Call Sign:
Can we start by going right back to the early days. How did it all start?Bonnie Martyn: It all started in the early fifties. The only radio taxi company of any note were called York Way Radio Cabs who were generally known as Levy’s - the name being taken from the owner Lou and his son Wally. They owned all the cabs and all the radio equipment in them, so owner drivers had no chance of getting on to the circuit. It was purely a circuit for journeymen. There was a smaller circuit based in South London called the Metropolitan, but that was no better so far as owners were concerned.
CS: So you saw York Way become a success. What happened next?
BM: I had a lot of experience with radio during the war and always realised the potential of detachments being able to communicate when out in the desert using Pye WT19 sets. After noting York Way’s success, I got together with some other owner drivers for an informal chat in the back of my cab. We all agreed that owner drivers were losing out by not being allowed to join York Way and perhaps there might be the opportunity to look at starting one up for owners only.
It was about 1952 and street work wasn’t that good. It was nothing unusual to have to rank up for an hour at an hotel or a station. We put the word out that a meeting was to be held for owner drivers at the Albany Tavern at the top of Great Portland Street. Over a hundred drivers turned up - many of them night drivers because of the total lack of any night-time work. After agreeing that a radio circuit for owner drivers had become essential, we managed to raise between us the sum of £200. In those days that represented a hefty amount.
CS: So you had £200 - what next?
BM: Thanks to word of mouth, the whole trade knew within weeks that an owner driver’s radio taxi circuit was in the pipeline. Although I had the war-time experience of radio, I still needed help setting up a modern day station. That help arrived in the shape of a Police Superintendent at the Public Carriage Office called George Steadman.
CS: Why did he want to help. I seem to remember that in those days it was very much a them and us scenario at the PCO
BM: He was about to retire from the police and went to the British Legion School for Knowledge boys at Harleyford Road as an instructor. I had known him for some time and I
We spoke to Arthur Steadman for some time and he seemed quite keen. But there was one major problem in the way. Another cab group had set up a control room at Townsend Yard at the top of Highgate Hill. These were the forerunners of Radio Taxis (Southern) - later to become known as Mountview. They had used Pye equipment but had problems keeping up the payments. That company were eventually closed down but the experience had made Pye’s very wary of cabmen.
I went to Cambridge on several occasions showing them figures that myself and the other drivers had worked on. Eventually, Arthur Steadman said that he was prepared to take the chance on us. We were almost on the way.
Before long, equipment became available. Rumour had it that this was the stuff snatched back from Townsend Yard but we never found out for certain! We were given a base station at Jack Straws Castle in Hampstead so all that was left was to find an office.
CS: And how were you going to pay for it?
BM: Fate was on our side in those early days. First we had the lucky introduction to Arthur Steadman, but the next step along the way was even luckier for us than that. We saw an advert in Jack Rose Estate Agent’s window for some premises on the corner of Affleck Street and Pentonville Road near Kings Cross. We enquired inside and when they asked us what we intended using it for, we were astonished when Jack told us that his brother worked for Pye in Mexico and that he was due to speak to him shortly. Perhaps he could advise us?
CS: And…?
BM: We struck lucky again! A few words in a few ears and we were rented the premises for next to nothing provided we were prepared to act as an advertising board for Pye. In other words, allow people to see how we worked so that anyone interested in any form of two-way radio could watch what we did and Pye would get another order! It worked very well and Jack Rose went on to become our first Secretary.
CS: So you were ready to go live. How many drivers did you have on that first day?
BM: I think it was about 25 but once word got out, the number doubled within one month. We all went to Holloway to be fitted up and away we went.
CS: Do you remember the first job ever called?
Presented with a framed photo of the ODRTS opening 1954
Bonnie stands stands next to the blind MP Sir Ian Fraser at the ODRTS opening ceremony in 1954.
BM: No, I can’t, but our first dispatcher was a
lady. That was in December 1953 before we had even officially opened. She didn’t last
very long and the position was soon taken up by a driver called Bernie Lyons. He would
never allow any job go uncovered. We couldn’t really afford not to cover every single
job even though some were not always too wonderful.
Some time after that we opened our first account. It belonged to an elderly gent around
Hyde Park Square followed almost immediately by the BBC. Once they became
interested, we knew we were on the way. It took some time and while we opened the first
few accounts reasonably quickly, there was something of a slow down but we were lucky in
that all the account customers that used us paid their bills quickly.
CS: Were there any complaints?
BM: They were few and far between. But as we got bigger, so the odd complaint
trickled in and we elected our Secretary John Robinson as the first Complaints Officer. He
still had more than enough time to do his own job and Complaints as there were so few. It
was at that time that we started organising ourselves giving different Committee members
specific jobs as against everyone doing everything!
CS: How much did Committee members earn in those days (they didn’t become a Board
of Management until after the first AGM).
BM: Similar to what they earn now, I would imagine. About 3/6 and hour (18p)!
CS: What about Mountview? They started soon after us. How did you get on with their
first Chairman Joe Stern?
BM: Mountview took over the premises at Townsend Yard soon after the first taxi
company there moved out. Joe Stern and I were never close. I always found him to be a bit
abrasive not caring too much if he upset someone, so we never really hit it off. But I
still admired the work he did for Radio Taxis. The fact that they are here today is
testament to the foundations that Joe and his early Board laid then.
