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Either write to
Call Sign at Dial-a-Cab House or email us at callsignmag@aol.com
Camden Council and U-turns…
Can I thank Call Sign for its ongoing advice on appealing
against PCNs for doing U-turns in Southampton Way, when the no u-turn signs
were so poorly displayed. I threatened Camden Council as Call Sign
suggested, by saying I would be going to the Ombudsman and they wrote back
cancelling the PCN! They now say the signage has been "fixed and future
penalty notices will be enforced."
Thank you again…
Gerry Tobin (L32)
Pleased it was successful Gerry. Can I please ask drivers not to send me
their PCNs. I’m afraid that you will have to do the appealing yourself,
however, I’d be delighted to hear of any successful appeals. I have my own
appeal at the Arbitration Service in the Haymarket later this month …Ed
Too many words
Could I ask that Mailshot letters and replies be limited to 200
words? The long drawn out diatribes with subliminal ongoing grievances and
similar wordy replies by some of the letters, where I know little about the
history of previous disagreements leave me cold taking away my will to live
(50 words)…
Alan Nash (A95)
No! …Ed
Dot2Dot
Re the article in last month’s Call Sign (Dot2Dot goes
dotty); if National Express wants to get rid of this loss making
service, perhaps the time has come for Dial-a-Cab to move in on that market
in these depressing times. Brochures should be placed in every hotel,
private club and other buildings offering realistic fixed prices to all
airports. Our trade is changing for the worse, so now is time to act...
Barry Spear (Y16)
Dot2Dot is being closed less than a year after it was launched at a cost of
£7million. The service charged £22 per person to travel to London airports
in a 12-seater Mercedes people carrier. If any driver has a view on Barry’s
suggeastion, feel free to give it here …Ed
Cashpoints and red lines
About 2 or 3 months ago a message appeared in Call Sign and on
our terminals saying it was ok to stop on a red route or double yellow after
10.30pm to allow passengers to use a cashpoint. Do you know if this is still
the case please? Keep up the good work…
Gary Clark (W53)
The message came from the Mayor’s office and although it was termed as being
for an experimental period, I’ve heard nothing to suggest that it is to be
discontinued …Ed
Yellow Badges working in London
I read with interest the article in the October
Call Sign: Yellow Badges: The Game is Up and it brought to
mind something I have been thinking of for some time. I remember an
Editorial you wrote some time ago about a driver that picked you up from a
theatre and used a SatNav to take you wherever it was you were going to and
went some ridiculous route. I really believe that SatNavs should be banned
from licensed London taxi driver’s taxis. I carry one with me because if I
were to go out of town, I may well need it. But when drivers leave them on
show, it demeans the Knowledge we have to work so hard to accomplish. If the
PCO banned them in London, it would probably put an end to Yellow Badges
nicking our work because most would probably not be able to work in town
without SatNavs. But it would only work if none of us had them in the front
of our cabs.
Alex Constantinou (N05)
Thanks for the reminder Alex. It was around two years ago when I ordered a
cab from the New Victoria Theatre to go back to our old office at Brunswick
House. The driver used a SatNav and took us up Grosvenor Place, Park Lane,
Upper Brook Street, through to Euston Road, Kings Cross, City Road and
Brunswick Place. The amazing part was that the route isn’t as far out as
you’d think, but can you imagine what a fare-paying passenger would say! I
have always believed that having a SatNav fitted to our front windscreen
takes away the difference between minicabs and us and I find it totally
embarrassing when a passenger asks if I need the postcode of their address
because they are so used to minicab drivers asking. And for those that have
phoned over the past month, no I don’t consider there is a difference
between a Yellow Badge driver illegally working in town and a minicab driver
who is legally doing it. In their own areas, I respect YBs, but in London
they are just touts …Ed
Good and bad news!
Great news! Today (5th November) the September edition of Call Sign
arrived in the post with a large second class stamp on the envelope and a
yellow post office ‘underpaid’ handling fee sticker on it. I wonder if
anyone else had such good service from the post office?
In the real November Call Sign, as usual there are
articles about drivers booking into zones they are not in and the usual
complaints meeting penalties. Is it not time we went onto full GPS
dispatching and ditch the zonal system? It must surely must be out of date
by now? It would cut the complaints meetings and make things a lot easier
for the driver.
I wonder if other drivers have any views in this? Perhaps we could
hear from the BoM for their views on this?
Ray Sorene (A53)
No Ray, you aren’t the only driver to finally receive the September issue
with its £1.24 underpaid yellow sticker attached! Why? Well it could be
something to do with the Post Office admitting liability for the incorrect
postage being attached and their kind £500 donation to the LTFUC Xmas party
in the last issue. Perhaps resending them quietly might have made them feel
less guilty!
As for GPS dispatching, I’m a driver too and hope the BoM don’t
decide to do it – at least while conditions are so quiet out there. On our
current system, you know that if you are booked into a busy zone that you
will get a job. It may take longer at present, but you will get one. On GPS,
you would need to be passing |
the door or as some drivers on other
circuits operating the system tend to do, just park up outside a building
that uses them. Sooner or later their cab will be picked out by GPS and
those driving around won’t have a chance …Ed
Xmas already!
