March 2011

Congratulations toHRH Prince William

& Kate Middletonfrom all at the

Radio Taxis Group

Mountv

iew

New

s

Still haven’t joined the Credit Union?HAVE YOU HAD TO STRUGGLE TO PAYYOUR TAX BILL ON TIME?In my last article in Mountview News I asked why many of you still had not joinedour Credit Union. I am still at a loss as to why anyone would chose not to join. Iknow for a fact that there were many drivers who were struggling to pay their taxon time, this doesn’t have to happen to members of the Credit Union, and theyhave peace of mind when it is time to pay. I dealt with several calls that camein from non credit union members panicking over how they were going topay their bill, unfortunately they were not eligible as they were not membersand did not know that there is a qualifying period of three months ofregular saving before a loan can be granted.

I URGE YOU TO JOIN

Now is the time to join Radio Taxis Credit Union. In this currenteconomic climate it really is a struggle to save when money is so tight,you know how difficult it is to save directly from your pocket, mucheasier when it is deducted at source from your account work credits.Ask any of your friends who already belong how useful being amember really is; loans can be used for whatever you want. Itreally is very easy to join, you decide how much you want to saveeach month and we will deduct it from your credit work on amonthly basis, much easier than having to pay in each month.

A typical loan from Radio Taxicabs (London) Credit UnionLtd is as follows:

£1,000 over 12 months will cost you £88.85 a month, totalloan repayment is £1,066.20, interest payable is only£66.20, beat that if you can. In addition to this, all loansand savings are insured and fully protected in the eventof an untimely death, this normally costs a greatdeal more with other lenders.

You do not have to take a loan if you don’twant, just save an amount each month until youare ready to take out a Share Withdrawal to payfor whatever you want.

Call Alan Woolf on: 0207 561 5148 Tuesday –Thursday or leave your name and telephonenumber and we will return your call.

Email:alan.woolf@radiotaxis.co.uk

CreditUnionRadio Taxicabs ( London) Credit Union Ltd No. 90C

Mountview House, Lennox Road, London N4 3TX

Tel: 020 7561 5148 Fax: 020 7561 5166

Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority FRN. 213232

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4 This month’s latest newsRoger Sligo keeps us updated

6 Rear WindowGeoffrey Riesel says looking back means going forward

7 The Magical Taxi TourThe outing to Disneyland Paris

8 Taking the PCNSteve Cooper on the Penalty Charge Notice

9 What is EAP?Robert MacDonald Watson explains all

10 Curiosity CornerRoger Sligo reveals another mystery of hidden London

11 Falling Down!Roy Hughes talks about service complaints from clients

12 Tough Guy ChallengeCarlos Oliveira on how he got downright dirty

14 Xeta & OperationsAlan Franks on how the work is distributed

15 The Life of a COOGordon Brown discovered problems that need solving

16 Katie on The KnowledgeKatieChannells is following in her family’s footsteps

18 Harvey Saunders – G048Looks back on his 45 years in the cab

19 “The Shape of Things to Come”Peter Gibson on the future of London’s landscape

20 Desperately seeking CharlieRoger Sligo needs your help

21 Profile...Krishna Sooben is RTG’s Head of Finance

22 The Mountview Puzzler PageWaiting for a fare? Grab a pen and go here

23 Letters to the EditorCabbie correspondence

24 Cyber MirthJolly jokes, mirth and merriment

INSIDE THIS ISSUE MountviewNewsCONTENTS

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MOUNTVIEW NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM IS:Roger Sligo – Editor & photosPenny Cuckston – AdministrationDoug Canning – Graphic design, layout, artwork printing & distributionGeoffrey Riesel & Peter Gibson – Board productionDesign: © 2011 / DC-Graphics / Barnet / Herts / EN5 5TP

T: 0208 440 1155 / W: www.dc-graphics.co.ukContent: © 2011 / Radio Taxis Group Ltd / Lennox Road / London / N4 3TX

The information and images contained in this Newsletter are subject to copyright.Unauthorised use, disclosure or copying without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

What a muddy mess!What a muddy mess!

Find outwhat, when andwhy on page 12.

THE A13On the 31st of January the average speed cameras on theA13 went live for the first time after more than a yearunder test conditions. A distance of six miles and the

longest stretch in Londonrecording the average speedof traffic, from Ripple Roadto the Leamouth Tunnel.With speeds ranging from 50– 40 – 30mph; yes a threelane road at only 30 it is hardto maintain the legal speeds.

I have managed to keep within the law although the“thirty section” takes some doing with cars and lorriesovertaking from all sides. Yes I am in the middle lanewhere you have to be to access the tunnel!

The thing which concerns me the most is so manyvehicles are completely ignoring the speed limits. Isuspect the overlong testing without prosecutions hasgiven regular drivers the impression of false security.Unlike the flashing speed cameras which makeeveryone aware instantly someone has a ticket, theaverage speed tickets will only be known to that driver.

I see a few Radio Taxis and Xeta drivers who do notseem to be aware the signs are for real – trust me theymean what they say. I have even heard they can tell ifyou are using hand held phones. They have spent afortune on the many cameras operating at everyintersection, now its payback time and they are lookingat making a handsome profit.

CLAPHAMClapham Park Road has made number one in theEvening Standard Top Twenty Biggest Cash Cows.According to the Standard, Clapham Park Road hastaken almost £1m in the past year. This has been earnedthey said through CCTV and civil enforcement officerstaking a massive £2,500 a day for Lambeth Council.

President of the AA Edmund King was reported tohave said.”That is an incredible amount of money forone street. Something is wrongwith the system – the intentionof the council should be to keeptraffic moving, not makingmoney.”

“At best it’s very poor trafficmanagement and at worst,frankly, it’s profiteering.”

The street has a handful ofshops and two bars whereowners complained of motorists

often caught out by cameras monitoring a bus lane,which has had its layout changed several times in recentyears. Other drivers have said they are targeted by over-eager parking inspectors who strike within seconds ofthem leaving their cars.

THE EVENING STANDARD TOPTWENTY CASH COWS ARE:Clapham Park Road (Lambeth) £914,040

Green Lanes (Haringey) £606,903

The Broadway/Herbert Road (Ealing) £534,041

Kentish Town Road (Camden) £395,491

Mare Street (Hackney) £356,012

Chiswick High Road (Hounslow) £351,416

Elephant Road (Southwark) £327,472

Lea Bridge Road (Waltham Forest) £250,270

King’s Road (Kensington & Chelsea) £203,123

Penge High Street (Bromley) £194,005

Baker Street (Westminster) £189,515

Uxbridge High Street (Hillingdon) £172,075

London Road (Croydon) £171,295

Hackney Road (Tower Hamlets) £145,612

Macfarlane Road (Hammersmith & Fulham) £135,319

Garratt Lane (Wandsworth) £118,436

Wellington Street (Greenwich) £75,726

Yew Grove (Barnet) £47,910

Market Place Car Park (Havering) £34,185

Grove Road (Sutton) £22,686

CHANGING METERSEach year, with our overhauls, we have to have a newmeter fitted, like it or not, which has beenreconditioned and benched checked. Nowhere else inthis country as far as I am aware, are taxis requiredto replace their taxi-meters in order to gain a licenseeach year.

Where I live a few miles outside of London, the taxi-drivers buy their own meters and keep them as long asthey wish. Depending on the make it costs them from£400 with a £25 charge imposed with each new tariffchange. The average price we pay in London each yearis £160 – not for a brand new one but for a second handmeter, which can be scruffy and scratched and evenyears older than the one fitted before.

With all the changes taking place within the T&PH

Cash Cows Start Milking !

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This month’s

NEWS

(PCO) and with talk of two MOT’s from garagesanywhere, instead of going to SGS for testing. As wemove closer towards the standards in the rest of theUK, why should we still be made to keep the metersuppliers in business by renting?

