Peculiar thing habits. For years prior to Alan taking over as editor, I wrote, sometimes under duress I might add, a regular monthly Sales report for Call Sign, and quite often (due to the duress) and much to the annoyance of his predecessor and many of our members, the reports were as long as war and peace.
BLOODY MINDED ALLEN
There were many occasions when I had neither the time nor anything really worth reporting
and would ask the Chairman at the time if I could miss that particular edition. I say ask,
but rarely doubted what the answer would be, which was invariably a emphatic no. Emphatic
because there appeared to be an unwritten rule that every edition of Call Sign should
carry a report from at the very least, the Chairman, Treasurer and Sales. So with each
deadline reaching the eleventh hour I would chain myself to my computer either at the
office or during the weekend at home and somehow force the literary brain cells into
action, which once active, its surprising how through habit, experience and to a certain
degree shear bloody mindedness, I was able to put together a mixture of winging,
digression, facts, figures and sufficient waffle into a report long enough to give the
editor a much deserved headache finding the space to put it..
Fortunately, with the change in editor came a change of policy. The downside is when you
are now asked to do the odd report you’ve lost the habit. I did ask the editor on
this occasion if he would suggest a theme for the article, mainly because I didn’t
want to violate his policy of NO repetition. But Alan, like most editors, suck your blood
at every opportunity for information, which my e-mail is a regular channel of supply, but
if you ask for anything in return, he’s as tight as a crabs a*** under water. (Speaking
of crabs, Allen, what did the doctor say…Ed)
AND MORE BLOOD
Talking of blood leads to this report proper. As many of you would have seen reported in
the media recently, there is developing a grave shortage of blood. In an attempt to do our
bit for society, particularly at this moment when of the three major circuits, Dial-a-Cab
has the greatest profile. That profile could be put to enormous benefit both morally and
commercially to assist in bringing public awareness to the problem of the blood shortage.
Approaches have been made to the National Blood Bank Authorities into the possibility of
having a mobile blood unit sponsored by Dial-a-Cab stationed near Brunswick House. The
authorities were delighted by our willingness to get the London taxi trade involved and
are prepared to offer their assistance in producing a sticker which could be put in the
back of the cab announcing the driver has given blood and urging the
passengers to do the same. Marketeer, our PR company, will be working to generate media interest both through the national media and the trade. We are hoping to get as many cab drivers as possible to give blood, both radio and non radio drivers. The date has yet to be arranged but we are looking for around mid April.
DIAL A CAB AND THE INTERNET
Even though you are likely to be reading this report in January, I am in fact drafting it
at the height of the pre Christmas rush. Figures are going through the roof, the control
room is working to its maximum capacity and our clients are jumping up and down screaming
for better service. And the service they are talking about, surprisingly, is not so much
late cabs but the delays in getting through on the phones. When we implemented Data
Despatch it was done so because we just could not dispatch work fast enough. The problem
now is clients can’t order the cabs fast enough. Several of our majors have solved
this problem by having remote terminals sited at their premises enabling them to book cabs
direct. Unfortunately many of our other senior clients consider this facility impractical.
So for some months
now I have been looking at an alternative means of booking cabs, which if it works will be
another first for Dial-a-Cab. So far I have kept it under wraps but with clients needing
answers or threats to take their business elsewhere I have had to disclose details of the
project and now of course it is public. The project in question is: Booking cabs
‘real-time’ via the Internet. There is no system in operation anywhere at the
moment but we hope to have a pilot running by mid January.
What we are hoping to achieve is clients being able to book a cab from any PC in any
office throughout their company. In addition to booking cabs we are also looking to give
them access via the Internet to their taxi account including invoice details and
management reports etc. If successful it will be absolutely revolutionary. You can forget
about 5 million pound satellite booking systems being a marketing tool, clients are not
interested in how you get your details in the cab, it can go by carrier pigeon for all
they care.
What they want is a quick, secure and simple way to book a cab, have it outside their door
on time and have details of their journey when required at the press of a button. So to
those drivers who over the past few months have been asking what are we going
to do to compete against our competitors satellite systems. Don’t worry, there really is nothing to compete with. We set the pace seven years ago when we developed Data Despatch, others followed . Since then we’ve made numerous enhancements, so much so that we’re yet to be convinced of any satellite system being better than what we’ve got. Our front end V6 telephonists system is already more sophisticated than our two competitors and when our new MDT’s are built it will make the others look like they are using crystal sets. We are still setting the pace and if our latest Internet project takes off, the cost of which incidentally is likely to be less than half of our competitors managing directors annual salary (what a nasty thing to say at Christmas!…Ed), nothing will have changed, we’re still setting the pace, and we’re not having to spend mega bucks in the process.
NO ROOM AT THE INN OR DAC
As most of you know, the past year saw the departure of two of our sales team and because
our immediate policy is to consolidate rather than generate new business, they have not
been replaced. Needless to say with the demand for our service reaching unprecedented
heights and because of it, casualties, Keith, David Adelman, myself and our Chairman have
been considerably busy speaking, meeting and lunching many of our major clients and
assuring them we and in particular you the drivers, are doing everything within our power
to maintain a quality of service during this exceptionally busy period. With the exception
of tenders submitted several months ago, to new clients enquiring after our services we
have been honest and politely told them we could not possibly entertain them until the new
year. To have taken on a trial with a new major would have jeopardised not only the
service of many of our existing clients but would have possibly resulted in the failure to
retain the new client as well.
WESTMINSTER
The Westminster Special needs account is still settling in, with most of the original
problems having been resolved with the exception of one; collective waiting time. To the
concern of the Westminster authorities and in particular 98% of the drivers that cover
this work, there are a small group of greedy drivers taking advantage of the waiting time
rule. The consequences of this means we are having to approach Westminster Council in an
attempt to renegotiate a change in procedures and the cost of certain journeys. We as a
Board have a responsibility to protect the majority of our members and will not tolerate
an account as valuable as Westminster being jeopardised by the greed of a few. Hopefully
with Aubrey Siteman taking over the role of Complaints Officer he will set himself the
task of weeding these abusers out.
Allen Togwell
