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Call Sign September 2012 Page 28<br />
Mailshot<br />
Either write to Call Sign at<br />
Dial-a-Cab House<br />
or email us at<br />
callsignmag@aol.com<br />
<strong>Olympics</strong><br />
Hi Alan<br />
I received my 76 A4 page Olympic information<br />
manual in the post, just days before<br />
the opening ceremony. I never realised that<br />
I would have to do the Knowledge of<br />
London again, which originally took me<br />
three years! How we were expected to<br />
remember all that guff in just a few days<br />
beat the hell out of me. I hid under the<br />
duvet for the duration!<br />
Kevin Went (N19)<br />
Hello Alan<br />
I eventually got my Olympic manual in the<br />
post but didn’t have a clue what most of it<br />
meant! Why couldn’t they ask you to write<br />
it – then at least we would have been able<br />
to understand it!<br />
Sid Nathan (K88)<br />
In all honesty, once you dismissed the<br />
majority of stuff that didn’t apply to<br />
London and the obvious stuff that any<br />
self-respecting taxi driver would automatically<br />
know, the set-down and pickup<br />
maps were far more useful than I<br />
thought they would be – even though I<br />
had so few passengers wanting to go to<br />
any of the events. Like many other DaC<br />
drivers, I had already downloaded the<br />
version from our website so I knew pretty<br />
much what it contained – but putting<br />
it onto A4, rather than the smaller<br />
online version was a good move as it<br />
made the maps much easier to read. And<br />
I hate to say it, but the London Games<br />
themselves were brilliant! ...Ed<br />
Dear Alan<br />
Spotted while parked on Walworth Road<br />
during the Games: An Olympic BMW having<br />
its boot filled with cases of Guinness.<br />
Didn’t know they were sponsors! It couldn’t<br />
possibly have been the driver using the<br />
vehicle for personal use... could it?<br />
Peter Doyle (P60)<br />
I believe that Icelandic Marathon competitors<br />
like to harden their feet by leaving<br />
them soak in Guinness overnight.<br />
What do you mean there were no<br />
Icelandic runners in the Marathon!<br />
Also, read Bob Woodford’s piece in Call<br />
Sign en la belle France because Bob was<br />
one of those car drivers who could<br />
apparently use the vehicle for anything<br />
he wanted to ...Ed<br />
Hi Alan<br />
I received a Warning notice in the post<br />
today with a picture of me using an<br />
Olympic lane at 23.26 on 30 July along<br />
Euston road. Although it is just a warning, I<br />
am disputing it because at that time the<br />
road side illuminated signs clearly stated<br />
that games lames were open to all vehicles.<br />
In fact the photo shows several other vehicles<br />
also using the games lane, so I expect<br />
those drivers will also have received a warning.<br />
I just thought I’d pass this info onto<br />
you in case its happened to other DaC drivers,<br />
as next time TfL make a cock-up I’m<br />
sure it will be a fine and not a warning!<br />
Gary Johnson (P28)<br />
Gary wasn’t the only DaC driver to tell<br />
Call Sign about receiving a Warning<br />
notice re straying into the ORN lanes,<br />
there must have been at least 20. I’m<br />
waiting to hear how many taxi drivers,<br />
just like me, actually received a fine<br />
because I have this horrible suspicion<br />
that issuing Warnings was easier in most<br />
cases than proving whether the signs<br />
were on or off. There were so many different<br />
forms of signage. If it was dark<br />
and there was no illuminated sign, the<br />
only clue is if you drove looking downwards<br />
for any painted Olympic rings –<br />
but that would mean you were not looking<br />
straight ahead. There were also<br />
other occasions, such as turning left<br />
from Queensgate into Cromwell Road<br />
eastbound, where if you looked on the<br />
ground to your offside while turning,<br />
you’d have seen the painted rings.<br />
However, you might also have knocked<br />
a cyclist of their bike had they tried to<br />