When you consider the age of some gas and electricmeters, mine must be at least thirty years old, as whenI moved house more than 24 years ago, they werealready old then. Nobody bothers to check whetherthey are still accurate or not, in fact if I wanted them tobe checked or changed, I the customer must pay!

Over a fifteen year period during the life of a cab, wewill all spend a staggering £2,400 on meter hire atpresent day prices. Yet if we were allowed to buy, withfifteen price changes taken into account, our total costwould only be £775 a worthwhile save!Within the taxi-trade, our representatives as far as I amaware, have never challenged why a yearly meter is stillnecessary with the latest technology.One less expense of being on a radio circuit like RadioTaxis or Xeta is that there is no need to have anadditional printer fitted, which is an extra cost payablefor none radio drivers.

FARES UP 2.7%From the 2nd April – 2.7% will be the amount ofincrease added to our meters. Although the extra costsin running a taxi including fuel and insurance, is farhigher than the increase, it is probably the best wecould expect under the circumstances. Neverthelesswith fuel prices about to rise again on 1st of April to anall-time high.

CYCLISTS GET THEGREEN LIGHTOne of our most important taxiroutes going from the West Endto both St Pancras and KingsCross Station’s has now beenclosed off. Tavistock Place andMarchmont Street are now aheadonly going east. This vital link forgetting a left or right turn at thisjunction will mean a longerdetour through Judd Street andLeigh Street, burning more fuel

and actually increasing pollution!The only reason I can see for the no left turn is the

cycle lane. The traffic lights were set independently,when we had green, the cyclists would have red,enabling us to cut across their path. As always mostcyclists would try jumping the lights which made thejunction dangerous.

It seems that when they can’t control the cyclists theychange the highways and make everyone else suffer.

I don’t remember seeing any dialogue from TfL aboutthis change to our roads! The first I knew about it waswhen I went to use it, the same way every other cab driverwill sooner or later find out, so why no press release?

With such an important taxi route on many of ourknowledge runs (left Marchmont Street, forwardCartwright Gardens, forward Mabledon Place, rightEuston Road) wouldn’t you think the T&PH (PCO)would speak up for us?

The bus companies would not put up with suchgoings on to their routes;signs with no left turnexcept buses would soonbe added.

If TFL want to look atdangerous roads in thisarea they need only watchthe present fiasco takingplace all the time atTavistock Place andGordon Square, this is anaccident waiting to happen. Making a right turn at thisjunction you have to watch not only oncoming trafficbut also two way cycle lanes with other traffic trying toexit the square, having to be aware of four lanes ineither direction!

I fear it will take the tragedy of a cyclist gettingbadly injured or killed before – guess what...that toowill be banned to turning traffic!

TOO MANY ONE’S…This year is full of one’s – 1/1/11, 1/11/11 and 11/11/11Now try this; take the last two digits from the yearyou were born. Then take the age you will be on yourbirthday this year. Add them both together and itwill come to; one hundred and eleven – 111 – how didI know that?

Roger Sligo – Editor.5

“Most people do not know

that they can “phone” or book

online for a cab, let alone

for a “black cab!”

WHERE DID THE WEBSITETRAFFIC COME FROM?

Now we are doing our bit here, but apart from those ofyou who already have a rear window sticker, the rest ofyou are not – look at the numbers. Look at this “piechart” below and the key attached to it.

Those numbers indicate that we are managing to steerpeople who use “search engines” to the site but wedefinitely need to increase the amount of traffic to thesite from direct advertising.

There is no better form of advertising or marketingour company than by displaying our website name onthe rear window of our taxis. It gives us a presencethroughout London – because most people do notknow that they can “phone” or book online for a cab,let alone for a “black cab.”

All most people inLondon know aboutthese days, because of asignificant presence,much of it attained bytheir rear windowadvert, is Addison Lee.Let’s be honest, their signs are everywhere.

Geoffrey RieselRadio Taxis Group Chairmanand CEO.

AS I GET OLDER I DO TEND TOREPEAT MYSELFAt the risk of repeating myself (yes… yes I hear yousay that it never stopped me in the past!) I wanted totalk about something that I wrote about in themonthly E-View online magazine.

Rear window, apart from being a classic andoutstanding movie directed by the late great AlfredHitchcock – well rear window, is also my currentpreferred subject because it is the best way forward forus to market our services at Radio Taxis and help tocontinue in the fight to recover our work lost in theworst recession in living memory.

WEBSITE SUCCESSSince we launched the new website a year ago, it hasbrought tremendous success to us in terms ofgenerating business. Now perhaps I should tone downmy fervour here and say, what I mean by the termsuccess; in other words has it been a game changer?Well it has made and it continues to make, a verypositive difference to our business.

Let’s examine some of the readily available statisticsfrom our new friend “Google Analytics” which tells usall we need to know about the www.radiotaxis.co.ukwebsite.

THE NUMBERS TELL THE STORYIn the year from March 2010 to February 2011 the sitehad nearly 29,000 page views from a little less than11,000 visitors. 79.78% of those visitors to the sitewere new visitors and between them all they spent anaverage of 1 min: 59 seconds each on the site.

11,500 page views were of our general content andlooking at the “about us” page. Around 900 peoplevisited the “account application” or “open an account”pages in the year with 61 new account queries from thesite in December 2010 alone and at the time of writingat the end of Jan 2011 34 new account enquiriesalready in the first month of the New Year alone.

Around 9,000 people visited the “Book a cab” or“book by credit card pages” in the year and as anadditional interesting indicator, our company total ofonline internet bookings has grown to just short of100,000 bookings. This is nothing less than amazing!

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Rear Window

� 35.39% Direct Traffic:(for example advertising fromwww.Stickers).

�10.09% Referring Sites:(links with other websites, topreferrer is www.tfl.com).

�54.52% Search Engines:(search engine optimisation,our work to make Radio Taxistop search answer on Google;Yahoo and Ask etc).

Photo by LaMir.

DO YOU CARE?I suspect that a proportion of you who don’t carry therear window sticker don’t care. I also suspect that themajority of you would care if you thought about it, butmany just can’t be bothered and in any case you don’tbelieve your actions will make any difference.

I am acutely aware that much of what I have writtenwill read like Swahili to many of you. I am also awarethat many of you have day to day contact with nothingmore technical than a mobile telephone or a TVremote control. But, as the advent of fitting doorstickers in the 70’s had a massive impact on theamount of work that was generated for drivers on thecircuit, the opportunity afforded us by first acquiringthe knowledge of the benefits of a well run website andthe massive benefit of directing traffic to this website isnow patently obvious and so I make no apology forrepeating myself in writing this article. I will revisitthis subject again and again.

YOU WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCEIf you look at the numbers you will see that your actionscan truly make a huge difference, so please help byplaying your part and affixing a rear window sticker toyour cab. To those of you who have already, I thank youand I hope what I have written proves that you areplaying a major role in the fight back against Private Hire.

PARKING OUTRAGE You will be aware by now that we have employed anexpert consultant who advises us on the rules andregulations about parking and parking penalty notices.This is because we have been paying large sums toLondon’s local authorities for just having you goingabout your lawful daily business.

We currently have around one hundred appealsoutstanding and we will let you know how we get on.

PARKING EXTORTIONA good friend of mine had an awful experience lastDecember just before the New Year. He went out for ameal with his brother and nephew. They went to aTurkish restaurant in Newbury Park Ilford at about6pm in the evening and of course it was dark by then.

At the back of the restaurant is a little service roadand he decided to park there, as he didn’t think he wasblocking anyone or causing any obstruction. And hetells me there were no obvious official signsprohibiting parking.

