Call Sign October 2010 - Page 7 - A Driver’s View of DaC!

DaC driver Mike Leo (Z09) recently asked Call Sign if he could have a tour of DaC, so we arranged for Keith Cain to show him around. These are his views of what he saw... My name is Mike Leo (Z09) and I have been a taxi driver for 9 years of which the last 2.5 years have been with Dial-a-Cab, with the previous time being spent with ComCab. Those that know me will understand when I say I hate not knowing how an operation is run and at ComCab you were only told the bits you should know and I have often wondered if DaC was the same. So I sent an email to Alan Fisher at Call Sign explaining my problem and how I would like to know the full story. Within a few hours, a visit had been arranged at the heart of DaC with Keith Cain. Once I arrived at DaC and met Keith, I noticed the booking / despatch area was very calm and relaxed. However, my biggest moan has always been the complex system of Concierge and how it works. I spent a good bit of time with Keith asking many questions on how the booking system works, along with the despatch area. Every single question I asked	A Driver’s View of DaC!
	*Mike Leo is shown around the call centre by Keith Cain* Keith, I was immediately given an honest answer to. Yes, I even asked questions about the Concierge service that most drivers moan about... including me. Keith not only told me how it worked, I also watched how it works and for once I was lost for words because DaC gets most of the work from it! Do I explain? I can do but why? An easier solution is that instead of just moaning about this system, why not contact Keith and arrange to visit the Call Centre for an hour or so and see for yourself how it all works. I also asked Keith about the ranking system, minicab accounts, call-outs, bid jobs, booking into incorrect areas and all this information was shown to me and explained in full detail. As for cheating, I saw that DaC know where you are and what you are doing. That way, any driver that tries to cheat the system will be	caught. It really opened my eyes. Another subject I spoke to Keith about was the JPM fixed price trips. For drivers that don’t know, the fixed price jobs are for the top 20 destinations that their staff go to and yes, Keith is aware that this was arranged before drivers were informed and wanted to say a sorry for the lack of communication by the accounts department. We still have the account and still get plenty of normal metered trips in addition to FPs. So to all my fellow drivers, instead of moaning about customer services, bookings or despatch staff, take an elongated lunch break and see how our set-up works. Our staff get stick from both drivers and customers when they are just doing their job in trying to keep you earning pound notes. I was at DaC for well over two hours in the afternoon and I plan to arrange another visit in the near future at a busier time so that I can understand more about the system under pressure. My thanks again to Call Sign for arranging my visit and to Keith Cain for showing me round and answering all my questions. Mike Leo (Z09)

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