Public Speaking in Livingston

I have registered interest in http://www.toastmasters.org/. New clubs must be chartered with a minimum of 20 members. I may be looking for at least 20 members in the Livingston area if anyone is interested. Please contact Ron if this is something you'd like to join. 0844 818 3959

Top 10 Stories in Scotland Today

1. Union calls off Grangemouth strike (Herald)
2. Five times more Scots turn to food banks (Scotsman)
3. Unison: end council tax freeze (Scotsman)
4. Salmond and Cameron attend talks (BBC)
5. Children's doctor guilty of 'blunders' (BBC)
6. 4,000 local authority jobs at risk (Daily Record)
7. Scottish start up joins space race (Guardian)
8. Aberdeen Union Street revamp compromise on table (STV)
9. Teargas attack at Dundee Jobcentre (Courier)
10. Broadband boost for Moray Firth (BBC)

Wheelchair Users Come First

MEDIA RELEASE: 23 September 2013

Wheelchair Users Come First & launch of the

Equal Justice Campaign

A Judge in Leeds has decided that First Bus Group’s “First Come First Served” policy for the disabled bay on its buses substantially disadvantages wheelchair users and is unlawful discrimination in breach of the Equality Act 2010.

In a 20 page Judgment, Recorder Isaacs dissected the approach taken by First Bus Group (and in place with many other bus companies) in failing to keep the wheelchair space free for wheelchair users, and concluded that:

“ … the system of priority given to wheelchair users should be enforced as a matter not of request, to any non-disabled user of the wheelchair space, but of requirement…”

He went on to note that:

“ just as there are conditions of carriage which forbid smoking, making a nuisance or other “anti-social” behaviour on the pain of being asked to leave the bus then a refusal to accede to a requirement to vacate the space could have similar consequences. In my view, once the system had been advertised and in place there would be unlikely to be caused any disruption or confrontation as all passengers would know where they were. Although such a policy might inconvenience a mother with a buggy that, I am afraid, is a consequence of the protection which Parliament has chosen to give to disabled wheelchair users and not to non-disabled mothers with buggies.”

First Buses have been given 6 months to act on the Judgment, after which time unless changes to the policy and training and drivers are made to ensure that wheelchair users have priority over the wheelchair space over other passengers, the Court will consider making an injunction to require the changes to be made by Court Order.

Doug Paulley, the disabled passenger that launched this legal challenge was awarded £5,500.00 in compensation in recognition of the way in which his experiences with First Bus Group’s policy affected his confidence and increased the stress and anxiety of travel.

Doug (35), whose disabilities mean that he relies upon a wheelchair for his independence brought the case with the help of  his legal team from Unity Law, expressed his relief at the decision,

“The number one problem for wheelchair users on public transport is whether the wheelchair bay is free. Often it’s filled up with luggage or buggies. Often bus companies advertise the space as a buggy space which can create confusion as to who has priority for it. But the space is there for wheelchair users to travel. It’s the only place on the bus I can travel safely in my wheelchair.”

Doug’s legal team was led by Chris Fry, Managing Partner at Unity Law and included Catherine Casserley one of the UKs leading equal rights barristers from Cloisters Chambers.

“The Judge recognised that companies are often very good at paying lip service to the concept of making transport more accessible, but at grassroots level we are contacted every week by wheelchair users who recount a different story.” says Chris Fry. “There’s no point in having an accessible bus, if the service itself is inaccessible. That makes a mockery of the protection provided to the disabled service user by the Equality Act.”

This case has wide reaching implications, not just to the First Bus Group, but to other bus and train companies operating similar “First Come First Served” practices. It represents a breakthrough to disabled passengers who now have legal precedent to challenge their bus company if they have been unable to travel for similar reasons.

The case also marks the launch of the Equal Justice Campaign.  The ability of disabled people to bring Equality Act cases has been critically compromised due to the cutbacks to legal aid and civil costs reforms.

The upshot of the reforms is that it is no longer financially viable for disabled people to take legal action aimed at forcing companies to meet their statutory obligations; rendering the Equality Act obsolete. Fortunately for Doug, he launched his legal action before the reforms were introduced.