On arriving at the restaurant (30 seconds walk fromthe car) the restaurant owner told him that a firm ofclampers were working in the area and told him tomove the car to his private bay a few yards further on.My friend immediately walked back to his car (another30 seconds walk) only to find a tow truck (it was alicensed operator) had already lifted the rear wheels ofhis car. Total time parked, approximately 2 minutes 45seconds.

My friend pleaded with the clampers but they wereadamant. They wouldn’t even let him pay to release the

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car there and then. They showed him a small pair ofsigns, which were high above any line of sight and thesigns were apparently only about 12” square in size.

They also told him that their “pound” was not openat that time of night so he couldn’t even retrieve hiscar until the next day.

You’ve guessed, yes they also charged him for a day’sstorage! How much do you think was the total amountthat they “extorted” from him, well your guesses wouldbe wrong they charged him a whopping £555!

He asked my advice about the incident and wediscovered that the law says that any signs have to bevery clear and obvious.

I’ve since seen the pictures and the signs were allpretty obscure; even if it had been in daylight the signscertainly were not obvious.

The law says that for a legal immobilisation(clamping or towing) the motorist must know clearlythat he is at risk of being clamped or towed, byobvious signage. In my friend’s situation neither wasthe case, this is clearly a case of entrapment and theactions of the clamping company were outrageous.

He is currently trying to get a refund, so far withoutany success, a salutary tale. The slip road by the way, isat the beginning of Clifton Road, Newbury Park, so bewarned!

YOU CAN’T BEAT THE HUMAN SPIRITIf that story makes you sigh here’s one to warm thecockles of your heart.

Sometimes in life something happens that makesyou feel really good about people and about life ingeneral and more than just a little humble. Our winnerfor the £1000 Xmas rear window sticker draw wasNaran Lalji (H10) “Naj” to his friends. Naj has beenon the circuit for 18 years and runs a cricket teamwhich plays for charity. His charity is a children’sorphanage in Bombay, India.

Naj donated the whole of his £1,000 prize to theorphanage.

I must say I am blown away by his generosity.The taxi trade has a long tradition of kindness andgenerosity and Naj personifies this.

Best wishes – Geoffrey RieselChairman & CEO Radio Taxis Group Limited.

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Steve Cooper, RTG’sDriver Services Managertalks about...Taking the PCN*

BY THE NATURE OF OUR BUSINESS we willoccasionally fall foul of waiting restrictions and as aresult receive a PCN. It is so easy for a parking ticketto drop on the doormat, days after an alleged parkingcontravention captured on CCTV with no need for awarden to be even part of the process, the CCTVevidence is deemed sufficient.

Last October, Radio Taxis Driver Servicesimplemented a revised procedure to deal with theever increasing number of PCNs that were beingissued to drivers. The amount of PCNs we weredealing with had increased by 60% year on year and adifferent approach was required to address thesituation. It was decided that all PCNs issued duringthe course of an account ride would be considered

for appeal.PCNs must be issued inaccordance withlegislation and TrafficManagement Orders thatare in place and manycan be challenged onlegal grounds. RTG

currently have a number of PCNs under appealwhere evidence from our despatch system shows thatwaiting was for the “purposes of enabling” apassenger to board the vehicle, a legal point that hasbeen the subject of a judicial review on 29thNovember 2010 at the Royal Courts of Justice.(The Queen on the application of Makada v. theParking Adjudicator).

In the review the Judge had ruled that thewording of Article 12 of The City of WestminsterTraffic Management Order 2002 meant thatconsideration must be given to the time “necessary”for contact to be made with the passenger on a prebooked hiring. It does not mean that a driver canarrive early (before the booked time) and wait, as thisit is not deemed “necessary”. Neither would it be“necessary” for a driver to wait for a passenger who islate, to quote the Judge “A fresh rendezvous could, inalmost all modern circumstances, be arranged. If that

were not possible,then, using languagethat is perhaps notentirely aptnowadays, the driverwould have to goround the block.”

There is alwaysthe element of good practice to consider when weare providing a quality service to our clients, but Ihave seen evidence of a Taxi waiting 25 minutes in arestricted area with the CCTV showing the driverreading a newspaper, oblivious to the council’sSmart Car with camera pointing at him 25 yardsaway. We all have to take steps to avoid getting PCNswherever possible. A £120 penalty for a £20 fare!

It has to be accepted that if we wait unlawfullyand we are caught on camera we may be issued witha fixed penalty notice.

Waiting unlawfully – what does that mean?Usually it means if any of your vehicles wheels areon the footway or crossover (including droppedpayments), or more than 50cms from the curb(including being double-parked) or stopping on amarked zigzag area. In most cases it’s also unlawfulto stop on a Bus Stand or Red Route and let’s notforget the moving traffic offences of U-Turning, BoxJunctions or Failing to comply with a “no motorvehicles” sign.

Even though every appeal is considered on itsindividual circumstances all of the above aresituations where an appeal would fail and the driverwould be liable for the PCN.

I would like to thank John Vigus, of ParkingAppeals Consultancy, for his expert advice andsupport throughout our current and ongoingcampaign to significantly reduce the cost of PCNs toRTG.

(*PCN – Penalty Charge Notice)

“We all have to take steps to avoid

getting PCNs wherever possible.”

CompanySecretary

Robert MacDonald

Watson

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THE EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMEThe Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a confidential freephone and free online supportservice, run for the benefit of drivers and staff. It is operated by an independent company, CorporateSupport Limited supported by Legal & General and uses qualified professionals to answer your callsor online queries. The service allows drivers or staff to call or connect 24/7 to seek confidentialassistance in the sort of areas set out below:

FAMILY MATTERS – Education, financial concerns, state benefits and allowances, childhoodbullying, drugs and addictions

FINANCIAL – Debt, tax advice, negative equity and child supportLEGAL – Consumer complaints, insurance claims, neighbour disputes, motoring offences, criminaloffences, discrimination, child custody, divorce law, (excluding employment law)MEDICAL ADVICE – First Aid, health, travel vaccinations and immunisationRELATIONSHIP – Family, partners, marital problemsWORK – Maternity, redundancy, work pressures, bullying and harassment

As can be seen from the above, there is no need to suffer in silence, help is at hand, especially useful when youface challenging times, like those being experienced in the current economic climate. Possibly you could befacing work/life balance issues. It might be from the beginnings of starting a job, getting married and havingkids or going right through to worries about retirement or bereavement.

FREE MEMBERSHIP FOR BOTH DRIVERS AND STAFFDetails and a membership card with contact details are supplied to all staff and drivers on joining the

company or our circuits and it really does provide a friend in need. It is funded by the Company, so it is a freeservice to users. The Freephone Number is 0800 316 9338

What is EAP?Psst! – (It’s for Drivers too!)

Awana –Driver ReviewsB168 – Neil Prentice“Prime location, easy to park, staff

accommodating, all round excellent

restaurant. Healthy food, value for money,

Toilet facilities”.

Z139 – Daniel Yurman“Very efficient and friendly atmosphere,

prime location, easy to park, good healthy

food and excellent value for money”.

T136 – Michael Kerr“Prime location, easy parking, food is of very

high standard and finest organic ingredients,

5 star service, and polite friendly staff”.

H087 – Paul Denman“Excellent Service, easy parking, food of a

very high standard and designed with us cab

drivers in mind. This restaurant is a sure

winner”.

Roger Sligo on themysteries of hidden London

“Deputy leader of thegovernment at the time,

Herbert Morrisondescribed it as

“a tonic for the nation.”

SIXTY YEARS AGO THIS YEAR, on the 3rd of May 1951, the Festivalof Britain was launched in London. The principal exhibition site was on theSouth Bank alongside The Royal Festival Hall and where The National Theatrenow stands. The Festival, in post war London, was intended to create a feeling ofrecovery and progress for the nation and to promote better-quality design.Britain was still suffering from austerity and rationing.

Londoners were looking for some light relief and with the cost of tickets at 5/–(25p) for adults and 2/6 (121/2p) for children, it was a good spend.