No it's not Xmas greetings yet, but that time is approaching when the Board
of management peeks inside our wardrobes and checks our funerary attire. May
I take this opportunity to say that I hate wearing black and if I need a new
fleece, pale blue or pillar box red would go down better. Also if the
company logo is compulsory, can we have just the logo - which I think is
quite tasteful - without that awful name (Dial-a-cab) which I have never
liked and is most inappropriate as nobody has dialled anything for over 25
years!
Perhaps I should wish you a Merry Christmas after all… or you might
think me a Grumpy Old Man…!
Glen Roberton (E54)
Brian Rice replies: Sorry no fleece this year Glen, you will have to make do
with a torch - which should be acceptable because as your taste in fleeces
show, you obviously like bright things!
Regarding our name of Dial-a-Cab, I couldn't agree with you more
and I have always disliked it. Like you, I
have been with DaC for over thirty years - thirty four to be precise - and I
always liked the
name 'Lords'. Consequently, I would like to change the
name to 'Lords of London' however, I have done some market research in the
past and the conclusion was that our logo was so recognisable and our name
and reputation so good that I was advised to leave well alone - so I did!
Finally, a Merry Christmas from One Grumpy Old Man to Another!
TX4 fires
Re your answer to my letter in the November Mailshot, yes I would be
pleased with a safety feature on a Daimler such as an suppression system,
but how many Daimler's have caught fire in the last 6 months? But if on a
taxi, it is a safety feature then why only on early TX4s and not the entire
London taxi fleet? Are the latest TX4s rolling off the production line with
this suppression system? This in itself proves to me it’s more a case of LTI
still can’t guarantee this work is sufficient to stop fires, so have no
choice but to put a last line of defence ie an extinguisher. Or is it placed
to save them money that in the event of a fire, the extinguisher kicks in
and they only have to replace fewer parts rather than a whole cab?
Prior to being a taxi driver, I worked for a local authority within
the environment and public protection division and under the trading
standards. I've been out of that trade for 6 years but still keep up to date
with legislation etc.
I am currently discussing with ex-colleagues weather I can refuse
this TX4 work if my cab needs it. If it does and you don't have it done,
your cab will fail the overhaul; therefore it’s proved that without the
refit the cab is unsafe. Now this also proves that it’s not a simple
manufacturers part defect, but more as an integral design failure and this
in it self makes the taxi not "fit for purpose."
The sale of goods act 1979 states the vehicle must fit its
description and be of satisfactory quality and if for a certain purpose ie
the taxi being fit for that purpose and without this refit due to what I
believe is an integral design failure, the cab will not be licensed,
therefore not fit for purpose and in the eyes of the law you are entitled to
a refund.
Michael Beevor (N76)
Interesting letter, Michael. What strikes me as strange is that when drivers
heard about the fire suppression system that LTI claimed was a gesture to
increase driver confidence in the safety of the taxi, some said that must
mean that LTI were not confident in the vehicle. So now they are not fitting
them to the later TX4 models, we have other drivers saying that means the
cab is no longer safe! So LTI aren’t going to win either way!
But whatever LTI has done to ensure the safety of the vehicle
has been passed by the
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) and they don’t mess around. One
of their many jobs is to undertake technical investigations into potential
manufacturing or design defects, highlighting safety concerns and monitoring
safety recalls. They are satisfied that the TX4 is now as safe as possible
otherwise it would not have been passed. If you go to the VOSA website, you
will discover some Ford Focus’ having a failure of
the power steering hose that could have resulted in an engine bay fire and
which were recalled. Or the Iveco bus recalled because of the danger of an
engine bay fire or the Ford Transits that were recalled due to the power
steering faults with ensuing risk of fire. Then on 29 September this year we
had a strange sounding vehicle called a TX4 that made news headlines around
the world. Not quite so many headlines came three days later for the
Freelander Land Rover that was down as possibly catching fire through its
booster heater! There are lots more, so let’s not pretend that the TX4 is
the only vehicle to ever be recalled through a possible risk of fire.
The difference is that we have the PCO / TfL because VOSA didn’t insist
the vehicles should come off the road. The situation is very
unsatisfactory, but we should keep it in perspective. If you decide to
challenge the PCO/SGS Michael, I don’t think it will be the cab that loses
out, only your good self. I once got a stop for not having a
luggage-restraining strap in the front compartment of my cab of the time -
some 10 years after the last of those FX3 cabs with their open luggage
platforms where the luggage had to be tied on were taken off the road.
You may also find this issue’s Fifty Green Years
interesting …Ed
Getting rid of hooky hotels?
Reading the letter from Mickey Lappin (E46) in November’s Mailshot
about the blatant demand for money from a linkmen for a so-called airport
job at the Mayfair; other than refusing to pay - which he did - maybe he had
two other alternatives? He could have said to the linkman: "Yes, when the
customer confirms his destination you will get the money" and then give him
10p, or because he had witnesses, call the police and report him for
demanding money with menaces. Of course, to do the latter you would have to
be on a mission and not everyone would want to go that far.
