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Mailshot is your chance to tell the subscribers of Dial-a-Cab exactly what you think. Complaints, compliments or just to write about Call Sign.   This is YOUR paper within your magazine....
You can also email your letters to: callsignmag@aol.com

TESCO TAXIS

I could not agree more about your comments on Tesco (December Call Sign - Editorial). I worked for a large multiple supermarket chain for 17 years in the sales department. They are retail vampires who will not be satisfied until they have sucked dry all retail life that do not come under their control. There is a real sense of being above the law in their board rooms. If they don’t like a law - they just ignore it! Then they challenge Councils and the like to do something about it. This has been very evident in the last 10 years; Sunday trading, net book agreement, newspaper distribution agreement and now the Pharmacy laws are proof of this attitude.
Eddie Lambert (V27)

NAMING PASSENGERS

Many thanks for your very fine magazine, Call Sign (as I told you in person while being majestically whisked skywards via the lift at the AGM)!
   The object of this letter is to query Keith Cain’s article (December Call Sign) under the heading of ‘Name-boards’. We are told that the primary rule is to pick up the right passenger. To do this we have to ask the customer their name, not say to them is your name Mr A, because in that way they can high-jack the cab. If we do pick up the wrong passenger we will not get paid and may be put on complaint. With name-boards, we have the name of the passenger on display for all to see and any unscrupulous person could easily say that they were that person (result: not paid, plus complaint)! But, if we do NOT put up a name-board, we could be liable to a complaint anyway! Is this what they call a catch 22 situation? Surely the best thing to arrange would be for the number of the cab to be given to the client so that when they approach the cab, the driver can then ask their name. Surely this would be more professional?
   Please offer my congratulations to all the newly elected Board of Management.
Derrick Smith (K51)

Keith Cain’s reply:
Yes, it could be said that this is a catch 22 situation. However, clients that request a name board in the window are fully aware of the problems that can arise by doing this. For reasons best known to the customer, they still instruct us to do it. All we ask is for the driver to follow the clients instructions. To give the client a drivers registration is a good idea, but when do we inform them? While they are waiting on the telephone for the trip to be covered? Fine if the trip is accepted straight away, but what do you think the customer would say if the trip was rejected 20 or 30 times. If we waited for the trip to be covered and then telephoned them back, we would need to double the number of telephonists. I think professionalism on this one falls straight into the lap of our drivers. Please, just follow the instructions you are given.

LESS MUSIC - MORE TALK?

On the odd occasion that I need to telephone the office, I never know the correct extension numbers and have to listen to that awful music while waiting for the nice person on the other end to answer. In order to make life a bit easier, would you be able to get hold of a list of extension numbers of Board Members, driver payment department, and any useful extensions.
Paul Shaw (B19)

I quite like the music actually, and of course it means that you get to speak to the lovely Tammy! But if you really insist, some useful extensions are: Helen (444) and Nuala (445) of Driver’s Service’s with problems re jobs done before the day of calling or Roller Bond queries): For problems with an on-going job or one recently done, the Call Centre help-line is on 557: Health problems can be sorted out with Doreen on 528 while Tom Whitbread (555) covers Driver’s Operations with those things that don’t come under Helen and Nuala. If you have to have Tom but can’t get him, you can try his assistant, Shelagh on 556. Tom’s extension is also for the Complaints Officer. Failing all that, we are starting with Mantovani’s Hits for Swinging Hod Carriers from April!…Ed

NON DELIVERIES

Having just read the December Call Sign on the Internet, I understood the predicament of Frank Danna (Hurry up driver - My water has just broken!). When I started driving in 1969 in Syracuse NY, this was more common than today. Women would call us for the $1.50 trip rather than a $35.00 ambulance ride.
   My favourite story was acutely about a non-delivery. I picked up two women, one of whom looked about 9 months pregnant with twins and was told to head for the hospital. I asked if she was in labour and received a ‘yes’ answer. Back in those days, we could still get police escorts in such emergencies. My dispatcher put in the call and within three blocks I had two black and whites leading me with full sirens and the works. When we got to the hospital emergency room, the passengers started to walk off behind the building. It turned out that the non-pregnant ‘lady’ lived behind the hospital in the public housing. When asked by the police her reason for declaring an emergency, she responded that she was late getting home to fix dinner for her husband! The end result was the husband had to wait until after he retrieved his wife from the police station to get fed. Those were the good old days…
Cliff Wheaton, Boise, Idaho, USA