It had been decided that the Festival of Britain would coincide with the centenaryof the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park and it was the brainchild of JournalistGerald Barry (who was appointed Festival Director) and the Deputy Leader of theGovernment, Herbert Morrison who described it as “a tonic for the nation”.

OPPOSITIONNothing survives along the South Bank site today, except in names like the FestivalHall and the Riverside Walkway. As with the forthcoming Olympics’ there was muchopposition to the project from those who believed that the money (it cost £8M)would have been better spent on housing.

Although the Festival was popular and made a profit, Winston Churchill wascontemptuous of it and the first act of his newly-elected government in October1951 was an instruction to clear the South Bank site. Profits from the Festival wereretained by the London County Council and were used to convert the Royal FestivalHall into a concert hall and to establish The South Bank.

BATTERSEA REMNANTThere was another London Festival Exhibition site however, which remained in use until aslate as 1974. The “Pleasure Gardens” at Battersea; part of the Festival of Britain celebrationsincluded a new water-garden and fountains, new features included a “Tree-Walk” whichconsisted of a series of raised wooden walkways linked together by tree house-likeplatforms suspended amongst the branches of a number of trees. There was a miniaturesteam railway train which went around the outer circle of the park.

Today there are still plenty of artefacts left behind from the festival of 1951. From halfway along the riverside path near the Buddhist Pagoda are a flight of steps, once the mainentrance to the festival. Just a short walk from the bottom of these steps is the fountainsand pools, with the remnants of some white art deco chairs, which are unique in their style.A small children’s zoo at the side of this part of the remains is the only sign of family life.

If you want to stretch your legs in the better weather where parking is easy andreasonably priced, take a stroll down memory lane I’m sure you will enjoy it!

The 60th Anniversary of theFestival of Britain 1951 – 2011

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CuriosityCornerCuriosityCorner

11

Roy Hughes, Radio TaxisGroup Head of Sales andAccount Management

“Make sure that you giveour account customers an

absolutely top priorityservice!”

IN THE FILM ‘FALLING DOWN’, THE MAIN CHARACTER (played byMichael Douglas) is a man on the edge, a frustrated and angry commuter, whoduring a hot summer in LA, suddenly decides to leave his car in the middle of atraffic jam and walk home – leaving a trail of violence and destruction behind him.

Substitute London for LA, freezing winter weather for a hot Californian summerand it’s a surprise that in the run-up to Christmas, London was not besieged bypsychotic commuters… but we’re British and what we do is complain!

Last year in the November and December rush, we saw the level of servicecomplaints from clients grow significantly. We know the traffic was very bad and theweather inclement, but we have Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) in place for clientswhich stipulate minimum levels of service for ASAP and Pre-Books.

Typically we achieve these service levels reasonably comfortably; but this was farfrom the case in November and December as we suffered from, tube strikes and poorweather which in turn caused service levels to drop across our whole business.Unfortunately when things did go wrong, ‘Sod’s Law’ dictates that it would be withabsolutely the last person in the clients’ organisation that you would want this tohappen to.

As a result of some of the more damaging service issues during this period, we nowhave some accounts where we are having to work extra hard to prevent them movingtheir business elsewhere. Unfortunately there is not always a great understanding of thedisruption that snow, tube-strikes, demonstrations etc cause or that during these eventsdemand will inevitably exceed supply. Even though we probably manage to cope betterthan most, it is all relative.

So what can we do to minimise the negative impact of these situations?Well as drivers, in the first place, you can make sure that you give our accountcustomers an absolutely top priority service by putting yourself out, in terms ofcoverage, to make certain that their trip offers always get maximum priority from you.

Good communication is also vital, we work very hard at this, but it’s still an areawhere big improvements are always needed. In the event of pre-planned disruptions,clients are contacted in advance and made aware that there are likely to be delays topick-ups and journeys may take longer than usual. However it is extremely importantthat accurate ETA’s and ‘Delay Advise’ messages are sent through to the Contact Centreso that we can communicate accordingly. It is definitely accurate to say that any majorissues from November and December were compounded by not enough qualitycommunication to clients. Most clients are prepared to wait in exceptionalcircumstances especially if they at least know what’s happening.

Any improvements that we can make in these areas will reap concrete benefits interms of service improvements, helping to retain and further develop our corporateclient base.

To end on a team note, we are continuing to improve the level of support to ourcorporate clients and as a result we have a new face in the Account Management &Sales team. His name is Chris Constantinou and he is another refugee from the travelindustry with many years of solid commercial experience. Chris is already proving to bean asset in developing business; as a result, we are hoping that there will be an upturnin business from some of our traditionally lower spending accounts.

Falling Down!

ChrisConstantinou

Photo by LaMir.

12

Myself, son Ky, brother Silvi and mates, Simon,John, Jackie and Robbie, were making our wayNorth, to Wolverhampton to take part in the“2011 Tough Guy Challenge” described by theorganisers as ‘The World’s safest, most dangeroustaste of mental and physical pain, fear andendurance’.

It was the reason we’d been training for manymonths in what we’ve aptly named ‘God’s Gym’,the rolling countryside of the North Downs.

During the eight and a half mile course, over 150obstacles have to be crossed. This challenge is a uniqueblend of mud, freezing lakes; acrophobia (a fear ofheights), electric shocks, fires, and claustrophobia arejust some of the hazards to be endured.

Why? A good question, and one I had beenasking myself many times during the last few daysleading up to that weekend.

In doing this run, we hoped to bring attentionto a charity that we are proudly involved in whichis the ‘Magical Taxi Tour’ which gives sick childrena break from their world of treatment and therapyby going on the trip of a lifetime to the DisneylandResort, Paris ferried by a convoy of London Taxis.

Two weeks before the Big Day, my brother Silviinjured his back laying a floor and despitetreatments, pills and massages he found walkingdifficult let alone jogging. He had to pull out at thelast minute and a young Robbie Sullivan, a friend

of my son, took his place. Many thanks Robbie.Over 6,000 runners took part in this year’s run

including entrants from the Para’s, the Marinesand the Foreign legion to name but a few.

On our arrival we were met by hi-viz marshalsguiding vehicles to car parks; brightly colouredsigns pointed to various areas and to a sizeablemass of runners.

We queued for our allotted race number, whichhad to be displayed on our chests but not beforesigning the “Death Warrant!”

Yes, you heard right. I joke you not! We all hadto sign a disclaimer saying, we did this of our ownfree will, blah-blah, and if we were to die duringthe course of the race, we would not sue theorganisers etc. etc... “Fat Chance of that if I’mbrown bread” I thought.

For those of you that may be interested, I was up and on the roadbefore 5am on Sunday morning, 30th January, and I don’t meandriving the cab!

Carlos Oliveira’s (T45)Tough Guy

Challenge 2011

Carlos Oliveira’s (T45)Tough Guy

Challenge 2011

Due to the considerable throng of runners, we hadto be released in batches.

As it was our first time, we were kept in the lastgroup, which was called the ‘Dickheads’.

The final “boooom” rang out from the cannon andwe were off.

I don’t know what I had expected but knew it was‘gonna get dirty’.

The whole course is centred around drawing everyinch of energy from your body which it does very welland then it pushes you just a bit more.

At no point during the race did any of us considerjacking it in. However, due to the heavy numbers infront of us winning was never really an option.Completing the course was all we had in mind.

There were times when before taking on anobstacle, the sheer numbers of bodies ahead left us nooption but to wait our turn. Sometimes up to 15 – 20minutes.

Dripping wet from head to toe in icy coldconditions, is no way to spend a Sunday morning.

The worst obstacle for me was the one thatentailed crawling on hands ‘n’ knees underground inpitch blackness. As you entered the dark abyss, youronly vision was the disappearing bums ahead with nolight at the end of this proverbial tunnel.

