Record Figures
You will be receiving within the next few weeks, the official end of year figures and I am delighted to inform you that Dial-a-Cab has a surplus of £1,209,000 for the year ended August 1998. This is the highest recorded surplus that has ever been shown by any radio circuit in the UK.
   There are also many other records that have been broken by Dial-a-Cab this year but as I do not wish to appear repetitious, I will not add any more. But, suffice to say that I believe the Chairman’s and Finance Manager’s reports will make very interesting reading in the figures that are soon to be released. They will indeed be the envy of the licensed taxi trade.

Terminals
In a previous edition of Call Sign, you would have read that we had installed six prototype terminals into our cabs for testing. However, after carrying out

in-depth testing, it was decided by us that  they did not meet with our high demands. Although the results were a disappointment, we are currently in the process of negotiating with alternative suppliers who look to be very promising - just in case the current supplier cannot fulfil our expectations.
   We are determined that the equipment purchased by Dial-a-Cab will have to perform to the highest standards available. From the outset, it has not been a case of Dial-a-Cab buying equipment that was available ‘off the shelf’ but more a case of the supplier building to our specification. We know what we want and we will buy when someone can produce the perfect terminal - and I believe that to be imminent.

AGM
Elsewhere in the magazine you will find the prospective Board members CV’s along with the current Board. I hope you will study the CV’s in some detail and be prepared to ask individual candidates what they have to offer Dial-a-Cab. As you will see from the figures to be released, Dial-a-Cab had a turnover in 1997/8 of some £31,000,000. You will appreciate that this is now a fairly large business and needs to continue to be run in a professional manner. I believe it is imperative that as many of you as possible attend the AGM in order to ensure Dial-a-Cab follows the correct course in the future. As an inducement for you to attend a fee of £50 will be levied to each member for non attendance.

Brian Rice

Following an £11 million project by English Heritage, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth unveiled the restored Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens on October 21^st . Following some earlier sunshine leading to a fine night and brilliant fireworks display, a large crowd turned up to gaze at the re-guilded and now-golden Memorial for the first time since it was blackened during the First World War.
   Covered in scaffolding since 1990, this is the first time the public has been able to see the statue in nearly eight years. Illuminated at night, the Memorial looks staggering whilst in daytime it looks astonishingly beautiful - although it is rumoured that The Queen would have preferred the original black to stay. During the eight year job, over 100 craftsmen have worked on the project.
   An English Heritage exhibition, Prince Albert’s Living Legacy, opened at the Royal College of Art to celebrate the unveiling but finished on October 25^th. The exhibition explored the importance of the union between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the great educational and artistic legacy left to the nation by Prince Albert.