Of course cab rides can be done
officially. When I was on the Southeastern they used to take passengers who'd recently retired from jobs in the city. These guys would write in and say that they'd commuted from Hastings to Cannon St every day for the last 50 years, and could they see it for the last trip from the driver's view ?
The DSM would produce a Red Cab Pass and escort them in the cab. Without exception the city gent would be dewy eyed and awed as all the complexities of the traction and fast commuter route were explained were explained to him. They always said they had no idea how involved the driver's job was.
I often think that if we gave the public a chance to ride in cabs officially they wouldn't treat us like something they'd stepped in so much. But it ain't gonna happen....
They don't do it anymore now. I recently asked my DSM if my father-in-law who'd just retired could come with us to Charing Cross when I had an FDA. He said he wished he could but he didn't want to set a precedent. Which is b******s, he was just being lazy. So of course the next time the company begged me to come in on a restday to help out the DSMs, guess what I told them.