You are greeted by sudden loud cracks quicklyfollowed by shouts of obvious discomfort, comingfrom different directions.

Your eyes begin to adjust to the limited lightconditions, however the ceilingis no more than three feet highand countless two foot longlogs, swing from strings that aregetting in your way. Hiddenamongst these strings arestrands of cable that emitpulsating electric shocks.

Now the reason for the soundsof cracks and shouts of painbecome quite obvious.

I was suddenly hit by three inquick succession which nearlycaused me to bite my tongue asthe spasms ran through my body.

Wow!!! After feeling like you’vebeen kicked by a mule you tryto assess the remainder of thisnightmare. I need to get out ofhere, quick, I thought.

After another forty feet of crawling, I could see achink of light ahead and I decided to throw myself inits direction. Of course I got zapped another threetimes before leaving this one.

Boy was I glad to get out, surely it couldn’t getany worse?

The camaraderie amongst the entrants was great.Everyone helping each other to get through was a joyto behold. On reaching the final finishing line ourmedals were duly hung around our necks and we feltflushed with pride on completing our mission. A hotcup of chocolate, a space-age foil blanket donnedaround our bodies and we quickly made our way tothe minibus to get out of wet, muddy, and coldclothes.

With our dry kit on and travelling homewardbound, tired, bruised, battered, dirty, hungry and inpain from various sections of our bodies, but hey ho,it’s another thing to tick off our‘Things to do before you Die’ list.

It was a very well-run raceand a credit to the organisers.

If you are interested take a lookat You Tube and type in “ToughGuy Challenge” for an insight intothis testy, gruelling race.

Now here is the bottom line, if you’d like to make adonation to this very worthwhile cause, don’t send itto me... Check out the link below and follow theprompts: www.magicaltaxitour.com

We won’t know what monies have been donated orby whom, so please don’t feel obliged or under anypressure. We fully realise that many of you are alreadyheavily committed to charities.

If you do have some spare money in this current“cash strapped” world, anything is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this.Kind regards – Carlos Oliveira (T045) and the ‘Posse.’

13

Alan Franks, Group OperationsDirector talks about…

Xeta & OperationsFROM TIME TO TIME RADIO TAXIS DRIVERS ask me toexplain how the work is distributed between RadioTaxis and Xeta fleets.

Xeta is a wholly own subsidiary of the Radio Taxis Group and hasabout 400 drivers. They have their own account customers andpreviously had their own despatch system called ‘Cantech’.

Last year we moved Xeta onto the Radio Taxis despatch system (Pathfinder) as a separatefleet. This enabled us to offer trips that were not covered between fleets.

The way this works is that each account has a designated fleet (this is the owner of theaccount) either Radio Taxis or Xeta.

After the trip is offered to the closest cab of the primary fleet for a number of minutes(usually about 3 minutes but this is variable), the trip is then offered to both fleets at thesame time.

This works in both directions unless an account is designated as Primary only, in whichcase the trip will never be offered to the secondary fleet.

Xeta has a much smaller fleet than Radio Taxis and has a smaller account base, thereforethe subscription rate is relative to the average jobs per driver compared to Radio Taxis.

Radio Taxis drivers benefit from their fleet size at the same time Xeta have assistance inservicing their clients when it is busy.

Some Xeta drivers have moved to Radio Taxis and some Radio Taxis drivers that perhapsonly work part time have moved to Xeta.

14

OPERATIONSWe are continually looking to improve the service that the call centre gives to drivers butthe number of driver requests has increased dramatically in the last few years, and thismeans that we sometimes struggle with the sheer volume of data requests and driver callsduring busy periods.

Therefore if you could help us to help you by trying where possible to make your owncontact with clients, I accept that parking and waiting restrictions may make thisimpossible at times depending on the pickup and time of day but if you can help us it willspeed up your pickup.

Also the number of drivers phoning the office rather than using the voice facility hasreached very high levels. Please use voice in the first instance as this uses less resource at ourend and means that we can deal with more complex queries by phone in a more efficientmanner.We are continuously looking at technical solutions to speed up our processes andautomating these procedures wherever possible.

If you have a query that is not job related, then please try to wait for a quieter timewhen we will be happy to help if we can.

The Life of a COOby Gordon Brown

As some of you may know PETER GIBSON hasbecome our Strategic Director to help put our longterm ideas in to reality. That left a vacancy for aCOO – three letters that as I have discovered leadmainly to problems that need solving.

15

Geoffrey got hold of me (or was itpart of me?) when I was feeling in aparticularly relaxed mood andpersuaded me to volunteer for the rolealong with keeping tabs on the finances,little did I know what was in store.

So what does COO stand for? It isthe acronym for Chief OperatingOfficer, which means being responsiblefor most of the day to day activities ofthe company with the main exceptionof the Call Centre, which of course isAlan Franks’ area of remit. The keyareas covered by me as COOare IT, Sales and AccountManagement, together withDriver Services at StationRoad. Luckily we’ve got a greatteam around us that keepeverything running smoothly,but to give you an idea ofwhat’s involved here are a few thingsthat have happened recently:

� As Steve Cooper has mentioned inprevious articles there have been a

few teething troubles to resolvewith the new Zeus terminals,this generally means talking toour software and hardware

suppliers to get them to worktogether as a team to solve thevarious bugs. Sounds simple, but

geography, personalities and ‘notmy problem, it’s theirs’ mentalitysometimes make it difficult. We’rebeginning to win through though.

� A simple thing like our voicerecorder in the call centre, missing afew of our calls, it’s critical to thebusiness to have an audit trail whendealing with customer queries,again a “banging of heads together”of software suppliers was required.

� A visit to a client who wasscrutinising all our trips andenquiring of the four hundred or so,successfully completed for them inthe month, why four of them werefive minutes late arriving?(December: snow, tube strikes…).I gritted my teeth while a more ableand customer friendly member ofmy team was able to smile sweetlyand explain the realities of driving ataxi in London.

None of these examples are differentto issues faced by businesses anywhere.But what it does do is highlight areasthat if they keep cropping up weshould work at ways of resolvingthrough continuous improvement ofour systems, our processes,communication with you the driverand development of our staff. All ofwhich will make this business evenbetter….a sign that I will have done agood job as a COO… I’ll update youin a year!

“It’s critical to the business to

have an audit trail whendealing with

customer queries!”

Photo by LaMir.

ROGER SLIGO has been talking to KATIE CHANNELLS who iscurrently learning ‘The Knowledge.’

Katie on The Knowledge...

16

WHEN KATIE CHANNELLS DECIDEDto do The Knowledge, she knew exactlywhat she was letting herself in for.She comes from a long line of green badgeLondon taxi drivers, including her father,her uncles, and cousins; all having passedThe Knowledge of London.

Growing up in Mill Hill, where she attendedThe Mount, a private school, the sameschool where singer Amy Winehouse wasalso a pupil. “Amy was a couple of yearsabove me” Katie recalls. “It was a really small

school so I remember her well; sheused to sing in assemblies and schoolproductions”. With a voice thatgood it didn’t surprise Katie whenAmy made it big and that she wentstraight to the top of the charts.Mitch Winehouse, Amy’s father, isalso a London cab driver and was

for quite some time a driver on both RadioTaxis and then on Xeta for a while.After finishing at school and then at

college, Katie moved onto university takinga degree in media studies. One of herprojects, a piece of coursework, was themaking of a short documentary entitled“Knowledge Point” which she produced,directed and edited herself in her final yearat university.

Even then, The Knowledge was the firstthing that came to mind. “Knowledge Point”can be viewed on YouTube, where it hasnow had over 15,000 hits and features TheKnowledge Point School, where she hasbeen a student for more than a year. Shefinds it helps a lot attending some of thelessons as well as using the call overfacilities. “Derek, one of the teachers up there,has featured on a few television shows aboutthe knowledge including ‘Call Me A Cabbie’and he certainly knows his stuff ” said Katie.

