s his grandmother, Mrs Lillian Connell, told me. This is a personal family matter and I would appreciate any help in attempting to find David.
Allison Pearce
Hampshire

If you have any information to pass on re this matter, please send it c/o the Editor…Ed

NOW THAT HE’S GONE FORTH…
Since Eric Forth MP dropped his objections, the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Bill looks as if it will become law this year. What effect does the Board of Management feel this act will have on the business of ODRTS and its members?
Paul Webb (P62)

As the House of Lords were discussing the Bill last Friday week (July 24^th), I will publish any BoM response to Paul’s question in the September issue.

SEXUAL FAVOURS
I had a passenger (4am on a Sat morning) who told me his destination, then asked "If I have a condom will you sleep with me when we get to my place?" and then asked me some other very sexually explicit questions during the 20min drive. For an encore, he asked if it would be ok if he masturbated while I drove him home (obviously, I said no). I convinced him to give me some money up-front (legal in Australia) and when he wanted to stop at a petrol station (to buy condoms?) I drove off and left him there. Then I checked the car to see if my hail light was RED! I don't dress like a hooker or act like a hooker - just because I drive at night doesn't make me a "Woman of the Night" so why treat me like one?
   The really scary thing about this particular guy, besides the fact that he wouldn't take a hint (I told him about the FANTASTIC boyfriend that was waiting for me at home - all fiction), was that he seemed COMPLETELY sober! It's easier to take from drunks - you know they couldn't do it if they tried!
   Do any London women taxi drivers have the same problems???
Cathy Ferguson
Windsor (QLD), Australia

If any of our female drivers - or indeed males - would care to respond, I will send the copy to Cathy in Queensland…Ed

FLOTATION
I would like to return (just once) to your reply to my letter re flotation of our organisation (July Call Sign). Either my letter was unclear, or you are missing the point. In Call Sign, you have recently published articles that clearly show that the flotation issue (I

refer you to the letter from R.Elmes) is still uppermost in the management's minds. If the issue has not gone away, then a management response to the anti-vote of the EGM is overdue. I do not know your position in the decision making process of our organisation, but I note that you have "no intention of placing additional work on Brian's shoulders". As it happens, your standpoint is irrelevant, because just before Brian's heart attack, he told me in the presence of another Board Member that he was preparing a reply to my letter (the opening paragraph sits in his computer) on the basis that the issue had been defeated and he personally did not think it worth re-opening. Whilst I am personally sad that our Chairman is incapacitated, this surely doesn't mean we are leaderless. I happen to think differently that the way forward is a structural change, more in tune with the sharing ethos of the our times. I think the best safeguard for our future independence is by involving all of us in some kind of profit sharing. That's why I called for fresh thoughts or a fresh approach before something else is imposed upon us. Among the antis, there were many who opposed solely on the principle that all change is bad. It surely cannot have slipped your mind that the ongoing litigation was provoked by the actions of that minority whose mind was made up before the arguments pro and con could be aired at the EGM. You nevertheless go on to state that because the anti-vote prevailed, the rationally minded among us must accept the situation because fresh thoughts within a year could insult their closed minds. This stance plays into their hands and is Luddite in the extreme. And the confused logic of your closing sentence baffles me.
In the wider world there is no place for sentiment or standing still. There are now only two giant Swiss banks where there were three. The Chairman of the larger of the two remaining banks, (our customers) said apropos the moans of the highly paid employees that lost their jobs when the third bank was taken over. "What did they expect, have they no brains? Couldn't they see that three was too many and eventually one must go." The bank that went was the one that didn't change fast enough, relying on the status quo. It is pointless being 'wired' to Internet technology as you and several of the antis are, without being able to use and interpret the information out there.
Jon Tremlett (Y32)

Brian Rice replies:
Thank you for your two letters, Jon. You were quite correct, the opening paragraph in response to your initial letter was sitting in my computer from before I was taken ill and it gave me a real eerie feeling reading it again knowing that I had drafted it before becoming sick. It was quickly deleted and I am starting again.

AMERICAN PRIZES
I was driving down Bond Street passing Calvin Klein, when an arm shot out. I stopped and a voice asked me if had a copy of The American in the cab. I gave him a copy - wondering briefly why he had stopped me - and in return he congratulated and presented me with two bottles of the finest Champagne! I felt great for the rest of the day!
Ken Crawford (B40)

I hope your ‘feeling great’ wasn’t from taking unauthorised samples! You are now entered in the draw for a weekend away and possibly ten days in the USA. I assume that won’t make you feel any less great!!! Any other drivers have stories of their American win? If you haven’t got your give-away copies, there are supplies in the office…Ed

INVADERS OF CALL SIGN!
I just read this page: http://www.taxicab.co.uk/dialacabmag/page13.html and I wanted to say thanks for Vince Chin’s very kind comments about my Invaders game (Computer Chinchat; July Call Sign). As well as working for ICL, I also run On The Net as a small web/cgi/javascript design house in my spare time. I have been very lucky with the response I've had to Invaders and it has even brought me some paying business. Once again, thanks for your kind words. I really appreciate it.
John Arnold (www.otn.co.uk)

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