overtake on the inside whilst you were<br />
turning left because you’d have been<br />
busy looking the wrong way. Yep, the<br />
Games were brilliant, but that was more<br />
due to spectators embracing them<br />
rather than anything LOCOG did on the<br />
roads. Oh yes, my PCN was for doing a<br />
U-turn from north into the southbound<br />
Park Lane at a place where we were told<br />
it was ok for us to turn. But the CCTV<br />
operator obviously was once turned<br />
down for a taxi ride and took it out on<br />
little old me! ...Ed<br />
Some you Wynns!<br />
Hi Alan,<br />
I used the diesel cleaner that Alasdair Kay<br />
(C47) asked about (Call Sign Online July)<br />
in my workshop on customers diesels. It is<br />
called EGR 3 but according to my rep it has<br />
now been superseded by EGR 4, which I<br />
have been told is better for the environment<br />
and has more detergent to do a better<br />
job of cleaning the EGR valve and injectors.<br />
EGR 3 is made in Belgium while EGR 4<br />
comes from the US and Australia. Alasdair<br />
should contact a Wynns supplier to find<br />
out if EGR 4 is available in the UK.<br />
Regarding the story about John Barry<br />
(O51) accepting a fake £50 note, I got<br />
caught by a dud £50 under similar circumstances<br />
as John when I was still driving with<br />
DaC. Then about three months later I did a<br />
filming job for the Bank of England, a training<br />
video on how to spot a dodgy note as<br />
we didn't have pens or scanners then. As for<br />
my £50 note, we had friends over from<br />
Australia who took the note back with them<br />
and exchanged it in Singapore for Oz cur-<br />
rency. Then they sent the money back to us!<br />
Of course I wouldn’t do that now as it is<br />
morally wrong!!!<br />
Howard Sales (Ex-A11)<br />
Queensland, Australia<br />
Thanks Howard. Somewhere inside this<br />
issue is the address of the new Power<br />
Pill suppliers. Many drivers (including<br />
me) have used the Alpha Power Pill and<br />
that also works by cleaning out carbon,<br />
reducing smoke and in many cases,<br />
increasing mpg ...Ed<br />
Windscreen wiper<br />
for 1935 low loader<br />
Hello all<br />
Does anyone at Dial-a-Cab know of anyone<br />
who could possibly have a Trico Visional<br />
vacuum windscreen wiper? The wiper is<br />
about 50 inches long and fits across the top<br />
of the screen of my 1935 Austin Low<br />
Loader. Unlike today’s arc movement, the<br />
Trico Visional fits across the whole width of<br />
the screen. As far as I am aware, this type of<br />
wiper was only ever fitted to taxis in the UK<br />
but that they were an American concept<br />
and fitted to various USA non-taxi vehicles.<br />
I don’t know what make(s) they were. I<br />
have tried to restore my wiper but without<br />
success and I believe the majority of previous<br />
owners of pre-war cabs gave up and fitted<br />
electric wipers. I tried contacting Trico<br />
in the States but in the end got fobbed off<br />
with a total lack of interest. There is some<br />
relevant info about the unit online, but<br />
what I need is the actual wiper and any useful<br />
info re its fitting. I know it’s a longshot,<br />
but any assistance is desperately sought. As<br />
we’ve just gone through one of the wettest<br />
months on record in the UK, the earliest<br />
response would help me see where I’m<br />
going in future!<br />
You can contact me at irthomas@tiscali.<br />
co.uk.<br />
Iayn Thomas<br />
LVTA UK<br />
Not much of a goodbye...<br />
Dear Alan<br />
Just a note to say how much I enjoy reading<br />
Call Sign Online even though I have now<br />
retired. I thought I would also let you know<br />
about the ‘lovely’ letter I received from TfL<br />
when my licence expired on my 75th birthday<br />
on 14th July 2012. I had returned the<br />
licence together with my badge having held<br />
a clean licence for 54 years.<br />
I received a letter from Mr Nick Bignall,<br />
the TfL Licensing Manager, acknowledging
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