Taxi Driver Online

This is not a plug for discount cabs of Lincoln but the owner might wish to know that his scratch card scheme has been highlighted on the UK's most popular Taxi forum.
...........................................................................

Lincolnshire Echo

July 26, 2006 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Sign up for scratch card and help sick youngsters

Sick children will benefit from a summer scratch card scheme with which taxi users can win up to £250.

Discount Cabs, in Monson Street, Lincoln, has set up the six week scheme available to any customer with a loyalty card. Every time they use one of the company's cabs they will receive a scratch card to see if they are a lucky winner.

Discount Cabs will then add 25 per cent of the winnings to its fund for Lincoln County Hospital children's unit. Managing director for the firm, Steve Read, said he wanted to help the children's unit after the support it had given his daughter, Collette, when she was at the hospital. She was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was just six months old and needed regular treatment. "My daughter's 19 now and the hospital always helped her throughout her childhood," he said.

"I thought the cause was very worthwhile and we wanted to do some good for the community. "A lot of our customers already have the loyalty cards but they're free for anyone who wants to join and they give you tabs off future journeys.

"We'll produce at least 20,000 scratch cards and there'll be thousands of pounds worth of prizes up for grabs." This is the first week the scratch cards have been on offer but there have already been some winners in the scheme.

"We've had 37 winners so far of up to and including £10 but there are larger prizes out there as we speak that are still to be won," said Mr Read. "So far the interest we've received is quite impressive considering that we haven't really publicised what we've done. "We hope it will steadily increase through word of mouth and we expect there to be some big winners by the end of the week."

Lincoln County Hospital is delighted with the support it has received from the firm. Sarah Tedford, acting hospital director, said: "We are extremely grateful to Discount Cabs. "Donations such as these enable us to make improvements to patient care above and beyond what might otherwise have been possible to achieve."
.................................................