Listening to her explain how Knowledgeappearances are run these days, is a far cryfrom how it was for many of the olderdrivers. “You’re sent away to complete theBlue Book before any appearances. Onceyou’ve finished the 320 runs you apply for amap test and sit a one off writtenexamination based on the Blue Book Runs”.Katie went onto say “Once you have passedthis stage you go onto the verbal one-on-one

The new TfL building ‘Palestra’ at197 Blackfriars Road.

Katie getting ready to hit the streets.

appearance stage. At first you are tested every 56 days,then once you have got 12 points you get dropped tobeing tested every 28 – after you have completed thatstage you’re on 21’s. Last of all you receive your REQ.Within 12 weeks you are tested on the suburban routes,

after passing this you take a driving test before youfinally receive your Green Badge”.

The new TfL building ‘Palestra’ at 197 BlackfriarsRoad, houses the T&PH (Taxi and Private HireDirectorate which is a new name for the PCO), as wellas the congestion charge division of TfL also situatedin this plush state of the art building.

I was lucky enough to be shown around recently byMs Helen Chapman, deputy director of T&PH. Thecontemporary furniture with luxury wall to wall carpetsmade it look more inviting than I remember the oldplace at Penton Street was, not to mention for the olderdrivers who attended (the hole) in Lambeth Road!

Helen explained thechanges and how they weremoving into the twenty-first-century, making thingsas transparent as is theirnew glass building.Katie said she was nowpreparing for her firstappearance aftercompleting the map test.She knows it will not beeasy but with her long termboyfriend Liam, also on theknowledge and only abouttwelve months behind, shewill have to stick it out.I ask Katie if doing theknowledge had been

tougher than she had expected. “I knew the knowledgewould never be easy, but I don’t think anything can reallyprepare you for how hard it can be at times. It’s both amental and physical challenge”. She said “It cansometimes be hard trying to motivate yourself to get outon the bike when it’s freezing cold and it’s somethingthat’s always on your mind, you can never stop thinkingabout it.” She continued “I’ve found the knowledgedifferent to any kind of learning I’ve done in the past.I personally believe it’s harder than doing a degree”.

Katie’s father Ronnie said; “When she passes shecould share my cab”. Admitting he would prefer her towork days. Although Ronnie is not on radio himself, hewould rather the she does come on to the radioespecially for the security it would bring.Katie has her own ideas; “When starting the knowledgethe plan was always to eventually share a cab with mydad once I pass, however the reality is I’ll probably endup renting a cab as I think I would want to be out on theroad quite a lot once I get my badge!”

So will we be seeing Katie on either Xeta or RadioTaxis? She smiles and her eyes light up; “Let’s get mybadge first. To be honest the only thing on my mind atthe moment is my appearances, however I can see myselfgoing on the radio when eventually getting my badge.I know a few women who use the radio and they say thatit works well for them”.

As I said at the beginning she has many cabbies inher family, her younger sister Amy has a boyfriendMichael, the son of a cab driver who is also on theknowledge – oh and by the way, I’m her mum’s uncle.

17

“The Knowledge is both a

mental and physicalchallenge.”

The Examination Room.

Graduation day.

Being a member of Radio Taxis in the early days was like one bighappy family. Harvey said “when we signed on in the mornings wewere always greeted by Derek Diamond or Gerry Chess. Because oftheir wide knowledge of sport, Monday mornings on the air atRadio Taxis was almost like World of Sport with Dickie Davis.”

Harvey will have been with Radio Taxis for 45 years in Mayand still believes that we are the best radio circuit in London.

The biggest change in driving a “radio” cab Harvey has seenover the years is the introduction of the GPS system, whichcertainly has come a long way since the days of voice radio.

Harvey told us that he feels the future of the London Taximight be on a downward spiral because of the “unfair”competition with the Mini Cabs and Pedi cabs. He feels theCab Trade has allowed this to happen and fears it will onlyget worse.

Cab riders or passengers, in Harvey’s opinion, are nodifferent today to those who travelled by cab forty odds yearsago and having always been a day man, he says he has seen verylittle change in the way passengers behave. He added howeverthat the introduction of the rear passenger microphone andspeakers into taxis has made communication with thecustomers a lot easier.

Harvey has had many famous celebrities in his cab, he saysthat it’s so hard to recall them all, but he listed a few of them.

Lord Snowdon; Michael Parkinson; George Best; BruceForsyth; Dame Judi Dench; Dame Maggie Smith and IanMcShane.

The funniest job Harvey ever did, was one Christmasmorning about 15 years ago when an “Aussie” guy stopped himin Whitehall and told him to get a Turkey in a hurry. (We’ve allheard of curry in a hurry, but a turkey? He thought this guy’sclucking mad!)

Harvey told the man “It’s Christmas morning and nothingwill be open.”

There was one at his own house but he thought, my familyand I will be enjoying that for our own lunch.

Harvey suddenly thought there may be a solution to thisproblem! The Dorchester Hotel?

Off they went on the turkey run and asked at the Dorchesterif they could buy a turkey?

There was an adamant “NO” from the Concierge; not to bebeaten by this, Harvey ventured with his new Aussie Turkeyseeker in the back, off down to the Savoy Hotel; he parked the

cab up and him and his Aussie mate strolled off towards thehotel, the receptionist rang down to the Head Chef, explainingto him the dilemma and to their surprise and astonishment hesaid “no problem, come back in a few hours” and “we will haveone ready!”

Some hours later Harvey collected his Aussie mate and theywent and collected the succulent cooked turkey. So ended a veryunusual day with yet another very satisfied customer; andHarvey having had a very rewarding day: Let’s hope the Aussiehad a clucking good Christmas after all that.

Probably the best Job Harvey recalls he ever had is when hepicked up Kerry Packer’s (the Cricket Agent) son from Chelseaand took him to the St James Club, he was looking a bit worsefor wear.

When he arrived at the destination, he recalls having £6.40on his meter, the passenger handed over a £50 note, Harvey hadchange but not of a “fifty” at that time in the very earlymorning, “keep the change” said Mr. Packer junior, that was thebest tip he has ever had.

The best thing Harvey finds about being on a radio circuit isthat it gives you a choice. Also it is a form of security as you arealways in communication and in the early days the wives wereable to telephone up with their shopping lists as well as beingable to tell their husbands when the babies were on the way!

As a keen golfer it was also useful for arranging teeing offtimes! The circuit today is much more conservative andefficient these days. It is also, all round, a better system andmuch fairer to all the drivers.

Harvey is part of a double team, his partner RayMontangees joined Radio Taxis in 1975, and they have beenpartners on the cabs for 36 years.

Harvey is 68 years old and his hobbies are golf at theweekends and ensuring his grandchildren are happy.

Harvey is one a band of drivers who are a real inspiration toRadio Taxis and we wish them all the best.

Interview with one of our longest serving members –G048 Harvey Saunders

18

An “Aussie” guy stopped Harvey

in Whitehall and told him

to get a Turkey in a hurry!

IT TOOK HARVEY SAUNDERS 13 MONTHS to complete the Knowledge in the 60’s.He joined Radio Taxicabs (Southern) Ltd (now Radio Taxis) on the 5th May 1966, the reasonbeing Radio Taxis drivers had “two strings to their bow,” the opportunity to either pick up offthe street or to do radio work.

But when they were erected some people thought that theyshould have been melted down then and there. I was very politeand laid back about my liking the gates but the gates detractorswere incensed, angry and loud – almost to the point that youwould have thought that a crime had been committed. Such arefolk!