Cliff and Pam Wheaton are the proprietors of Trans-West Taxis in Boise, Idaho…Ed

THANKS FOR TRYING

I saw the December Call Sign yesterday with my request for help in (Help required - December Mailshot) and I compliment you on the superb job you make of it. I read it through and it is certainly a cut above your average magazine. How do you fit in running a London taxi and acting as editor for such a quality magazine?
   Well, you certainly gave it your best shot - trying to get Mike Stophers attention for me. I was hopeful it would have gotten him but I guess the London taxi trade is even bigger than I thought. I will put my thinking hat on for a while and work out my next move. I really do appreciate the effort you made for me. Thanks pal…
John Pearcey, Shelley. West Australia.

John Pearcey’s letter was printed in the December Call Sign when he tried to make (unsuccessful) contact with an old friend, Mike Stophers, who had been in the London cab trade. If you know anything about this person, please let me know and I will pass the info on…Ed

PS. If you know anybody - ANYWHERE in the world - who might be interested in reading Call Sign, it is available on the Internet at: http://www.taxicab.co.uk/dialacabmag

THANK YOU DRIVERS

I would like to thank you all so much for your service while my husband has been so ill in the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Fulham. You have been prompt and reliable after what seems to have been such a long time - to me almost a lifetime!
   Very many thanks for your excellent service.
Mrs C. Sutherland-Carter,
London SW3

DIAL A CAB AND THE SINGLE CURRENCY

Having watched the launch of the Euro on television, I am wondering what the implications for Dial-a-Cab and the taxi trade will be. Although there will be no Euro cash (notes and coins) until 2002, electronic transactions, credit cards and cheque payments in Euros are now possible. Although the UK has yet to decide whether or not to join the single currency, it will still affect British business - particularly in the Capital - London being the largest financial centre in Europe.
   Dial-a-Cab has many large European and multinational account customers. In time, some of these may wish to be invoiced and pay in Euros. Should we now be preparing to adjust our accounting and invoice systems to take account of the Euro?
Paul Webb (P 62)

Finance Manager Alastair Hill replies:
We have just implemented a new accounting system which, unlike the old one which dated from the mid/late eighties, is Y2K compliant. In addition it has foreign currency features which, subject to some minor amendments, would cover Euro transactions. There are no indications that customers or members require Euro billing or payment at this time but it is something we are aware of and will deal with as required.

CHRISTMAS COMPETITION

Did you work over the Christmas period? Were you, like me, somewhat underwhelmed by the volume of work over Christmas and Boxing Day compared to previous years? I am not taking into account the New Year weekend as the banks working provided distorted figures for that weekend. The letter put out by the BoM regarding drivers' incentives, states that they look every year at ways to encourage drivers to undertake extra credit work. I do not think that 10 drivers sharing £5,500 is a very fair way of doing this. If, say, 200 drivers worked over the period, then that means that only 5 % of drivers gain any benefit and to do so they would have to spend a long time at the wheel in order to qualify as there was not a lot of work coming in. If the BoM wanted to reward drivers who were working over this period, and so far as I know this is the first time it has been done, surely it would have been fairer to reward every driver who worked over this time.
   The other two major radio circuits paid all their drivers who worked sums between £7.50 and £17.50 per job, on top of run-ins and gratuities. If others in the trade can reward their drivers, why can't DaC do so? The BoM may say that it is the drivers' money that is being spent on this, so why can't DaC drivers see some of their money next Christmas?
R M Sorene (A53)

You can read about the Incentive presentation elsewhere in the mag. In the meantime, I asked Allen Togwell for a nice, quiet, inoffensive reply to Ray Sorene’s letter. This is it…Ed

