Page 4
Call Sign October 2011
reflections of the chair man
HGV's, buses and coaches - will have to meet a
Merging the radio circuits?
Euro IV standard for particulate matter (PM) to
Elsewhere in the magazine you will see an arti-
drive within Greater London without paying a
cle from Lou Christian (A48), a member of
£200 daily charge, the penalty being a £1,000 fine.
many years standing, who asks the question
From the same date, larger vans, minibuses
whether all - or at least some - of the taxi radio
and other specialist vehicles will have to meet
circuits should merge?
LEZ standards for the first time. They will have
In my years in this trade, it is a question that
to meet a Euro 3 standard for PM in order to
has been posed many times and I must admit
drive in Greater London without paying a £100
it does hold some merit, but conversely there
daily charge or a penalty charge of £500 if they
could also be a downside. Lou seems to
do not comply.
believe that the three circuits have petty differ-
Whilst most of the vehicles that are affected by
ences; well in actual fact that is not the case as
the scheme are already compliant, for the minor-
we have a very good working relationship. Of
ity that are not the Mayor has announced that he
course we are in competition with each other,
has obtained significant discounts off a range of
but there is not any animosity involved... well,
new vans and minibuses. Eighty per cent of vehi-
certainly not from me.
cles that will be affected by the LEZ for the first
Over the years there have been many mergers,
time in 2012 are vans and their owners will be
offered significant discounts on new models from manufacturers, which
but they do tend to take the course of a takeover. One that springs to mind
could amount to thousands of pounds.
is the Evening News and the Evening Standard. They merged but then the
The press release then goes on to give a raft of manufacturers that
paper became the Evening Standard, so in reality it was a takeover.
are offering discounts. Two caught my eye; Vauxhall are offering up to
In the case of the radio circuits, it is quite unusual as Dial-a-Cab is the
£7,500 discount across their range, but one that made me smile was
only Mutual Trading Co-operative amongst the three; consequently, if we
that Mercedes Benz are offering a van swappage scheme which is
were involved in any way it could lead to some complications. We would
based around a weekly payment of £60, which then allows operators
probably have to demutualise first and then merge, but it is a topic that
to swap into a new Mercedes Benz Vito.
would need legal advice. However, I suppose Dial-a-Cab could make an
Just can't wait to see what Boris Johnson will negotiate with manu-
outright purchase and then have no need to change our status. But what-
facturers on our behalf - a new Vito at £42k?
ever the course of action, advice would have to be sought.
Lou seems to think that we would become much cheaper as a ser-
vice should there be a merger and I would have to agree that there
Brian Rice
would be economies of scale, but the determining factor on cost would
Chairman
be the metered fare and as we are all aware, we are more expensive
Dial-a-Cab
than private hire. Consequently, my view is that if there were any
mergers in the taxi industry, we would still not be able to compete on
price alone.
Lou also brings up the subject of Addison Lee and how John Griffin
"...is an astute businessman who will not rest until he controls the
majority of the transport network in London." That may well be the
case, but he operates under a different regime; his drivers do not have
choice whereas we do. His drivers are instructed to complete a trip and
that is what they do, if we are to compete, then we would have to do
the same and I believe that would be unacceptable to the majority of
DaC members.
If taxi drivers do not like a new procedure that is introduced by the
management of their particular circuit, they will not participate and
work the streets instead. Private hire drivers do not have that alterna-
tive - not legally anyway.
As we know from time to time, drivers/members of a particular circuit
may have a gripe with something that is happening on that circuit, at pre-
sent they have the alternative of leaving and if they so wish, to join
another. With takeovers and mergers, their alternatives would diminish.
Finally, I do not have strong feelings about Lou's question either one
way or the other, but if the scenario were ever to arise I would certain-
ly not dismiss it until it had been thoroughly investigated and if the Board
of Dial-a-Cab thought there was some merit in the situation, then the sce-
nario would be put to the members of Dial-a-Cab for them to decide.
As a final word on the subject and just for the record, I have not been
approached by either of the other two circuits regarding this topic, nei-
ther have we approached either of them.
Low Emission Zone
I have today received a press release from TfL regarding the Low
Emission Zone (LEZ), however, I have not had time to adequately read
and digest the content as the Editor is chasing me for this article. But
here are some of the pertinent points.
There are an estimated 150,000 vehicles across London that will not
comply with the new emissions that come into force in January 2012.
The LEZ will be in force every day of the week for the whole of the
twenty four hour period across the whole of greater London.
From 3 January 2012, vehicles that are already affected by the LEZ -