Over the nearly sixty years that I have lived in LondonI have wondered at the changing landscape from the Post Office(or BT) Tower, to Canary Wharf. Not everything was to myliking – I could never quite work out why Centre Point had tolook so drab – but a great deal of modern architecture hassomething to offer and hopefully will stand the test of time.You may be surprised to know that The Sydney Opera House –one of the world’s most iconic designed buildings – was alsofairly well pilloried when under construction.

So it’s not just the Brits thatget hot under the collar aboutbuilding design, it’s a global thing.People in general are alarmed bychange.

Could it be that in our ownneck of the woods, Finsbury Park,we could soon become the subjectof an architectural debate?

If planning permission isgranted then a massiveregeneration of the Finsbury Parkarea, above and around thestation, could see our own “TwinTower” development called“City North”.

Having worked in the area at Radio Taxis, for more yearsthan I care to remember, I think that a “regeneration” is longoverdue. This development may be harder to get off of thedrawing board because of where it is. Funding is a lot easier tofind for a development in the City, West End and Docklands –alas, N4 doesn’t have the same cache, but it may do if theymanage to get the regeneration off the ground.

Watch this space.

19

The first will be the HeronTower – 110 Bishopsgate.Heron Tower is 230 meterstall with its 28 meters mastor 202 meters (663 ft – inold money) excluding themast. This makes HeronTower the tallest buildingin the City of London andthe third tallest building inLondon after 1 CanadaSquare and currently underconstruction, The Shard.

The Shard at London Bridge, when it’s completed in 2012,will be the tallest building in the EU and the 45th tallest buildingin the world.

Designed by Renzo Piano, who was responsible for thedesign of the Pompidou Centre in Paris which he did inconjunction with Richard Rogers – the tower will stand 1017 fttall (310 metres) and it will have 72 floors – a viewing galleryand with an open-air observation deck on the top (72nd) floor.

Wouldn’t it be great if the viewing gallery were to be openedto the general public, but security in the modern world maymean that restrictions apply to who and how the viewing gallerycan be used. Potentially this will become another tourist “mustdo” alongside the London Eye.

Everybody will have an opinion about the Shard. I very muchdoubt that Prince Charles will be sending a “good luck” card tothe official opening.

Probably, from the time of the Pyramids, architecture hasmanaged to bring out strong feelings of antipathy. Have younoticed that it’s the people who dislike architecture that seem getvery angry – there’s no equivalent emotion when you do likearchitecture – you just “like it”.

I remember getting involved in a heated discussion manyyears ago about the Queen Mother Gates at the bottom of ParkLane entrance to Hyde Park.I thought then and still thinknow that these gates are great.They reflect the times that theywere built and I happen to thinkthat they are beautiful.

Peter Gibson, Radio TaxisGroup’s Strategic Directortells us about...

“The Shape of Things to Come”A COUPLE OF “NECK BREAKINGLY” TALL STRUCTURES AREABOUT TO BECOME “TAKE ME TO” DESTINATIONS IN OURGREAT CITY.

Heron Tower.

The Shard.

Finsbury Park’s “Twin Towers.”

20

In Search of Charlie Bowman

I was contacted by a lady called Estie CohenConway Marom, who is the Great Granddaughterof cabman Charlie Bowman. Estie emailed measking if I could find anyone who knew of Charlie,and included a couple of photographs taken ofhim with a group of East End cabbies on a day’souting in July 1925.

The large group photo above shows Charlie, “Palmolive” to hisfriends; (because of his olive oil coloured skin) pictured circledin the extreme back row, poised with a cigarette between his lipsand a cap on his head. With over seventy drivers crowdedaround an almost hidden charabanc; there must have been atleast two others waiting out of camera shot to carry this lot ontheir beano perhaps to Southend, organised by J & J KregerSecretary and Treasurer.

Estie would dearly love to know if there are any Londontaxi drivers who may know anyone in these pictures and if theyare still living, could they tell her some stories of her GreatGranddad Charlie.

What she does already know is that Charlie was born in 1890and lived in Marsh Lane, Stanmore for much of his life. He hadalso lived in Brick Lane which is why he was a member of theEast End Taxi Drivers Club.

Charlie died aged 90 on the 21st October 1977 and is buried

at Rainham Cemetery Essex, with his wife Esther who died sixyears earlier.

Charlie’s son, also called Charlie, emigrated to Israel, whichis where his granddaughter Estie was born. She writes in heremail; “I spent my teenage years living in Borehamwood beforereturning to Israel.” She added “I have two sons, the youngest isnamed Scout, the eldest is Charlie of course.” “I hope someone canremember my Great Grandfather Charlie and relate any stories,as all my memories are what my granddad told me”.

If you do know anything about Charlie Bowman or canrecognise anyone from these pictures, please email me:mvn.editor@radiotaxis.co.uk and I will gladly pass on any ofyour replies.

Roger Sligo, Editor, Mountview News.

IT IS NOT VERY OFTEN that I get a request for informationon old taxi drivers, especially when the enquiry comes allthe way from Israel.

Charlie Bowman and friends –Charlie is in the middle without a hat.

Krishna Sooben,Radio Taxis Group’sHead of FinanceI joined Radio Taxis Group on 1st December 2008 with the very first “exciting” engagement of working on the end of year audit preparation!

I am a qualified accountant (FCCA), having trained in general practice (audit, corporate andpersonal tax and assurance). Prior to joining the Group, I have had a couple of years of industryexperience as a Senior Financial Accountant.

I recently completed my MBA delivered by a joint Strategic Alliance between ACCA and OxfordBrookes University and I was pleased to receive the ACCA award for best overall MBA performancefor the 2008/9 programme.

I am fluent in French which gave me the opportunity (in a previous role) to go out to Dakar/Senegalon an Oxfam Joint Venture mission to set up a finance system. I am always keen to assist with myFrench Language skill whenever I can, e.g. I dealt with a supplier in Belgium in resolving somequeries in respect of our Eurostar account.

I have also been a volunteer Trustee for Westminster Citizen Advice Bureau since 2007, this is a non-executive director role which entails Trustees advising the CEO and reviewing corporate and financialstrategies for the organisation.

The Finance Team at Radio Taxis Group consists of a good mix of people, some with several years ofexperience within the Group. We are striving to continue to improve things by our hard work and weare also looking forward to enhancing our finance systems.

The team is much like a family and I along with the others, am also looking forward to welcomingback this year two members of staff currently on maternity leave.

Challenges ahead for the Finance Department are:

• Credit control(Ensure we continue work on getting our customers to pay us on time)

• Working with credit card companies to reduce fraud (PS: Drivers please don’t forget to keep your signed credit card receipts in case of queries from Finance)

• High service level to our internal departments (Eg: Business Development Team, Driver services, Operations)

• Continuous review of our processes and systems controls

To end on a softer issue, I feel it is equally important to also ensure that staff morale is always kepthigh and on that note I would say that we are privileged to have a good bunch of people in Financewho all get along with each other and who can competently interact with other parts of the Group.

21

PROFILE...

Photo by LaMir.

The Mountview Puzzler PageCLUES ACROSS8. Kneecap (7)9. State of confusion (3-2)10. Become eroded (5)11. Room for surgical operations (7)12. Female rabbits (4)13. Forebear (8)16. Duce (8)19. Futile (4)22. Salty sea in Israel (4,3)23. Indifferent (5)24. Emancipated (5)25. Divine (3-4)

CLUES DOWN1. Magnificent (8)2. Stool pigeon (6)3. Layers (5)4. Inhabitant of Kansas (6)5. Appeared (7)6. Unless (6)7. Agile (4)14. Not subject to rent (4,4)15. Roadside (7)17. Boxes (6)18. Resembling an orange (6)20. Very handsome young man (6)21. Container for storing items (5)22. To tip the hat (4)

Jotting space:

MOUNTVIEW SUDOKUThe object is to write in the missing numbers in the empty boxesbelow. But to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and3 x 3 box must contain the digits 1 through to 9 exactly once.What could be simpler?

