(14)

HAVE THE DUMMIES TAKEN (continued)

Now onto his statement about the £1.50 minimum for deliveries. I have made my comments on this in the past regarding the surcharge. I still shudder at the thought of what Mr Spiro will do to this! My last comment appertains to Mr Spiro’s gracious acknowledgement of our Chairman, Mr Peter Fennymore’s character. I endorse this 100%. He has to be patient to listen to the kind of greed-motivated verbiage dished up to him. He also has to be kind and tell himself that the type of person he is dealing with has to be controlled gently, because he is obviously living in a small self-contained bubble of unreality, which his (the Chairman’s) kindness will not let him burst, for fear of disastrous consequences.

In conclusion, that is if you are still there, I would just like to point that the only reason I have replied to this letter is to clarify the society’s and my own position, and to fill in the large gaps left in Mr Spiro’s sweeping statements which could be damaging if left unanswered.

Thanks for bearing with me, those that are still there of course!

Yours truly, Charlie Rubin, Control Room Manager

 
LETTERS - THE LAST OF’EM!

May I state my position at the outset; I am 100% in agreement with the sentiments expressed by Mr Spiro E79 in last month’s News & Views.

I have been a cab driver now for 25 years and for about 20 of those years, I have driven a radio cab, first as a journeyman and now as an owner. During that time, I have always noticed that the cab trade as a whole has been too scared to ask the proper rate for the job.

Our fares have always been under-priced; it is for this reason that we find it extremely difficult to convince the Home Office that we need a substantial fare rise. So really, you can’t blame our BoM. For over many years, they have been brainwashed into being convinced that taxi charges are adequate, when every working cab driver knows it to be untrue.

I am, I think, one of the few cab drivers who does not support the latest fare rise proposals for the simple reason that they are not large enough.

With inflation, the cost of the new vehicle, the high cost of running the vehicle, the cost of the fuel and spares, our fares should be somewhere in the region of £1.00 initial hiring, a rate of 50p per mile, 20p extra passenger, 20p for luggage, 50p bank holiday charge and 25p night charge. 

These costs, which we should be charging today, would be a realistic fare tariff and would just about cover our costs in today’s high inflation. All of Mr Spiro’s problems, and mine as well, would be solved if we had a proper up-to-date and realistic fare tariff. What is needed now is a fundamental restructuring of our fares and the way they are negotiated, with built in mechanism for annual increases. Why do you think we are so busy and people complain that they can’t get a cab? 

I know you will say that if we put our fares up it will scare away work. May I answer this by saying that when we have a fare rise, there is always customer opposition at first, but they all come back.

A few years ago, we had a 33% fare rise and we did lose some work, but look how busy we are today! So Board of Management and Joint Trade fare-negotiating committee, break out of your hypnotised, brainwashed inferiority complex state and change today’s rate for the job, - not the rate of three years ago.                  

C. Barnett (A47)

 ED’S COMMENT

Final word and that is it. I’ve given everyone who wanted to write in the opportunity to have a say. Whether you agree with Mr Spiro or not (I certainly do not agree with most of it), he has been man enough to make his point and put his name to it. If more drivers (those who bubble abuse behind their ‘mike’ but do not give a call sign) wrote in News & Views about matters concerning the society, I’m sure it would bring an even better understanding of how each other thinks. Phil Emden