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Call Sign February 2012
reflections of the chairman
Anyone who is contemplating organising a
Platforms and takeovers...
protest or demonstration should check the
Most of you will be aware that on 17 November
terms of our actual winning of the Games. I
there was an announcement that Addison Lee
believe they will find that part of our successful
had bought private hire company Lewis Day.
bid involved a guarantee that officials, delegates
They have taken the minicab part of the busi-
and athletes would be able to travel to the
ness with the courier section going to City
Olympic site within a certain timeframe from
Sprint. This latest acquisition has thrown up
central London, so no amount of disruption on
some very interesting scenarios, some of which
our part will have any bearing on the decision to
I would like to explain further...
use the ORN. I believe that guarantee would
I have been writing about independent plat-
mean officials being able to travel by car from
forms in Call Sign for several years.What it actu-
Hyde Park Corner and reach the Olympic site
ally means is that a software house builds a Job
within 21 minutes. As the professionals at dri-
Distribution Engine (JDE) and endeavours to
ving in London, you will all know that complet-
despatch both taxis and minicabs on behalf of a
ing the journey in that time means the road
client without needing to actually own a single
would have to be totally clear.
taxi or car. In other words, they endeavour to
control the taxi and minicab industry without
AGM time again...
owning one single vehicle.
It's that time of year again when the AGM comes around.You should all
They then sell use of the JDE to the client by stating they are totally
have received your paperwork by now and will see that we do not have
independent and do not have any allegiance with either a taxi or mini-
any rule changes or propositions to discuss and neither is it an electable
cab company, but will offer the client the cheapest means of transport to
AGM regarding selecting your BoM.
their destination at any given time of the day. What they then do is to
However, as you are aware you still have to vote on three topics,
offer the trip to the minicab company that is offering the cheapest rate
consequently you will have to either vote by post or if you choose
for that particular trip. If they do not have a car available, it then gets
not to do so, then you must attend the AGM. Failure to vote by post
offered to the next least expensive car company and so it goes on until
OR attend the AGM will result in a £50 fine being levied against you.
a wet Wednesday night arrives and Arsenal are playing Tottenham.
The AGM will be held on 5 February at the HAC in City Road, com-
Suddenly there are not any cars available, so they offer the trip to one of
mencing at 11am.
the three taxi radio circuits. However, they do have one problem - none
I look forward to seeing some of you there...
of the three taxi radio circuits will subscribe to their platform!
But although they do not have any taxis on their platform, they still sell
Brian Rice
it to customers by stating they are totally independent "unlike the taxi
Chairman
radio circuits" and they do have a handful of customers that subscribe to
their JDE system.
Dial-a-Cab
They also have another problem in that they do not have a Contact
Centre; consequently one of the minicab vendors supplying the client
with cars also has to be the lead vendor by utilising its own Contact
Centre. You can imagine the problems this brings to the operation as
minicab vendors accuse the lead vendor of `creaming off' the best trips
for itself or indeed, even tampering with the distribution of trips.
As I said earlier, their key selling point is an alleged impartiality; so you
can imagine my reaction when I learned their JDE had been purchased by
Addison Lee, consequently they can no longer claim they do not have a
vested interest in which company receives the despatched trips.
But I also believe that this could prove to be a positive step for the
radio taxi circuits as in future, the client will have a choice of one of the
three radio circuits and car vendors of the client's choice that receive
work from that particular taxi JDE, or they will have Addison Lee.
I believe that AL will not just want to do the minicab work, but also
the trips that currently go into taxis. So the next few months could prove
to be particularly interesting as we see how things develop.
2012 hopes...
This year has begun as always, very, very quietly but hopefully as the year
progresses, business will improve - especially as we head towards the end of
July and the Olympics commence. I am hopeful that the impending Games
will generate more business for us even before they actually begin, because
once they do start navigating around London it could prove to be very dif-
ficult, even though no-one really knows for certain.
I know it seems very unfair that we will not be allowed into the
Olympic Route Network (ORN), as it will be reserved for Games officials
and athletes and some routes could be out of bounds to all road users
for up to eighteen hours a day. I have been advised - although I cannot
state it as fact - that if you are a sponsor of the Games you will also be
allowed into the ORN.
I have also heard various rumours that there will be protests and
demonstrations regarding our exclusion from the ORN, but if true
these demonstrations will probably prove to be totally fruitless and
just encourage annoyance to other road users, as they will not have
an end result.
