Thanks for your letter. I don’t suppose that many would argue with your conclusions, however, I think - and these are my personal views, not the views of DaC - the problems go substantially deeper. Most of our major accounts and probably many of the smaller ones, know all about the differences between us and private hire.
They also know all about your three points, ie; criminality, insurance coverage and vehicles. They will feel reasonably assured that most of the ‘respectable’ private hire companies will only employ drivers who have no criminal record (licensing will eventually show that), ample hire and reward insurance and a more-than nice car! If our plan of attack is just to denigrate the opposition, we will fail miserably. Sure, there are some awful minicabs out there, but few of the ‘awful’ ones will be servicing corporate account clients. The ‘third’ tier will service those they service now - those who want to pay less than the bus fare together with those desperate to get home when no licensed cab is available. You have to be in a position of trying to get a cab home from the west end at night when there isn’t an illuminated ‘for hire’ sign to be seen to understand people’s frustrations because, by the same token, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of licensed drivers prepared to stop to ask you which way you are going! The

CALL CENTRE

May I congratulate whoever was behind the redesigning of the Call Centre. It now provides an extremely modern work

environment with a very comfortable outlook. I’m not alone in saying that we now have a Call Centre we can be proud of.
R.Fisher
Call Centre telephonist 201

The new Call Centre was designed ‘in-house’ by Allen Togwell (see centre page story). It has been universally praised by all the Call Centre staff…Ed

NEW TERMINAL SECURITY

I am very pleased that we are going to get new mobile PC’s in our cabs. It looked absolutely great in your article (April Call Sign). However, one drawback that I can see after speaking to a very senior person at IBM is that each new PC looks to be worth a minimum of £1500. That could make it very much an item attractive to thieves. I understand that if a keyboard were attached to the computer (a lay-out of about £50), then you would have a nice little computer for personal use. My question is; what security will there be? Will we be able to detach the PC from our vehicles? Will we be able to blank them off from prying eyes? It is all right saying that the doors and windows of the cab must be locked when not in use, but you then have the potential to lose the PC while also having a broken cab window! Without being too pessimistic, could you advise how much additional insurance it will cost for the cab and would it be advisable for each driver to take out their own insurance?
   I am not being a whinger, just trying to look to the future and to save trouble before it hits us. I am sure that out planners have thought all this through.
Derrick Smith (K51)

Tom Carter replies:
At this moment, the new terminal will be in two pieces. There will be a screen unit which will fit where the current

terminal does and a second unit, which contains all the workings (processor, memory, disk, cd-rom, etc.) and this will be fitted elsewhere in the taxi. The screen unit itself will be useless without the other unit. We have thought about making the screen removable but do not believe it will be necessary. We have also considered a single unit terminal which would be completely removable to be used by the driver as a personal computer outside of the taxi.
As for blanking the screen, we are awaiting the new terminal prototypes to see what, if any, control buttons exist for this function. If no controls exist to blank the screen, then we will implement a function to handle this.
There will be no need for you to take out any additional insurance.

THANK YOU

My husband, Brian McKenzie (A63), had been off work from November 98 until April 99. During this time he had quite a few ‘knockbacks’ but not once did he moan. His friends were very good to us and our two children and I would like to thank them very much. I’d also like to tell my husband that our two children and myself love him very much and we are so happy that he is well and working again.
Mrs J.McKenzie
London SW9

And thank you for a delightful letter…Ed

MY PAL DARREN

I didn't know Darren very long, only a few years. We were introduced to each other at the Knowledge Point School in Caledonian Road where I was invited to call the sheet with him and his call-over partner Paul - my other call-over partner (Dave) had just passed out. We immediately struck up a good working relationship and became very close friends. As I was the old man of the group, I came in for some stick which helped us all get over the sometimes laborious days, only winning the day after Spurs had lost!
Darren was only 29 years old when he tragically died of a heart attack, leaving a wife and two young children. He had a plan for his family and himself, his ambition was to become a London cab driver and to move his family from the city to the countryside. He succeeded with this ambition by laying bricks on a building site during the day and getting on his bike at nights and weekends doing the Knowledge and looking for those points.
When Darren passed out and got his Badge, he worked long and hard to achieve his aims, but still found time to give me support, encouragement and accompany me when my appearances came round. Without his help, it surely would have taken me much longer.
On the 25th March 1999, I finally got my Badge much to the great pleasure of myself, the lads and other cabbies and knowledge boys who were there to congratulate me. But the one missed most of all was that 6 foot 3 inch mate with the GI haircut and bent nose.
Darren died on Saturday the 20th of February 1999. A few days later I was contacted by Mr John Morrison, the first person Darren had rented his cab from, advising me to make contact with Jim Ward and Alan Cohen of the London Taxi Drivers Fund for Underprivileged Children and this I did. I am very pleased to say that this wonderful organisation kindly sent Pauline, Darren’s wife, a cheque for £1000 which was gratefully received in her time of need. I would like to personally thank them for their kind consideration. I would also like to thank those responsible, on behalf of Pauline and myself, for the tremendous gesture of cash collected at London Airport.
Goodbye Pal…
From the oldest ex-knowledge boy in North London
Cliff Collyer
Waltham Cross, Herts.  

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