up
to you, but if you are silly enough to still hold your phone to your ears
while driving, then you are probably asking for it...
Anti-smoking minicabs?
I don’t think I have ever said anything
nice about Addison Lee (well, maybe the baby story above). I don’t like the
way the management force themselves onto the world in a "we do what we like"
way, however I really found it difficult to do anything other than admire
the clever public relations exercise they pulled off with their 16,000 free
"Addison Lee cigarette bins" outside many public places – including the exit
to the Dial-a-Cab car park!
Did it stop people throwing their cigarette butts onto the floor? I
don’t know, but I do know that at around the time this issue of Call
Sign goes to press, Westminster Council are scheduled to take AL to
court because councilors say that the free cigarette bins breach planning
laws.
Because the case could be imminent, I’d better leave discussion on
it there, but I’d just like to make two points:
Firstly, doesn’t Westminster |
Council have anything better to spend
their money on and second, what a pity DaC didn’t think of the idea first!
The DaC tour
When Mike Leo (Z09) emailed Call Sign to ask
what the chances of a tour of Dial-a-Cab were, in all honesty I didn’t know!
But fortunately I knew a man that did and following a tour lasting over 2
hours with Call Centre Manager Keith Cain, Mike has admitted that his
views of the Society have changed – especially on Concierge, which he hadn’t
been keen on. The story of Mike’s tour is in this issue and I’m pleased to
that Keith has offered to accompany any driver who would like to have a look
round and to ask any questions.
Grant him a story?
Grant Davis has been vehemently anti Dial-a-Cab ever since he was
expelled, but I found it difficult to believe that even his hatred of this
Society would lead him into reporting us to LTPH, because according to the
Chairman of the LCDC, we don’t have a private hire operator’s licence and
according to him, we should have. Well, as we have no cars or PH drivers,
the request seems to be stretching the facts.
However, his organisation’s newspaper, The Badge, has
published an article claiming that DaC had been asked to apply for a PH
operator’s licence before we had even been told, and that suggests a set-up
- one designed purely to get a story that would show up DaC. So far as I
know, we have not signed anything but that isn’t really the point. That
point is just how far Grant Davis will go to get a derogatory story about
Dial-a-Cab.
The story is inside this issue and even Brian Rice has written
about it in his Chairman’s report.
Alan Fisher
Callsignmag@aol.com |
