Call Sign July 2006 - Page 5 - ROY ELLIS TO RETIRE… - DISPATCHER LOU HAS DOUBLE CATARACT OPERATION

ROY ELLIS TO RETIRE…		Continue to improve both the delivery of day to day services and implement projects that will raise service quality in the future Further develop the transport authority role in respect of taxis and private hire *Ensure effective monitoring and compliance procedures apply throughout all areas of the business. The following top line structure differentiating standards and service delivery will provide the model to be cascaded through the business progressively up to April 2007. The aim is to move to the revised structure as part of a seamless process. The new role of Head of Regulation and Standards is being advertised with a view to there being an overlap of several weeks up to the end of the year of that postholder and the retiring Head of the PCO."
Ed Thompson outlines future PCO plans The Taxi and Private Hire Director at the PCO, Ed Thompson, has told Call Sign of the future changes that will come about now that Roy Ellis, Head of the Public Carriage Office, has confirmed his intention to retire at the end of 2006 on completion of 40 years service. Mr Thompson said: "To manage his departure effectively after more than 11 years in the demanding and unique role of Head of the PCO will require an orderly transition. Major growth in both functions and service provision in recent years has made it increasingly difficult to channel so many areas of the business through one position. Accordingly, the PCO is now taking the opportunity to	establish a much clearer separation of its core activities of:- Setting standards and regulations Service delivery Therefore, over the coming months the PCO will restructure its activities in order to:- *Achieve a clear organisational distinction between the standard-setting and service delivery functions

DISPATCHER LOU HAS DOUBLE CATARACT OPERATION

Then has to quit Dial-a-Cab…
Dial-a-Cab’s long-time Saturday night dispatcher, Lou Gitlin, recently went to Moorfields in City Road on two consecutive weeks to have a cataract on each eye removed. Lou is diabetic and eye problems are something that diabetics keep on the look-out for.
   He told Call Sign:
   "Before the ops, I could hardly see anything without my glasses, but now my distance sight is 20/20 which means that I qualify for admission to the army! My close vision is ok, but in between those two isn’t that good. Hopefully, my new glasses will improve that situation. I must say that while the op was being done, you are wide awake and hardly notice they are doing anything."
   Sadly, whilst the double-op showed a reasonable amount of success, on his return to the Saturday evening hot seat he found the glare of the monitors too uncomfortable and decided that he would have to give up the job that he had made his own over the

Lou During his time in the DaC dispatching box

past 48 years!
   To mark his retirement, Lou was taken out for lunch by his immediate boss, Call Centre Manager Keith Cain, together with DaC Chairman Brian Rice and also presented with some Champagne.
   Lou Gitlin began dispatching on a part-time basis in 1958 - two years after getting his badge – and went full-time in 1961. He had been the resident Saturday night dispatcher ever since and together with DaC’s other Saturday dispatcher, Ivor Belkin, provided a double team that have been together most Saturdays since 1961.
   Ivor told Call Sign: "Saturdays just won’t be the same without Lou on the box. It is the end of an era and I wish him well for the future."
   And Ivor? "I’m not going anywhere!"

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