But this sort of problem has been going on for years and there |
are always going to be drivers and doormen
who will play the high game and there can now only be a few straight hotels
left. What I don't understand is the LTDA, of which I am a long-time member,
have been in a position for years to do something positive such as employing
a private surveillance company to get evidence of the selling of jobs by
hotel staff and drivers giving kickbacks and then getting some of these
people prosecuted for fraud or whichever law is broken. If big companies can
be prosecuted for giving bribes, why not them? It won’t stop it, but it
might curtail some of the syndicates of drivers with mobile phones who have
many of the hotel staff in their pockets. But no doubt the LTDA will don
their Father Christmas outfits and stand outside another hooky hotel for a
few days and after they’ve gone, all will revert to the way it’s always
been. That's why at the moment it seems the only way to get a fair shot at
the work is to be on the radio.
Can I also say that of all the years I have been reading trade
magazines, yours is way ahead of the rest. You are definitely top of your
game, so well done. Please don’t entertain any headhunters from the LTDA
mag.
Ian Connelly (T21)
Hi Ian, thanks for that comment at the end and I can offer assurances that
Stuart Pessok hasn’t offered me my fortune as of yet! As for the important
part of your letter, I asked LTDA General Secretary, Bob Oddy for a
response. He has kindly done so – and very interesting it is…
Mr Oddy writes: "The first point I wish to make is that
these issues are far more complicated than they appear at first sight and it
is not possible to provide a substantive explanation within the constraints
of this letters column. However, if any driver, LTDA member or not, cares to
call me at the LTDA I will be more than happy to spend as long as it takes
to explain in detail the legal ramifications involved.
In brief, the legal position is this: 'Bribing' hotel staff is not
illegal, immoral yes, illegal no. Therefore the only way forward is to shame
the hotel management into taking action against the
staff who act in this underhand way. But let me ask this question; why is it
that cab drivers are queuing up to service these hotels as soon as we pull
our pickets off? If an hotel is bent, don't service it! Why does it require
the LTDA to mount a picket? If cabs stopped working these high profile
hotels, they would all toe the line.
Clipboard Johnnies are a different matter. If they wait to be
approached by a prospective passenger, most courts will not convict. If they
are pro active and say for example: "Do you want a cab?" then they are
touting, but this is an important fine line. In the past the LTDA has
initiated private prosecutions against door staff at several venues. The
average cost to LTDA members of each case is approximately £5000 and the
average fine imposed is £100, and to add insult to injury, the same door
staff were back on duty the next night!
TOCU have recently taken action against clipboard johnnies at three
high profile locations. Two cases have already been tried. Both defendants
were given an Absolute Discharge, which means that they were found guilty
but the judge did not find it necessary to impose a penalty!
Senior officers at TOCU are currently endeavouring to persuade the
Crown Prosecution Service into presenting the cases in a manner which will
convince the Judiciary to impose an appropriate penalty."
Vito availability?
In the October edition of Call Sign, you expressed your opinion of
the new Mercedes Taxi. I fully agree with your sentiments, as did a few
other drivers. But one possible problem was not discussed.
It is my understanding that we (DaC) have added a ‘V’ attribute to
the list and I find it rather hard to understand the reasoning behind it. We
have only a few ‘vans’ (sorry) on the circuit, so if a customer requests one
of these cabs, will he/she be happy to wait possibly several hours before
his request can be granted? Also, if a 6-seater is wanted, I would hope that
particular job would be open to all 6-seaters ie most Metrocabs and not just
the new cab. It would be interesting to hear what the response to that last
question will be.
Michael Harris (F79)
Brian Rice responds:
Michael, the reason we have a 'V' attribute is so that we know what type of
vehicle our members are driving, it’s as simple as that.
We do occasionally get a request for the Mercedes and all we can say to the
customer is that we will try, but if there is not anything local we will get
back to them; after all, we only have 19 at the time of writing.
However, if the request is for a six-seater then of course you and
your Metrocab would be included in the equation. Consequently, we are
talking about three different requests, I want a Mercedes, I want a six
seater or I want a Metrocab - if the request is for the latter then it would
only be offered to Metros if there are any in the area. If there isn't, then
like the request for the Mercedes, we would get back to the client.
LCDC response
As acting Secretary of the LCDC, I read with interest the article by Dave
Cohen (E94) in last month’s Call Sign. We at the Club are
most flattered that you regularly write about us. I would respectfully like
to point out that both Dave Cohen and Alan Fleming’s position became
untenable after they gave evidence in court against the LCDC on behalf of
Terry Bezant (W87), the former typesetter for The Badge newspaper
who filed an unfair dismissal claim against the Club. I am pleased to say
that this was successfully defended, but at a cost to the membership of the
Club of several thousand pounds.
Thank you for the opportunity to set the record straight.
Darryl Cox (T33)
Thanks Darryl, however I should point out that I don’t make up stories and
when someone feels aggrieved and wants to write in Call Sign, if I consider
it relevant then I have no problem in allowing them to make their point …Ed |
