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From the Editor |
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CRB cock-up? A recent story published in a Camden journal and later republished in many other papers revealed that a minicab driver (who all referred to as a ‘taxi’ driver) had worked for a minicab company (that all referred to as a ‘taxi’ company) which had been hired by Camden Council to operate a school run, even though this particular driver had several previous overseas convictions all for sexual assaults. His CRB failed to show the offences so perhaps Camden were not totally guilty, however had they used licensed taxis, we know the children would have been safe. But Camden Council use taxis only when they have no choice because to them, saving money is all that counts. Many years ago, Dial-a-Cab used to pick up account work from the Council offices in Euston Road and complaints were extremely rare. In fact, so delighted were Camden with the service they received from this Society, that they came to Call Sign with a special offer that would link the Council with DaC. It was 2001 and Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London had come up with a strategy regarding the air quality over London decreeing that taxis had to - over a period of several years - meet Euro emission standards and that London’s taxi drivers could no longer buy a second hand vehicle from out of town that had never been passed by the London PCO - unless it met Euro III emission levels. As the TXII and Metrocab TTT were the only two taxis that qualified, that meant no more cheap out-of-towners from the Midland’s taxi warehouses. Mr Livingstone added that as of 1 July 2004, no cab registered before 3 December 1992 would be passed unless it met a minimum of Euro 1 by having had an expensive conversion. Well, we all know about that! That’s when our "friends" of the time, Camden Council came to Call Sign with an idea they had which would help to get through Ken’s new edicts! The Council would give DaC drivers the opportunity of having their taxis converted to LPG with Camden paying the cost. All the drivers would have to do would be to pay the VAT. Camden said they were determined to help keep the air as clean as possible and that much lower emissions from taxis would be a start. Many drivers applied and we believe that around 15 actually had the conversion. Some were delighted and a few had problems, but Camden genuinely wanted to help the taxi trade and if it cost them money, then so be it as it was for a good cause – helping the world’s best taxi drivers provide a service that among others, helped Camden to keep London’s business on the move while at the same time attempting to help the environment. But over the years, though, their strategy changed. Government funding cuts meant that money was no longer so freely available as it had been previously and they needed to get more revenue in – and that of course involved the poor |
motorist with Camden |
AGM PC memories Following this year’s AGM at the HAC barracks, I was having a chat with the unsuccessful Board election candidate, Joe Brazil (K16). Among other things, we were talking about the old days when Joe worked in the Dial-a-Cab call centre and also about early computerisation at the Society. Joe told me something that I had never heard before that made me feel quite proud. It went back to the days when I was writing the Big Al column for then-editor Jery Craig. This was back in the 1980s and at a time when Jery used to produce the whole mag by hand with not a computer in sight. That must have taken some doing because it’s hard enough with a PC, let alone without. However, I had an early computer that used a programme called WordStar 1.0. This was their first word processing programme and involved white text on a green background and little else. Although home PCs were still something of a rarity, by 1988 I wanted to use the-then new electronic mail – later shortened to email – so I needed to upgrade. I bought a new PC and had my first email address, which consisted of 9 numbers for me to memorise. As a reminder of how sad I was, I occasionally had to email myself as I only knew two other people that had email! They were former DaC Board member Steve Sanders and my good friend and editor of Trip Sheet Magazine Dick Kawadler, who lived in Las Vegas and who first told me about the wonders of email. Sadly Dick died in May 1997, just two weeks after coming to my home to help us celebrate my granddaughter Shelby’s first birthday. Linda and I still talk about his visit and how lovely it was to see him. But back to Joe’s story. I then had two PCs, one with the latest technology and the old one that made the new one look like it was ready for Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity! It was late in 1989 and PCs were expensive, but I was happy to give my old one away to anyone who wanted to learn word processing. I left a message at DaC to say that if anyone wanted a computer, they could have my old one. I soon had a call from a telephonist – we didn’t have call takers back then – called Roy Masterson. He had just joined DaC and was interested in computers and was looking to buy one. So I met him and gave him my old PC. It was almost the size of a TV and weighed almost as much! Within a year, Roy had moved up to Dispatcher and later became Control Room Manager. But he was always tinkering with the computers that DaC then had scattered around. His talent was soon spotted and he was given the option of moving into the still-young DaC IT department, where he later became Manager. And all because of my old banger PC with its green screen and white text! Yes, I do feel quite proud. My thanks to Joe for bringing it all back… Alan Fisher |
