ROMFORD MP ANDREW ROSINDELL VISITS LTI Romford MP Rosindell on his visit to LTI. Andrew Rosindell, the Conservative MP for Romford, recently visited LTI Vehicles to see for himself how a London taxi is built. A forceful champion of British industry and culture, he declared the London taxi to be a "great British product and symbol." Mr Rosindell had been briefed on the issues LTI faces before being given a tour of the factory and as his constituency contains many ‘Green’ and ‘Yellow’ badge taxi drivers, it was a tour that he enjoyed. Mr Rosindell told Call Sign afterwards: "I was delighted to be able to visit LTI’s factory to see the famous London taxi being built. To me, the London taxi is a great British product and symbol of Britain. I wish LTI well for the future to continue to evolve this iconic form of transport so that it continues to serve London for many years to come. The legendary 25-foot turning circle should be a permanent feature on all taxis in London, as it ensures there is minimal congestion when a taxi turns in the road to pick up passengers on the other side of London’s narrow streets. Central London would be a nightmare having taxis three point turning all over the place! I also hope their export programme takes off and they are able to export a vehicle that is ‘forever British’ overseas too – particularly to Commonwealth countries." In response, LTI Director of Government Affairs Chris Kelsey said: "We were very pleased to welcome Andrew Rosindell to the factory and show him around. He is a great supporter of the London taxi, taxi drivers and British industry generally. Many of our London customers live or used to live in his Romford constituency, so we were very pleased to be able to brief him about the London and UK taxi industry and the issues currently facing it." |
BRIAN RICE GETS A GREEK CALLING!
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Dial-a-Cab Chairman admitted to Call Sign that he felt
surprised, but honoured when a call from Greece asked him if he could go to
their second City after Athens, Thessaloniki, to give a talk at a taxi
conference on the London taxi trade. The conference was attended by 650 delegates from the Greek taxi business, as well as political ministers and members of the Greek press. The discussion was to decide the best way of regulating the Greek taxi trade in addition to starting radio circuits etc. They were interested in the financial infrastructure of the London trade and obviously intend basing their product on ours. Brian was there for the weekend of the conference and told the delegates during his 30-minute speech that they urgently needed to regulate because although that in itself makes entry to the trade more difficult, it also turns an ordinary job into a profession. He also gave an insight into the London trade that few delegates really knew about, but from his speech (which was translated into Greek via an interpreter) many said afterwards |
that they now understood why London was the one example of
taxis that all countries should use. Following his lecture, Brian took questions from the floor and the Greek press… "I was literally surrounded by both delegates and the press. I never realised how difficult it was to speak in conjunction with someone interpreting everything you say!" Brian added: "There is no question in my mind that they see the London taxi trade as the flagship of the world and they now see Dial-a-Cab as the equivalent in radio circuits. I also consider it a great honour both for our company and London as a whole when the Greek Ministry of Transport and National Federation of Taxi Drivers ask the Chairman of Dial-a-Cab to go over there to give a lecture on how taxi matters should be run. It just shows how far and wide the name of DaC has spread around the world." Brian’s trip and expenses were fully funded by the Greek National Federation of Taxi Drivers. |
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