Hooked? You can find more Sudoko online at: www.sudoku.cc

22

?

DOUG CANNINGof DC-Graphics, ourregular graphic designand print specialistwho handles thedesign and productionof Mountview News,found this photo of aTuk Tuk Taxi Rank in Thailand. Can you come upwith a funny caption for it? If you can, then pleaseemail it to: mvn.editor@radiotaxis.co.ukThe funniest caption will win its writer a lovelybottle of Champagne!

The Mountview News AmusingCaption Competition –If you spot something funny yourself,take a picture of it and email it to themvn.editor@radiotaxis.co.uk and wemay use it in the next edition.

The MountviewAmusing CaptionCompetition

company charges (that’s the bitthat you think is 2.5% but isactually more than that) theactual margin left is tiny. You see

at RadioTaxis and Xeta, weare a booking agency. You as thetaxi driver make the sale not us –we just facilitate it, but there is acost attached.

And contrary to what somedriver think it’s not the cost that isthe problem, it is drivers’ attitudes.And here’s the proof – We did a survey on the whole fleet

about taking credit card journeys and here’s what wefound. Of the approx. £2.5m per annum of credit cardjourneys we currently undertake per year 80% of thosecredit card jobs are done by 20% of our drivers. So Iinterviewed a few of those 20% of drivers who do most ofthe credit card work.

They are very positive and they always encourage theuse of credit cards and do not “characterise” the chargesas being expensive to the customer – they just tell themthat is the cost of processing. Perception is everything.If we can eventually do more credit card work we willinevitably be able to drop the admin fee slightly. This lastyear we grew our credit card journeys by some 16%.

Geoffrey Riesel,Chairman, Radio Taxis Group.

Letters & Emailsto the Editor...

23

Dear Roger,

I write with reference to Geoffrey Riesel’s commentsregarding credit cards in the December issue ofMountview News.

As I am a driver that is happyto accept any type of radio work,including credit cards, I feel thatRadio Taxis and all the otherradio circuit’s need to show theway forward by reducing the12.5% handling fee we drivers areforced to charge our customers,when the actual cost is closer to2.5%! Perhaps when this isremedied we may see a vast increase in credit card use,as it is very embarrassing for us drivers to ask for suchan exorbitant fee.

I see no reason why we can’t reduce the fee to 5% asthis is on average double what we’re actually chargedby the card companies.

So come on Radio Taxis, show the initiative, andmaybe we’ll steal a great proportion of ourcompetitor’s credit card bookings!Darren Moss – Yankee 187.

Reply from the Chairman:Darren, thanks for your e-mail, unfortunately the cost ofservicing credit cards is much higher than you mightthink. The problem is that once you amortize the cost ofthe credit card equipment, the cost of charge backs fromthe credit card company, then pay the 20% VAT on theadmin fee and then finally include the credit card

SEND YOUR LETTERS BY:

Email: mvn.editor@radiotaxis.co.uk

Or by snail mail:The EditorMountview NewsRadio Taxis GroupMountview HouseLennox RoadLONDONN4 3TX

Cyber MirthMEN WILL BE MEN..The room was full of pregnant women, with theirpartners. The Lamaze Class was in full swing. Theinstructor was teaching the women how to breatheproperly, and was telling the men how to give thenecessary assurances to their partners at this stage of the pregnancy.

She said, “Ladies, remember that exercise is GOOD for you.Walking is especially beneficial. It strengthens the pelvic muscles andwill make delivery that much easier!”

She looked at the men in the room. “And gentlemen, remember.You’re in this together. It wouldn’t hurt you to go walking with yourpartner.” The room suddenly got very quiet as the men absorbedthis information. Then a man at the back of the room slowly raisedhis hand.

“Yes?” answered the teacher.“I was just wondering,” the man said.“Is it all right if she carries a golf bag while we walk?”

GUIDO THE ITALIAN LOVERA virile, middle-aged Italian gentleman named Guido was relaxing athis favorite bar in Rome when he managed to attract a spectacularyoung blonde woman. Things progressed to the point where heinvited her back to his apartment and, after some small talk, theyretired to his bedroom where he rattled her senseless.

After a pleasant interlude he asked with a smile, “So, you finish?”She paused for a second, frowned, and replied,“No.”Surprised, Guidoreached for her and the rattling resumed. This time she thrashedabout wildly and there were screams of passion. The sex finally endsand, again, Guido smiles and asks, “You finish?”

Again, after a short pause, she returns his smile, cuddles closer tohim and softly says, “No.” Stunned, but damned if he was going toleave this woman unsatisfied, Guido reaches for the woman yet again.Using the last of his strength, he barely manages it, but they endtogether screaming, bucking, clawing and ripping the bed sheets.Exhausted, Guido falls onto his back, gasping.

Barely able to turn his head, he looks into her eyes, smiles proudlyand asked again, “You finish?” Barely able to speak, the beautifulblonde whispers in his ear, “No, I Norwegian!”

BLONDE JOKES LOGIC – Two blondes living in Oklahoma were sitting on a benchtalking, and one blonde says to the other, “Which do you think isfarther away... Florida or the moon?”The other blonde turns and says“Helloooooooooo, can you see Florida???”

CAR TROUBLE – A blonde pushes her BMW into a petrol station.She tells the mechanic it died. After he works on it for a few minutes,it is idling smoothly. She says, “What’s the story?” He replies, “Justcrap in the carburettor.” She asks, “How often do I have to do that?”

SPEEDING TICKET – A police officer stops a blonde forspeeding and asks her very nicely if he could see her licence.She replied in a huff, “I wish you guys would get your acttogether. Just yesterday you take away my licence and then todayyou expect me to show it to you!”

RIVER WALK – There’s this blonde out for a walk.She comes to a river and sees another blonde onthe opposite bank. “Yoo-hoo!” she shouts, “Howcan I get to the other side?” The second blonde

looks up the river then down the river and shouts back, “You ARE onthe other side!”

AT THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE – A gorgeous young redhead goes intothe doctor’s office and said that her body hurt wherever she touchedit. “Impossible!” says the doctor. “Show me.” The redhead took herfinger, pushed on her left shoulder and screamed, and then shepushed her elbow and screamed even more. She pushed her knee andscreamed; likewise she pushed her ankle and screamed. Everywhereshe touched made her scream. The doctor said, “you’re not really aredhead, are you?” “Well, no” she said, “I’m actually a blonde.”“I thought so,” the doctor said. “Your finger is broken.”

KNITTING – A traffic policeman pulled alongside a speeding car onthe motorway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that theblonde behind the wheel was knitting! Realising that she wasoblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the cop cranked down hiswindow, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, “PULL OVER!”“NO!” the blonde yelled back, “IT’S A SCARF!”

BLONDE ON THE SUN – A Russian, an American, and a Blondewere talking one day. The Russian said, “We were the first in space!”The American said, “We were the first on the moon!” The Blondesaid, “So what? We’re going to be the first on the sun!” The Russianand the American looked at each other and shook their heads. “Youcan’t land on the sun, you idiot! You’ll burn up!” said the Russian.To which the Blonde replied, “We’re not stupid, you know. We’regoing at night!”

IN A VACUUM – A blonde was playing Trivial Pursuits one night.It was her turn. She rolled the dice and she landed on Science &Nature. Her question was, “If you are in a vacuum and someone callsyour name, can you hear it?” She thought for a time and then asked,“Is it on or off?"

FINALLY, THE BLONDE JOKE TO END ALLBLONDE JOKES! A girl was visiting her blonde friend, who had acquired two new dogs,and asked her what their names were. The blonde responded bysaying that one was named Rolex and one was named Timex.Her friend said,“Whoever heard of someone naming dogs like that?”“Helloooooooooo,” answered the blonde. “They’re watch dogs!”

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