Sheena Syme

To become a Minicab driver you must be licensed by TFL.

This entails.

Medical; Eye test: Enhanced CRB check; English Test; Topographical test;

Driving license check; SERU (Safety, equality and regulatory understanding requirement) test.

As I drove for Addison Lee the vehicles were theirs and maintenance and insurance was their job, although it was charged to the driver.

A minicab drivers job is to take its passenger/parcel/client from A to B as quickly and safely as possible, fulfilling all the requirements of the job.

We are the first face to face contact to the client and as such must make a good impression. Polite, smart and helpful.

I love driving, even in London, and my clients often commented on the smoothness of the journey.

I will miss the driving and met some incredible clients

I left on the day my TFL license expired.

I was called by the then owner of GLH, John Scott, to go and work for him after my Boss and Friend of LRC, sadly lost his battle with cancer and I didn't want to continue working with the family.

My remit was to "increase driver volume and work, including increase the amount of corporate work from the parent company"

I succeeded in both/all. I also nagged and pleaded, to bring in an auto dispatch system, to help drag that part of the company into the 21st century. The parent company still resisted though.

The job included taking on new drivers Checking and entering all documents relating to the driver and their vehicles, checking on their validity. Scanning entering onto the system and filing hard copies.

this was to facilitate PCO/TFL inspections, carried out yearly.

I would calculate rents and collect rents

I would deal with Chases' corporate customers which included Cineworld, (staff journeys) Enfield Council, theirs was to transport children with disabilities and were issued on a cost basis.

As Chase was a small office it was all hands on deck. I was a dispatcher, and call center operative, covering holidays absenteeism and generally what was needed.

As already mentioned I fulfilled the remit set by the, sadly no longer with us John Scott,. In November of 2013 I was made redundant.

I was the biggest outgoing and they needed to make saving.

I used the redundancy to take time to rejuvenate and apply for my TFL driving license.