2009 Minutes
Minutes of the 2009 meeting were passed with 99.1% of members voting in favour and 0.9% against. There were no matters arising…

Chairman’s Report
There was just one question regarding the Chairman’s Report in the Annual Report. It came from Laurence Kelvin (W88). He complimented the Chairman on keeping staff morale up during a period when their numbers had been reduced, but asked whether rates paid to DaC’s Human Resources department should be reduced as there were fewer staff employed? The Chairman responded by explaining how much work that department still had to cover, including the computer usage policy, overseeing staff and various disciplinaries among other things. They also did the wage roll.
   The Annual Report was passed with 99.1% of members voting in favour and 0.9% against.

Auditor’s Report
Mike Tovey then went through the Balance Sheet and Income/Expenditure accounts up to August 2010 and confirmed the financial strength of the Society. Mike then asked for questions.
Pat Sheehan (W54) thanked the BoM for guiding the Society successfully through the recent very quiet period. He went on to ask whether it was possible to break down the figures gathered under the general heading of "other operating costs."
   Brian responded by explaining that it covered items such as Roman Way, cleaning our building, paying Council Tax and even things such as franking machines. Brian assured Pat that there was nothing being hidden and that this was the modern way of showing accounts.
Bob Ambrose (V13) asked about tax classification and Mike gave a detailed explanation of how our Society works so far as tax demands are concerned. Brian came in to thank Chantrey Vellacott for the work they did on behalf of DaC. Bob ended by wondering whether we should consider doubling our subscriptions so as not to have to charge an admin fee to clients? He thought that the extra work we would gain would more than make up the extra charge drivers would have to pay. Brian disagreed and said it would be very unpopular and would depend on how much radio work the driver did. He said there hadn’t been a subs increase for 3 years and that the Board were hopeful that this could make a fourth year.

To reappoint Chantrey Vellacott
This was carried with 97.7% of members in favour and 2.3% against.

Board of Management Elections
All those standing for election spoke. The candidates consisted of the outgoing BoM and Joe Brazil (K16). Subscribers were then given the opportunity to question candidates.
Pat Keefe (G01) asked Joe Brazil about his suggestion involving charities; John Rubini (F55) asked about marketing whilst reminding everyone about some of the policies Sovereign Capital had put forward in 2002 when making a bid to purchase DaC driver’s shares.
Colin Jenkins (Y22) asked about individual Board members hours and Brian Rice went

through them. David Kupler (Y74) quizzed Allen Togwell rather forcefully about his
graphic designing, followed by Tony Sam-Yorke (W95) who suggested that questioning shouldn’t be so
personalised and that Board Members should have some prior knowledge of any questions. Brian disagreed saying that our AGMs have always been open and that is how they should stay. But David Kupler later apologised to Allen Togwell (see cover pic). Will that handshake end 20 years of apparent animosity between the pair? Sid Nathan (K88) then asked about the costs of our Annual Report. Brian told him how much money we were saving with our new printers.
Gerry Dunn MBE (S84) then congratulated the Board on doing a "fantastic job" under such trying circumstances. He went onto suggest that an idea for the future could be for a ‘shadowing’ of the Board with some younger drivers as our BoM were ageing. Brian disagreed saying that our future was gradually moving away from the elected Board as it currently operated and that we were moving towards two Boards – an elected one with drivers coming in once a month to set policy and an executive Board to actually run the business.
   The election results were as follows (in alphabetical order):
Joe Brazil 755
Keith Cain 1165
Allan Evans 1332
Mike Son 1108
Allen Togwell 1102
Tom Whitbread 1082
The outgoing Board were re-elected.

