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Compliance Officer Update |
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Hello Ladies & Gents, Every morning I receive a report that highlights any discrepancies that may occur, either on a specific meter fare or on an amount that is either not transferred directly onto the terminal or is manually entered at the end of a particular journey. If you are out of signal range or feel that the meter needs to be manually adjusted, can I please ask you to notify the call centre prior to clearing the trip so that they can make a note on the trip event logger and authorise any adjustments. If you are constantly needing to manually enter meter fares, it is also important that you visit Roman Way who will check or replace the interface between the meter and terminal. Over the past month, those of you that are working during the early mornings would have noticed how busy we have been in the southwest and west areas. If trips are uncovered from the primary zone and their back-up zones, they will appear on the BID screen two minutes after the booked time - |
 both on a pre-booking or an asap trip. You are quite within your right to Bid for any of these trips and offer reasonable times, that is certainly better than offering no time at all. I have recently sent out a numberof complaints to members and I have been surprised that some have chosen not to reply. Receiving a letter of complaint doesn’t make you guilty, it merely asks you for a response. By choosing to ignore the letter, it leaves no alternative than to invite the member in question to attend a hearing. Without a valid reason, failure to attend will normally result |
in the complaint being heard in
your absence, so please answer the complaint and send it back in the
pre-paid envelope so the correct course of action can be taken. Can I finally send my heart felt condolences to the family and friends of Colin Salmon (N81), one of our highly valued Marshal team who sadly lost his dear mother very recently. Both Shelagh Adkins and I were amongst a number of Dial-a-Cab members that were present at the service, which was a true celebration of his mother’s life. It was so evident by that large number of people in attendance and by the many tributes that were paid to her that she was a much loved lady – Colin, I know exactly how you must be feeling at this sad time. Be very lucky and healthy...
Allane@Dialacab.co.uk |
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Toilets and taxi drivers |
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We all know about the problems working taxi drivers have when they
need to use a toilet. Many Dial-a-Cab drivers use the
Driver’s Reception loo at DaC House, but only in exceptional
circumstances would the security allow a non-DaC person to have use
of them. But it’s those exceptional circumstances this article is
about. Early last year there was a demonstration by the RMT Taxis division that was designed to highlight the problems taxi drivers have when needing to carry out a basic human function and about the parking needed to pay that visit to the loo. The result since then seems to have been that the loo probably most used by taxi drivers, the iron lung at Horseferry Road, now has wardens and cctv cameras surrounding it making it even more difficult to have a wee. The RMT asked Westminster City Council, and in particular their Director of Transport Martin Low, to allow taxis parked in a bay close to any public toilet to be allowed up to 10 minutes before Civil Enforcement Officers or cctv |
 cameras issue a parking ticket. That doesn’t seem to have materialised. Another problem is that many hotels now ban taxi drivers from using their toilets. Many DaC drivers have been grateful to JPM for allowing us to use their ground floor convenience when picking up there, but not all clients are as generous with their facilities. As we mentioned earlier, what if there’s an exceptional circumstance why a driver needs to go? Norman Lewis has been driving a taxi for many years. He now has an aggressive prostate cancer in addition to a bladder infection. The result, as he told Call Sign, is that if you have to go, then you have to go! He was driving his cab in Mayfair on Friday September 24, so he |
pulled onto the
rank servicing The Chesterfield Hotel because he’d used it in
the past with no problems. This time they refused saying that they
no longer allow taxi drivers into their loos. He explained that he
had prostate cancer, but to no avail - they still refused him. According to the hotel, they previously had no problem allowing taxi drivers to use the hotel toilet, but lately had noticed that the toilet was being left in a condition that they wouldn’t want their guests to see. The problem is that while most of us would not dream of leaving a toilet in a mess, undoubtedly some do and those few have spoiled it for others. Perhaps Call Sign readers could send in the name of any hotel etc that has no problem with us using their toilets, but please, PLEASE leave them as you would wish to find them. It takes just a second to pick up that paper towel that you threw towards the bin - but missed! Ron Yarborough |
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