 Yes
I know it’s quiet out there and things are tough, but at least
you don't have to worry about being made redundant, sacked or
turned down for an interview! But things will get better and
just as the London cab trade is the first to go down, it is also
the first to bounce back up!Us old ones have seen all this before and it doesn't help to moan… although it can make you feel a little better! At least we can work as many days and hours as we are capable of. To my way of thinking, the big differences between now and the old days is the huge increase in legal and illegal competition. In the past there was very little, just the odd car slinking around the clubs and the few yellow badge drivers working in town. Nowadays there seems to be every form of vehicle - no matter how dangerous they are to the travelling public. |
"Sunset Strip" handed
his badge and bill back to the PCO after 50 years - much of it
with ODRTS. These are his memories… FIFTY GREEN YEARS… |
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But remember
this; when the licensed taxi trade was highly unionised, scabs
and illegals were few on the ground and if you didn't have a
paid up union card you couldn't get a fleet cab to drive. And,
as a musher, many of the bigger cab garages would not service,
work, or repair your taxi. Since the weakening of all trade
unions, employment security has all but disappeared and much of
the blame for this must be put onto the unions themselves who
abused their enormous power by wanting what has proved to be
unaffordable wages and benefits for their members. The London cab trade has the LTDA as its best bet to fight illegal and unfair competition and practices. But with only about one third of all London’s licensed taxi drivers being members of any trade organisation, even they can only do so much to help and support the trade. So my advice to you is this; you are members of one of the best radio circuits in the world. Now |
join the LTDA, which in my
opinion is the best taxi defence association in the world. In
that way you at least have two strong organisations protecting
and supporting you against all the jobsworths, troublemakers and
regulators. It is, of course, up to you. I still belong to the LTDA and I no longer drive a cab for a living or any other reasons. Frankly, in all the years I spent behind the wheel, I never found driving in a taxi as nice as driving in an equivalent priced car. So other than the money a taxi takes - whereas a car takes your money - I must state that a car is better to drive under most circumstances. But a taxi gives you a better, safer tool to do the job with. If you have a God, or Gods you believe in, ask them for some bad weather and a few wildcat transport strikes, as they nearly always bring in some extra dosh. Be lucky, be safe, and keep on plugging away… Sunset Strip |
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How to use Call Sign’s website? |
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One of the most common letters Call Sign receives
is why we only put 20 pages from each issue online? The answer
is that we don’t! There are two versions of each issue in the Call Sign library – the biggest facility of its kind in the whole cab trade. If you want to have a look at an online version – and you can go back to 1967 – just go to www.dac-callsign.co.uk. You will then see a selection of years beginning at 2009 and going right the way back to 1967. Click on the year you want and that will then present you with that year’s covers. Just click on the one you want to read. If you go back prior to May 2006, each issue will contain a selection of around 20 pages from each issue. These will include mainly DaC attributed stories, BoM reports and the Mailshot pages. These 20 page selections continue up to the latest issue, but since May 2006, there are also PDF versions of each issue. These contain the complete mag – ads n’all. If you select a 20 page version, you can also use Call Sign’s search facility. This enables you to enter a word as a clue to help you find something. If, |
for example, you remember
writing a letter to the mag but can’t remember when, put your
surname into the search facility and it will bring up
every page where the name is mentioned. Click on the one you
think it might be and that should contain your letter! If you
click on the little PDF sign (at the bottom of each icon) you
will get the complete mag but no search facility. |
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