The idea of the driver incentive was to make it attainable to everyone - not just high credit men. The objective being to encourage better coverage, particularly on the run-up to Christmas, which could be achieved simply by every driver making a concerted effort to increase their normal percentage of credit work. Although frankly, exactly why incentives should be made to encourage drivers to earn money I've yet to understand! It wouldn't take a genius to guess what action a driver would take come January if the garage where the driver regularly filled up put £2 extra on a gallon of Diesel because it was Christmas! The majority of our clients give us work all the year round. In return for that work - and subject to the volume of their particular business - we gage our charges. We are aware of the letters our two main competitors sent to their clients informing them of the extra charges they were forced to pay over the Christmas period. We are also aware of the enormous displeasure that many of those clients took on receiving it. The attitude we took was to inform our clients that, unlike our two main competitors, we would not be levying any blanket charges over Christmas. However, in the event that we encountered difficulty in covering any particular journey, we would like the authority to use our discretion to levy a premium. We received not one complaint or objection to this request and as a point of interest, our coverage over Christmas was excellent. January and February traditionally are the months when clients look at re-assessing the cost of their suppliers and the situation regarding Christmas charges which are still fresh in their minds, often goes in our favour both when we are consolidating our existing clients, or when we are giving a presentation for new business.
   Coming back to incentives, unfortunately limited software prevents introducing incentives which benefits every driver irrespective of the hours worked or volume of trips covered. Hence the reason we have such a poor response when introducing schemes based on trip volume and why the same drivers always win them. Past experience have shown that premiums per trip are counter productive because the moment they are introduced, drivers hold back on covering anything until it carries a premium. Another problem is the complete apathy amongst newer cab drivers to participate in anything, promotional or otherwise, that involves effort. Many years ago when we were a much smaller circuit, an enormous amount of business was generated by drivers making a habit of carding up either side of every building where they picked up or dropped off. This no longer happens. Drivers associated with scout groups or boys clubs would, in return for a small donation, card up whole areas. Again it no longer happens. For years the sales department have operated a system of rewarding drivers for giving leads. Yet just one driver out of the entire circuit is taking advantage of it and who throughout the year has earnt a considerable amount of extra cash. To ask for more money on an already expensive journey without doing anything extra in return is laziness and sheer greed.

MINICABS, LICENSED TAXIS AND THE AGM

So the Director of Services of a large American bank would rather use minicabs than the Licensed trade because we are arrogant and rude etc (Jan Call Sign). Well, I wonder just how many he has met in order to be able to make such a stupid and ignorant statement! The only reason is about money and I hope you told him so - although you probably did not.
   Back to the AGM. How anyone can get up and say what a bad year we have had, go on to slag off the BoM and still

be hopeful in being voted on, is beyond me. Which brings me to the reason for this letter. All future candidates should have to put up a deposit of say £200 and risk losing it if they do not poll at least 100 votes. This, I feel sure, would deter those who do not have the welfare of this Society at heart. Let me finish by thanking the BoM for a great year. Here’s to the next one…
T.M.Wright (P39)

I’m sure the BoM appreciate your thanks but from my personal point of view, I feel that it would be wrong to ask drivers to forfeit a deposit. Sure they may have a nonsensical argument not worthy of putting forward, but they could also have a good argument but be unable to speak well enough to put it across. It would be unfair to punish all for the sake of a few…Ed

AND MORE ON THE AGM

Because I am no longer a subscriber, I was not permitted to attend the 1998 AGM. However, I read the report of the proceedings in the January Call Sign and to say that I was sickened by the shenanigans that took place would be putting it mildly.
   In the early days of ODRTS I, with other 'young Turks’ (all subscribers at the time), attended all the AGM’s and yes we had goes at the Chairman and the Committee for what we perceived was wrong with the running of the circuit. Sometimes we felt we had a genuine grouse while at other times we knew we were out of order, but at no time did we abuse, insult, threaten or use bad language to anyone. We accepted the authority of the Chair and the decisions taken at the time.
   It would seem that these days there is a nasty little element on the circuit hell bent on causing bother and attempting to hijack the proceedings. Fortunately, the vast majority of subscribers want no dealings with these people, so might I, a mere journeyman these days, add my support to the suggestion that if these people are not happy with the running of the circuit and certainly do not seem to attract much support judging by the votes they got, that they pull off post haste and go on to another circuit. I guarantee that they would not be given the leeway that they continue to receive on ‘Lords’. Another reason perhaps, why we are known as the Gentleman’s circuit.
S.Harris (S95J)

