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1936 to the present day |
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As 1973 drew to a close, power cuts were an every day occurrence and generators had to be used in order that the radio-transmitter was kept in operation. As one reaches advancing years and is allowed the privilege of looking back, the saying that there is nothing new in the cab game seems to become truer and truer, for in May 1974 a story circulated throughout the trade - that there was to be a minibus service started in Brighton & Hove, to run on a circular route from Whitehawk to the centre of Brighton and from Clarendon Villas, Hove into Brighton. The Streamline and Brighton Corporation Transport both lodged objections. After a long delay the minibus service never started as proposed, but a coach service for the purpose of taking staff to and from work in the outlying factories did and progressed until one of the people sponsoring the scheme obtained a private hire plate and then his own Hackney Carriage plate.
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| From the beginning of April 1975 all journeymen drivers became self-employed personnel and by law had to pay a National Insurance stamp, the cost of which was £2.41. It might be hard to believe now but in April 1975, the taxi trade came very near to dispensing with petrol as the main means of fuel and changing over to liquid petroleum gas, sold by the Calor Gas Company. The facts as given to the Board at the time were as follows:
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nearest users were the Redhill Taxis and the Board were invited to
visit for observation and opinion. Although the Board reported the
supply would have to be Brighton based.
A few months hence some 40 taxis in the Brighton & Hove area were fitted with L.P.G. equipment and the supply of the gas came from the Brighton Railway carpark. Most taximen were pleased with the result and the only complaint was that on very steep hills in Brighton it was necessary to switch back to petrol. The system continued for quite awhile until the supplier of gas found it difficult to maintain the service.
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The problem of the taximan reaching far beyond the boundaries of Brighton meant that the Brighton Streamline Taxicab Ltd became members of The National Taxicab Federation and from time to time members of the Board attended many Federation meetings, where it soon became apparent that the taxicab problems in Brighton were on a parallel with other large cities and towns in England.
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| With two-way radio becoming
the order of the day, telephone extensions to taxi ranks were fast
becoming superfluous. In March 1976 the GPO were instructed to discontinue
the telephone on the Norfolk Road rank.
In May 1976, the matter of allowing the FX4 (London type taxicab) to operate in Streamline came to a head. A petition was presented to the Board, signed by the required number of members to call for an Extra Ordinary General Meeting. It was held on 4th May and by a paper ballot the motion was lost by 39 votes for not changing the rule with only 11 votes to change. It was about this time that the Streamline Supply Company Ltd became the local agent for the FX4 via a supplier in London. To become the agent the Streamline Supply Company had to purchase some £1000 worth of spare parts. It could have been the start of big business and many things could have been different if the vote had gone the other way but as it was the agency covered Worthing to Seaford and as far north as Haywards Heath so the outlay took longer to get back than it should have done. At the 8th AGM a proposal to allow any colour car within the Streamline, with the exception of white, was agreed overwhelmingly. A further proposal to allow London-type cabs was again defeated. Computer location was introduced into Brighton Streamline to allow the cars to plot their position in the town, and enable the Radio Operators to dispatch work quicker. In 1994 a Computer booking system was introduced to speed up the taking of telephone calls from customers, and in 1995 data dispatch to all mobiles was introduced on two frequency radios. This made the cars quiet, with the only voice being driver queries. Autobook was also introduced at the same time to allow frequent customers to book direct to the computer. These jobs are often dispatched without the operator even seeing them. Plans are now in hand to instal Global Positioning System into all 170 taxis and Private Hire Vehicles during the next year. How does one bring to a close over 60 years
of a life that has seen so many changes in the administration of
an occupation that has given happiness and a decent livelihood to
so many people. No one can deny that Streamline has been an asset to Brighton - we were known all over England as the town with the clean black & cream bonnet cars with equally smart uniformed drivers.
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