| Mailshot continued years
and pass on to the next generation of cab drivers what we have built up and not let the
society be run by a bunch of accountants who do not share our aspirations.
What, a scurrilous lot. First trying to manipulate us into a plc and then out of pique
nullifying the only member with any integrity. Shame on you all.
Ron Elmes (W44)
Brian Rice replies:
I was intrigued to read your letter in support of your Sutton neighbour Mr
Clegg and astonished as to how you knew just a few days after a Board meeting that David
Clegg was no longer the Complaints officer when there had been no announcement from the
Board itself, but being neighbours I suspect that should answer the question.
I feel there are a few points in your letter that I should clear up. You state in your
letter that an article written by David Clegg in Call Sign a couple of years ago, was a
view maintained by David until the present day. That simply isn't true. This Society would
never have proceeded along the path of PLC if there had not been TOTAL Board ratification
from the offset. I even asked Board members INDIVIDUALLY at a Board meeting if they were
in total agreement to proceed along that route. There was TOTAL agreement and it was
minuted as such. Several months later, all Board members SIGNED a verification document,
hardly the course of action of a man that had always maintained an anti PLC stance-or is
it? You go on to say that I should have demanded that David spoke at the EGM. Why? We were
there to discuss the proposition of whether or not to convert to PLC status, not to hear
the views of one Board member who had already changed his views twice! And then to state
that David had received a massive vote of confidence at both the EGM & AGM, again is
simply not true. To say that the whole Board should resign en bloc with the exception of
David Clegg is not a view I believe that is shared by the majority of the membership and
to say that by my own admission I do not believe in a co-operative system again is totally
untrue, I have never written or stated that. I do believe that the PLC status would have
released the locked in value of this company to the members whilst giving us another
alternative to raise capital, something that a co-operative will
not allow. But my position is no different than it was when the editor interviewed me in
the November Call Sign. To refresh your memory, Mr Elmes, here is the relevant transcript:
CS: Would you take it as a personal snub if the members voted against a plc
either directly or through there not being a 75% majority at the EGM?
BR: Certainly not. I would be very disappointed because I really believe that this is the
way forward for the company. But, all |
I am doing is to give the members
an alternative that perhaps people in the past have not given them. If the membership say
no, then fine. We all carry on as we were before.
David Clegg was removed by the Board from his position as Complaints Officer purely and
simply because we had lost confidence in him, not only because of the PLC situation but
also due to events leading up to the two meetings and subsequent events that will unfold
over the coming months.Allen Togwell replies:
As one of the board members referred in Mr Elmes letter as devoid of the
power of speech, I feel obliged to make a reply.
Mr Elmes heads his letter: Do we deserve this board?. Had he had the courage to seek an
answer, he could have done so on the day of the AGM by calling for a vote of no
confidence. In fact, if he had real courage he could have put a rider to the motion
announcing that if it falls he would leave the circuit in protest. I have been on this
Board 13 years, and during that time I have served with a number of different Chairman and
Board members, almost all of whom bar one or two have given blood for this society. Some
might say ‘nobody forces you to do it’ which is true. So why do it ?. Why do cab
drivers give up their entire day to take disabled children for a day out? Why, when you
decided to become a cab driver, did you brave all weathers on that uncomfortable moped
determined to achieve what at times seemed a lost cause?. These are just two examples
epitomising ‘sense of purpose’. There are thousands of people who have no sense
of purpose whatsoever, they can’t be bothered to do anything that involves effort,
taking on responsibilities or the possibility of failure. The late Jack Taylor, of whom a
picture hangs proudly in the drivers reception area, unselfishly devoted his life to
charity and to the development to this Society. Why ? To those that knew Jack, the first
makes sense, he was charitable, he gave easily of himself.
But to the second? What was it about being a Board member where, as my predecessor in
Sales, the job was such a thankless one? No matter how successful it is, the perpetual
aunt Sally, guaranteeing nothing but continuous flak from the drivers and the clients. He
did the job, as I do, because we both felt a sense of purpose, we both felt we had the
ability to offer considerably more to this circuit than physically transport our clients.
The flak for me started as some of you will remember at my very first AGM when Mr Garner
D1 gave me a roasting for having the temerity to suggest our drivers need to be better
dressed. After that meeting, the-then Chairman tried to give me some advice. He told me
not to upset the drivers, to say the things they want to hear and to be one of the boys if
I wanted to stay on the Board. I disagreed. I told him he was mocking |
the intelligence of most our members and that
I had a responsibility as a Board member to do what I thought was right for the majority
and the future of this society.
And it is with that attitude that I, the Chairman and most other Board members have
continued to do their job. Each month Keith and I give the Board an update and answer
questions of what has gone on in Sales, including tenders completed, new clients we are
aiming for, clients in jeopardy, problems experienced and so on. Also there are ideas and
suggestions on how we can generate new business and create a better image in an ever more
competitive market place etc. In many instances, the ideas and suggestions we put forward
are kicked out no matter how strong a case we put. This can at times be frustrating,
annoying and quite often leaves a feeling of why bother. But as annoying as it is, we know
that it is our responsibility to put ideas to the Board, and it is the Board’s
prerogative to throw them out.
Equally, the same way as the Board en masse seeing the danger to this society if it
didn’t move forward, the difficulties particularly in sales by being hamstrung by an
antiquated rule book or the dangers associated with our method of borrowing money,
presented to you the members, the choice of converting to a PLC. You were given the
choice.
If this Board, having observed the market place, having obtained professional opinions and
having calculated the advantages, had not given you the opportunity to decide, they would
have been abdicating their responsibility. You kicked it out, the same way as the
suggestions I put to the Board sometimes get kicked out. But that doesn’t mean we
should not keep looking for other ways to progress, or fear of presenting them because one
member, Mr Elmes, questions whether you deserve this Board. To quote an old adage: The
only people who don’t fail at anything are those that haven’t got the balls to
try!
This Board was united on presenting to the members a proposal to convert to PLC. The
Chairman made it plain to us that if one Board member was opposed to the idea then it
would be kicked into touch. Nobody and I mean nobody,
voiced one iota of doubt or even questioned any concerns. When that was agreed, it was
suggested all questions and answers at the EGM should go via the Chair as is the norm. To
accuse the Board of being devoid of the power of speech is to show ignorance of
procedures. And to question whether the members deserve a Board that have turned in record
surplus, record figures and on average more money per mobile in history while in return
gained not one extra penny for their effort? Well then, throw us off and stand in our
place Mr Elmes and prove you can do better. |
