Springtime
CALL SIGN VISITS FRENCH TAXI COMPANY ALPHA
Report and photography by Alan Green
As dawn broke gently over the city of
Londonskyline, a small delegation from Dial-a-Cab, but representing Call Sign, gathered at
Waterloo International bound for France. The group consisted of Chairman Brian Rice,
Caroline McGowan and Denise Zemma from Admin and this writer representing the drivers. Our
mission was to cement corporate relations with our friends at Alpha Taxis in Paris while
helping the Editor to fill a couple of pages! With his instructions of ‘don’t
mention the Duke of Wellington’ still ringing in our ears, we set off.
Following bouts of constant nagging by the Editor, Eurostar kindly sponsored
the seats and looked after us commendably as we smoothly whizzed through the French
countryside at 187 mph or 300 kph in Euro-speak. It felt more like a mere 70mph! If you
have yet to sample the wonder of Eurostar, you have much to look forward to - an
absolutely excellent way to bridge the Channel.
At Gare-du-Nord Station, thanks to more organisation from Monsieur Fisher, we
were greeted by Jean-Claude Lanot, the former supremo of La Fédération Nationalé des
Artisans du Taxi (French Owner-Drivers). He was our host and guide for the day. M. Lanot
had been granted the ‘Freedom of the City of London’ the week before DaC’s
visit to the French capital. His expertise in organising the French taxi industry and his
efforts on behalf of the French Underprivileged Children when they visited the UK
recently, was only a practice for the planning required for the Call Sign trip to Paris!
Alpha Taxi
Jean-Claude explained that we had a very busy day ahead and so without
delay, we motored to
Alpha
Taxi. Alpha’s Chairman, Monsieur J.Moreve and his colleagues welcomed us with a short
video extolling the virtues of satellite communication before M. Moreve gave us a
projection presentation of Alpha’s management structure and its associated companies.
Almost all the driver support services – health, finance, union etc. are conveniently
housed under the one roof. M. Moreve then showed us around his control room where a staff
of 17 work in three shifts together with another 10 in administration. Our own admin
girls, Caroline and Denise chatted about common problems with Lucile Calmettes, a senior
member of Alpha’s staff. Our girls were impressed to see that Alpha’s business
cards incorporated their telephone number in Braille. What a good idea!
M. Moreve told us that he had been in the taxi trade for 20 years and was
head of the largest group of drivers of the three cab companies located in the building.
Alpha operate 1200 cabs with 60 lady drivers. Like DaC, they are a co-operative - one of
the reasons the Editor chose Alpha as the company to visit. M. Moreve went on to say that
Alpha drivers elected him and his two counterparts for a six-year term.
Paris has a fixed quota of 14,900 cabs, of which 8000 are owner driven.
Jean-Claude explained that the French public expects their taxi to arrive at the pick-up
within 5 minutes of phoning! Ten minutes is just about acceptable but any further delay is
likely to be met with rejection.
After climbing a narrow stairway, J-C introduced us to some of the people
involved with the GPS equipment programme. Our own Chairman seized this opportunity to
exchange technicalities with the boffins who supply the digital information hardware used
in Alpha’s mobiles.
Freeman of the City of London
Later, during a small reception for Jean-Claude to honour his gaining the
Freedom of the City of London, Denise Zemma, our interpreter whose
roots are
in Lyon but who has been with DaC since our Shirland Road days, described in fluent French
(naturally) the prestige associated with this decoration and that this allowed J-C to
‘drive his sheep across London bridge’, an ancient custom of English farmers.
Jean-Claudes’ blushes were greeted with howls of Gallic laughter!
Carefully checking his wristwatch, J-C suggested it was time for lunch - a
French custom that absolutely NOTHING ever stops! - to be followed by the Editor’s
next request of a Parisian-type photo-shoot. However, the previous night’s Met Office
predictions came true just as we arrived at the Eiffel Tower. Heavy rain made photography
extremely difficult. One humorous moment arrived when J-C kindly offered to shade me with
an umbrella in order to keep the worst of the weather from my camera. I am though, unused
to being ‘shadowed’ and whilst moving around freely in search of different
angles, J-C struggled to avoid the puddles AND keep the brolly out of my ear! Eventually
he gave up, retreating to the comfort of the taxi, muttering something about ‘mad
dogs, Englishmen and that Fisher!‘
The sight of him tap-dancing around pools of water while gamely holding on to
a huge umbrella conjured up visions of Gene Kelly, except that J-C wasn’t actually
singing in the rain but cursing!
Another time check and we were on our way back to Gare-du-Nord and
London-bound. Paris traffic though, is even worse than Piccadilly Circus in the rush hour
and we four day-trippers just made it on to the train with seconds to spare. Although we
were weary after a long intensive day, the consensus of opinion was that we’d been
successful in our mission. And nobody had mentioned the Duke of Wellington!
My very grateful thanks to Call Sign Editor Alan Fisher for arranging the
trip, to Jean-Claude Lanot for being such an enjoyable guide, to all at Alpha for their
hospitality, to my ‘models’ Brian, Caroline and Denise for their patience and
co-operation and last but not least, Andre our chauffeur, whose steady driving was an
inspiration….
Au revoir et bon chance…
