In answer to the rumours and counter rumours circulating within the taxi trade concerning Deutsche Bank’s future taxi suppliers, I wish to confirm that as from 7 June 1999, Dial-a-Cab will be the sole supplier of taxis to this most prestigious client.
   As most of you are aware, Bankers Trust, a much valued and long standing senior client of ours, are now part of the Deutsche Bank Group. As is common when acquisitions take place, should two different vendors be supplying the same service, it makes business sense to put the whole account to one company and in this instance Dial-a-Cab has been chosen by Deutsche Bank as the preferred supplier.
   I’m sure I speak for all of you when I say we are absolutely delighted with this decision, particularly as the Deutsche Bank Group - which also includes Morgan Grenfell - is likely to be the largest single user of taxis in the UK.
   Needless to say, to be awarded a contract of this size will demand a huge commitment by everyone associated with Dial-a-Cab, from the Board of Management, staff, and of course all of you at the sharp end, our drivers.
   Dare I say it, but those of you that don’t know the address of Deutsche Bank, it is 23 Great Winchester Street EC2, probable pick-up in London Wall.
   Not wishing to take the gloss off such a momentous occasion, I feel it necessary to remind all of you once again that it can take literally months of hard work by the sales team and everyone at board level to acquire an account of this magnitude and just one driver, five minutes to close it.
   Every single one of you has a part to play in securing the Deutsche Bank account for the future and meeting the standards we have committed ourselves to - from covering the work, having a clean cab, displaying the new door logos, being of smart appearance and above all being helpful and courteous.
   From the comments I hear regularly from many of our other clients, I personally have absolutely no doubts about the vast the majority of you meeting the task required, its the small minority that we all need to convince to either to play their part or make way for those on our waiting list who will.

Special Needs Account
Several drivers have reported that on occasions, when picking up a particular child, they have been asked politely by the parent if the driver would kindly drop off on route an able-bodied child from the same family but not part of the official job. The majority of drivers asked have obliged, others have refused claiming that as it’s not part of their official instructions, they are worried they could get into trouble if there was a problem during the journey.
   We have explained the situation to the senior officials who control the account and have been informed they are aware it happens and they have no problem with it. However,  realising the concern that some of our drivers may have should any mishap arise, they (the client) have agreed to put their acceptance of allowing an additional child to be dropped off on route in writing.

Whilst on the subject of this particular account, I had a driver approach me during the month asking if he could be compensated for the damage caused to his cab because the passenger door had not been closed properly. Requests for compensation for damage to a taxi whilst on a credit ride are fairly common from our members, many of which are not easy to resolve.
    On the incident in question, it appears the door came open as he was pulling away and subsequently collided with a stationary object, causing considerable damage. On enquiring as to whether the warning buzzer or light was working, it appears it was faulty and not functioning properly. Whilst sympathising with the driver over the damage, expense and inconvenience caused, the Society could not accept liability or agree any compensation, neither in many instances will the client. There are exceptions of course, for example if the client is sick in the back of the cab they would willing pay a cleaning fee even though, ironically, it would rarely apply if it was a street ride.
  In fact, the street ride scenario is often the basis of most people’s argument for not admitting liability. Unfortunately there are many instances where the driver is only made aware of the damage by another passenger and immediately assumes it was the previous credit client, which can be hard to prove. I can assure all of you, if I feel it is a genuine case and the matter is worth taking up with the client, I will do so, irrespective of who the client is. I can honestly say that there have been several instances where a driver making a claim against a client for damages has been successful. As to the doors not being closed properly, I’m sure none of you need me to tell you that it is your responsibility to check whether the door locking system or any other system on the cab is in proper working order. What I would ask though, is for you to ponder the benefits of getting out of the cab occasionally and assist passengers, in particular the disabled, in opening and closing the doors.

Door Logo’s.
£20,000. A twenty thousand pounds logo draw! How many of you, I wonder, who don’t have logo’s would make the effort to put them on if the draw was 20 grand. From my 30 years experience of cab drivers, I would estimate every single one of you would...the very next time you had a trip dropping off near Roman Way. There is an  unexplainable phenomenon about cab drivers, a sort of apathy driven by circumstance. I would like a pound for every time I’ve heard a driver say ‘I’ve been meaning to collect something at such and such a place but I’ve not had a job in that direction’.

Allen Togwell