I think that it should be pointed out that not everyone who stands against the BoM should be perceived as a trouble maker. By the same token, a low poll against someone’s name does not automatically mean that person was a trouble maker. Every candidate should be judged on their merits. This year I believe that they were…Ed

MILLENNIUM DOME AND TAXIS

Several issues ago, you published an article on the Millennium Dome which said that taxis would be allowed to pick up and set down. I recently read an interview with Transport Secretary Glenda Jackson in The Daily Express in which she stated that the ONLY vehicles to be allowed into the Dome area would be VIP cars and that there would be no exceptions. Does that mean that we have now been banned behind our backs?
L.Bell (L1)

I have been assured by the Dome’s PR company that the situation regarding taxis is unchanged. We will be allowed to set down at the Dome and it is also proposed that a taxi rank will be put into place at the exit. The only question seems to be just how big is the rank going to be. An event catering for up to 30,000 visitors at a time would need a sizeable rank - even allowing for the (sigh) Jubilee line extension …Ed

FARE INCREASE

I am writing with an idea for our next tariff increase. Could it not be just an increase in the initial hiring - say starting at £1.80 or £2? You could increase the yardage by a little if need be, but leave the rest of the fare alone as nearly all the drivers I have spoken to agree that the longer rides are high enough at the moment eg LAP £30+. If and when the minis are licensed, they will knock at least £5 off an airport ride and much more off the Southends and Guildfords etc. It will make the shorter rides more attractive because if we don’t get it right soon, it will be too late. After all, we are already doing fixed price rides at below meter prices.
   My second point is about flat caps and scarves as I am one of those drivers that wear them. The reason for the cap is that I am of the age where my hair has almost gone (my kids tell me that it has) and I wear a scarf because when I drive at night I like to keep the windows open a little and that creates a terrible draught around my head and neck. So until M&O and Metro come up with a draught-free cab, I’ll have to keep wearing the hat and scarf!
   As regards clean cabs, I agree with Allen Togwell but I will not have food eaten in my cab. So when an account client says that he or she wants to stop on the way home for some food, I inform them politely that they can stop to purchase the food but cannot eat it until they alight from the cab. Quite often that leads to a row regardless of how politely you inform them. So what are we to do?
Keep up the good work in Call Sign.
Reg Carpenter (B3)

Allen Togwell replies:
Dress code at night could be considered to be completely different to that of day drivers. Firstly, the general drop in temperature at night dictates clothes worn to accommodate weather conditions as opposed to smartness and secondly, with the majority of our clients receptions closed at night and contact being made either through security or AAR, night drivers rarely put themselves in areas or situations where their appearance is judged.
   On the question of food; I agree with Reg Carpenter about eating food in the back of the cab but up to a point. We receive a number of complaints from both our members and passengers about the mess left in cabs by the previous occupant eating food, the lingering smell or in some cases the damage done to seating. It is a serious issue and one recognised by many of our clients. In fact I have just completed a tender whereby the client stipulates no personnel be allowed to eat food in the taxi. The area where we have a problem is how do you tell a client not to eat particularly as there is nothing in the Hackney Carriage rules that says they can’t. Alas I have to confess that on one occasion, having over-run a meeting and having no time to stop for a bite before the next, I bought a sandwich and with the permission of the driver ate it on route. With so many of our clients on tight schedules travelling between appointments or on long journeys such as to the Airport, it is understandable they should want to use the time in the back of the cab to grab a bite to eat. I think tact and discretion is needed on the part of the driver. If it is a sandwich being eaten in the proper manner by a single passenger, it should be acceptable, however a couple of traders picked up from a wine bar wanting to stop to buy those revolting Big Macs or kebabs then I would politely explain before they bought them my attitude towards eating in the cab and any rubbish left or seating soiled, the cleaning cost would be added to the fare.


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