Dear Gary Nathan,
What you are doing can, if you are unlucky, have some expensive consequences. If water enters - and especially under pressure - a hot exhaust, it can cause cracks or metal fractures to occur and additionally can damage beyond repair the silencer box. Even worse, if the engine misses out its correct combustion sequence because of the injection of water, and hydraulics, it can reverse the blow effect to that of suction and cause droplets of water to enter the engine's innards with potentially expensive, if not disastrous results. Carbon particles do build up in exhaust systems, that is why an older exhaust often sounds quieter than brand new one. Hosing large quantities of cold water onto hot metal is never a good idea. I do not know of an authorised method of cleaning out the innards of exhaust pipes, but one way that is often used by the motor trade is a high speed blast up a motorway. This also has its risks if carried out on a worn or poorly serviced engine. Revving of the engine at maximum power when stationary is
also not the way to do this, as there is no compensating loading on the engine to restrict over revving, which despite the injection pump's governor can happen under these conditions. Sorry to pour cold water onto your idea.

NUMBER PLATES

In the last edition of Call Sign (which i think is good) there was a letter about car registration numbers. Let me tell you of my favourite that you can see virtually every day. If you are travelling east along Cheyne Walk, on the corner of Millman St, you will normally see two vehicles in the garage. One has the reg 2B and the other has reg NOT 2B. Do you think the owner is in the acting profession? I pointed these out to a customer the other day who said he had seen that afternoon the one-upmanship to beat all in Knightsbridge. Two Ferraris together, the first reg was NOT 1 and the other was BUT 2. I must admit that I have not seen the latter.
Peter Murphy (A35) ...via email

I believe that the 2B and NOT 2B plates are owned by a film company who are also clients of Dial-a-Cab. Anyone else seen any clever reg plates?...Ed

QUESTION TIME!

If you do a pre-booked pick-up at a railway station or theatre that carries a £4 surcharge and the fare comes to £6, do you clear the job as an £8 minimum plus the £4?
Can you also tell me what has happened about E14C. I seem to remember reading in Call Sign that if scrubbed on a job from the rank, you would be able to regain that position rather than just go back to the E14 main zone. And while I have pen in hand, Call Sign also mentioned a few months back of a 'going home' facility. What happened to that?
Len Bell (L1)

According to the BoM, if you do a pre-booked trip carrying a £4 surcharge, the minimum fare does not operate. Consequently, your example would be cleared at £6 fare plus £4 surcharge ie £10 and NOT as £8 minimum plus the surcharge. As for the Cabot Square and 'going home' facilities, both should be implemented before the next issue of Call Sign. Incidentally, BOTH facilities originate from driver's letters to Call Sign - so it obviously pays to ask!...Ed

WRONG COMPANY!

I enjoy reading Call Sign on the Internet and wonder whether you could thank a driver for me. His name was Mr Tan and his cab had the word Comfort on the side. When I left my wallet in his cab while on holiday in Singapore, he chased me and returned it. He also refused an extra tip for his kindness. You should be proud of your drivers.
Daniel Lietzweig,
Rissik Street, Johannesburg,
South Africa ...via email

Forgive me for my confusion Daniel. You obviously read Call Sign as you have our email address but we (Dial-a-Cab) are in London (UK) and the company you are obviously referring to are Comfort in Singapore! With the best will in the world, I wouldn't like to guarantee you that Mr Tan will read Call Sign! Try writing to Comfort on: cabby@ctpl.com.sg ...Ed

FIBULATERS

With much talk of placing fibulaters around town to use in the case of heart attacks on pedestrians, would it not be a good idea to organise a fibulater training session for drivers at Dial-a-Cab? There's no harm in being first...
Bernie Silver (G8)

FREESERVERS

Firstly let me extend my congratulations on a very interesting monthly (Internet) publication yet again. You simply amaze me. May I ask your computer expert Vince Chin the following:-
   I was interested to read your article on yet more 'freeservers'. I am now with ic24.net, which is from the Daily Mirror and I must extol as to how good it is. I have never (yet) had a problem logging on . It is instantaneous and offers a lot (as far as I can tell). Even setting up was relatively simple. A question I would like to ask is this. When you have a few different service providers, is there not a conflict?. I was once with AOL and after that decided to install Freeserve (which I won't go into now) and had a lot of problems. I would like to try others but am nervous that it would completely screw up what I have now. Also, I would like to add that I really do think that Freeservers will probably be the norm in the near and not too distant future as will going on-line being free!
   I would be interested in your comments
Anna F Constantinou (an avid reader of Vince Chin's column)
London E2

See Computer ChinChat for a reply...Ed

DAC AND THE INTERNET

I must agree with Michael Son and his ideas for the Internet. I don't get to the office much so the net could keep me more in touch with the news. As for limos, I have no problems with them providing they are Mercedes S type or similar. One thing that should be clarified is about payments to drivers - ie how much. £18-£20000 I believe is the going rate. Would this be PAYE and if so what would the average take home pay be. Also, what if any company perks could be included ie sick and holiday pay etc.
Terry Wright (P39)

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