Newsletter February 2003

February went in the blink of an eye but not without leaving it’s mark. Two of our drivers were viciously attacked while doing their job. The first driver had been given a job in Elm Grove in the early evening. As it was dark it meant he had to look at the house numbers until he pulled up at the correct address. A pedestrian who was walking along approached our driver and asked him if he had a problem, when he replied that he didn't the man hit him twice in the face, knocking him to the ground and again while on the floor. Our driver suffered cuts to his nose and face and bruising down one side of his body from the fall. The person who committed this offence was charged with common assault. Not good enough in my opinion. The driver lost two days work and is fearful of picking up at addresses in busy areas at night. The perpetrator could give no reasonable explanation of his actions apart from saying “I thought he was looking at me”

The second driver picked up a young lady? from the Kingston area and took her to Portsea. On arrival she told the driver that her boyfriend would be out to pay the fare. Her boyfriend came out and hit the driver without any provocation.

These are two of the more extreme examples that drivers experience but there are other lesser confrontations that happen on a regular basis. I will be looking for zero tolerance on attacks on our drivers and will be working with the police to attain this.

On a lighter note I was pleased to see that our customer totals increased every week throughout January & February. Long may it continue.

Also more people than ever visited this site during February. A total of 7600 hits in that one month alone, including visitors from (deep breath);

Finland
Belgium
Greece
Poland
Australia
Canada
France
United States
Brazil
Netherlands
Denmark

Maybe we should consider re-naming ourselves Aquacars International!

And last but not least, a really big hand and a pat on the back to all the drivers and staff who put their hands in their pockets and raised £830.00 for George Hazell, an 8 year old boy from Paulsgrove who suffers from Cerebral Palsy and would like £5000.00 for a voice activator which would turn his speech into written work. Something that would help him tremendously in his school work.

I am happy to have helped toward this and am very proud of my drivers and staff for raising this amount.
Well done everyone!

Malcolm Wickham - General Manager.

Newsletter January 2002