Any Other Business
First up was David Kupler (Y74). He asked about a Call Sign letter regarding E14C and E14S and after admitting that he was the mysterious driver who had written the original letter, asked whether it would be possible to sit anywhere in E14 rather than on the two ranks? He also pointed out that there were other ranks inside the Canary Wharf circle where we should show our faces. Keith Cain answered and said that he had no problem changing the system if enough drivers wanted it, but he believed the majority liked the system as it was. Brian Rice reminded drivers that Cabot Square security wanted our taxis on ranks and not just parked up. David said there were lots of ranks but Brian then brought up the problem of the call centre having to monitor who was where and whether they were correctly booked in. He said the Board would look at the suggestion again.
Tony Sam-Yorke (W95) spoke next and brought up the subject of trying to stop with the City covered by CCTV cameras. Brian even told of one customer in Baker Street where we had to close the account because every single time we stopped there, we got a ticket! He also told of all the people he had spoken to about the PCNs but that we were still having no luck getting anything done. Brian added that we were now lucky to have Barrie Segal working for us and that he was saving us a lot of money. We had even put in joint appeals with ComCab to give taxis more leeway, but councils saw us as a cash cow.
Ray Sorene (A53) then spoke about the new terminals and whether they would operate via GPS or a zonal system. Brian said he felt a zonal system was better for drivers.
Pat Keefe (G01) continued on the subject of new terminals. Brian explained the difference between GPS and GPRS and told how the new terminals would have a much wider coverage even though we would still be on a zonal system. Brian gave a rundown of what systems were out there and what they did.
   Speaking about PCNs, Sid Nathan (K88) asked the Chairman if he could write to all the councils to tell them to leave our taxis alone for 10 minutes while we were trying to work! He then went on to talk about details on trips and mentioned one where he had to pick up a Westminster passenger whose details were given as Finchley Road by the post office! Brian responded by saying there was no one he hadn’t already spoken to already that could influence the situation regarding PCNs and that the new terminals might be able to determine whereabouts in a long road certain buildings were. Sid also wanted a sticker

that asked passengers if there was a route they preferred, then they should tell the driver before the journey commenced. The Chairman responded that it would have to be passed by LTPH and then if they said no, that would be it, whereas most drivers that currently had the notice had just made one themselves.
   Then it was former Driver Trainer Barry Groner’s (V30) turn at the mic. He turned the PCN situation on its head by saying that he had never received a ticket whilst waiting for a passenger and that it was just a matter of using commonsense. If necessary, he had asked the call centre to put him through to the passenger, gave them his mobile number and said that as soon as they were ready they should phone him and he would be waiting round the corner.
   Referring to the previous speaker, Bill Chatterway (A43) queried whether we now gave out customer’s phone numbers? Brian said that the call centre had put Barry through and that he hadn’t called them himself.
Rob Lyle (W39) followed Bill onto the lectern and brought his own props – a toilet roll - explaining that this was to remind everyone of how AGMs used to be conducted! He asked Brian if he regretted the departure of the postal vote? The Chairman explained how some of the meetings used to descend into a form of chaos and mentioned one particular AGM at the Metropole in Edgware Road where 970 members were present, yet the highest vote was just 400. Most had already left before the vote was called for! He also added that when DaC members were asked if they wanted postal voting, around 93% voted yes.
   Rob also asked whether service had suffered since fixed prices had become more common, quoting some of the roadworks around town. Brian said that service was good but that DaC never went into an account offering fixed prices and that we resisted them as much as possible. But at this moment, the customer was king. Rob also asked about rumours concerning the Goldman Sachs rank and Brian explained the situation.
   Referring to the previous speaker, John Rubini (F55) arrived at the lectern and raised some smiles by apologising for not bringing any "props" with him! He asked Brian about the number of trips we get at accounts using Concierge and whether there was some form of failsafe if an account’s usage went down. The DaC Chairman said that there was and explained what it involved.
Terry Buffin (S16) was up next and spoke about late night fixed price rides on EC5, asking Brian whether clients were told that the trip was a fixed price and that they should go down asap? The response was that clients are told that so far as the City was concerned, passengers shouldn’t wait for the phone call because coverage was very good there and that the taxi could be outside before the advise arrival call was even received by the customer. He emphasised that general message was for any trip and not just fixed price ones. Terry also spoke about the bad weather when traffic ground to a halt and asked why the As Directed trips on EC5 weren’t taken out and destinations given. Brian said there was no hard and fast rule; decisions such as those were left entirely to the dispatcher’s discretion.
Robert Stroulger (Y50) was the penultimate speaker and asked whether we could still have the emergency button with the new terminals? The answer was yes, but Call Sign doesn’t consider it should put the information into the public domain.
Terry Buffin (S16) returned to the lectern to ask whether Dial-a-Cab could fit our own CCTV systems into taxis and although we would pay for them, they would be much cheaper that way as we already had the fitting bay at Roman Way? Brian said that even if we did fit them, we could never have access to the contents as only the police or LTPH could download the images. Terry also asked if there was a date for the new terminals and Brian gave an update.
   The day’s first speaker was also the last when Laurence Kelvin (W88) reached the mic. He asked about the station surcharge, pointing out that at least one account didn’t pay it but that drivers weren’t told that until they had accepted the job. Laurence said he had been told that it was to do with the trip offer and asked whether that could be sorted out with the new terminals. Brian said that it would be.