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When Dial-a-Cab driver Paul Hodge (D46)
told Call Sign of his attempt to speed along his
re-licensing process by hand-delivering the paperwork direct to
London Taxi and Private Hire’s swish new home at Palestra in
Blackfriars Road, we knew exactly what was coming next. Paul is one
of many drivers to tell Call Sign that their envelope
was refused. He told us: "I wanted to renew my taxi license, but because of the CRB check you also need to include important documents such as your birth certificate. So I decided to take the packet of documents to work with me and drop it into Palestra when I was close to the City – which happened fairly quickly. I parked up and walked into this very impressive building and asked where I could leave my envelope for the attention of LTPH? The security said that I couldn’t, so I asked if they had a post room and that I would be happy to take it there myself. But no, even though they did have a post room, I couldn’t actually do that either. So I explained that I had to be re-licensed in order to drive my taxi and that this was where the paperwork had to come. How could I get it here if no one was prepared to accept my envelope? "No problem, sir" came the response without any hint of a smile, "there is a Post Office over |
Why Palestra does not accept hand delivered post… |
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 the road. You can post it there and we’ll probably get it tomorrow!" I was rather shaken and asked whether they realised that if I took it to that Post Office, then they would bring the same packet of papers back to this reception tomorrow? They nodded in agreement, again without a smile! I just cannot understand the logic of it, the sheer bureaucracy is more suited to a TV comedy show." Because so many drivers have come up against the identical problem, Call Sign asked LTPH Director, John Mason to explain the logic of the process. Mr Mason told us: "I appreciate that some drivers may be frustrated by the fact that they cannot simply pop in and drop off their |
renewals
as they used to. The simple fact is that we went from a single
serviced office in Penton Street, which was only occupied by the PCO
and so it was much easier to provide such a facility, to a large
serviced office occupied by many thousands of people from across TfL.
The general policy for this building, which we have to abide by, is
that for various reasons (including the need for all incoming post
to be correctly scanned and checked) post cannot just be dropped off
at reception. This applies to all areas, not just Taxi and Private
Hire. Whilst it may seem strange to be directed across the road to the Post Office, there is good reason for this and in fact applications processed in this way are much more likely to be processed quicker and without the need for us to go back to the driver asking for more detail. Through the work we are doing on our licensing re-let and IT service procurement, we expect to significantly improve the way that drivers can re-apply for their license - including the ability to manage their license and renewal on-line and so never have to fill in a renewal form ever again!" |
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NEW VITO EURO V TAXI LAUNCHED |
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But Call Sign can’t tell you about it… If you read the trade press, you will know that the updated
version of the Mercedes Vito was launched at a press conference in
Coventry. Sadly, the manufacturers / sales people didn’t feel that
Call Sign was worthy of inviting, no doubt because we
have been critical of the vehicle’s design. That it shows total
disrespect to Dial-a-Cab’s 2000 drivers is probably of little
relevance to them. A photo of the new Vito would have appeared here, but sadly KPM do not recognise Call Sign |
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