END

___________________________________

About Unity Law

Unity Law is an award winning niche law firm specialising in representing those affected by disability discrimination. They have particular expertise in the area of employment law, industrial disease litigation and disability rights cases.

Their lawyers work hard to achieve the best possible solution for their clients, with an emphasis on service and support.

Unity Law’s expertise and hands-on approach to looking after their clients has enabled them to develop an unrivalled reputation as specialist lawyers and is evidenced by their industry awards wins and short-listings.

For more information about Unity Law or this press release please contact:

   

Natalie Rodgers, Managing Director, Scala UK Ltd
natalierodgers@scala.uk.com                           

m. 07881 780608                    

Email Spam - What to look out for

Enquiry Best Practice

How do you feel when:

• your call to a helpline or enquiry line is not answered?
• a receptionist asks you to call back later?
• someone promises to call you back but doesn’t?
• you never receive information you have asked for?

If new enquiries are the life blood of your business it is important that you examine this part of the business to make sure it is working. If you ever answer a phone call, reply to an email enquiry or meet a visitor, you are handling an enquiry. In this way, we can all affect people’s impressions of our company or service. The way we respond to enquiries is important for building positive relationships with anyone who contacts the company. This includes existing clients, suppliers and, in particular, new prospects who are thinking of dealing with the company. To encourage large numbers of good quality business enquiries and to encourage people to choose our company instead of any other company, we need to follow good practice when we deal with enquiries.

What are the rewards of success?

First impressions are very important. By dealing politely, effectively and efficiently with enquiries, we have the opportunity to develop relationships that will benefit the company as a whole. We know from experience that the way we deal with a phone call or an email enquiry can make the difference between a customer choosing us or going to another provider. It is also personally rewarding to know that we have given the best impression of our own company or employer.

Being good at handling enquiries is often very satisfying. It can lead to positive and friendly relationships with people making enquiries, who appreciate the help and service we give them – and sometimes they say so.

What is the price of failure?

Whenever we don't answer a phone enquiry, give an unhelpful reply to an email or don't send someone the information we promised to send, there’s a strong risk that we will lose that business and we could also be damaging our reputation. If you’ve ever had poor service from a company yourself, how many of your friends and relatives did you tell about it?

General principles of handling enquiries

We need to take every opportunity to develop positive relationships with anyone who has contact with us. We must make sure that we give people a good impression of our company and show that we are genuinely interested in helping them.

Whenever we get an enquiry from someone, we should make a note of:

• their full name
• how they want us to contact them (for example by email or phone call)
• the full details of their enquiry

There should always be a member of staff available to deal with enquiries (by phone, email or visitors to reception) to make sure that we maintain these standards of good practice.

Phone Enquiries

• You should answer all phone calls within five rings.
• You should make sure that all calls to a published enquiry line between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday are answered (this includes covering breaks and absences).
• You should use a standard greeting to identify yourself. For example, give your name and then ask 'Can I help you?', or say 'Good morning' or 'Good afternoon' then give the company name and your name.
• When you transfer a call to a colleague, tell the caller your colleague's name and phone number, in case they get cut off when you transfer them, and then tell your colleague the caller's name and what their enquiry is about before you put the call through to them.
• End the call in a positive and helpful way. For example, check that you have given the caller the information they need and ask if there is anything else you can help them with. Then thank them for their call and encourage them to call you back if they need more information.

Voicemail

You should record your own greeting on all voicemail messages on enquiry numbers instead of using a standard recorded message.

You should keep your voicemail message brief and:

• give your name and the company name
• ask callers to leave a message that includes their name and contact details
• tell them they will receive a reply within one working day
• You should use a different voicemail message if you work part-time, are on holiday or off sick. The message should include the information above and the date you expect to be back at work. (If you are off work unexpectedly, there should be arrangements in place with your employer to deal with voicemail messages left on your phone and to change the voicemail message as appropriate.)
• If you have been left a voicemail message on an enquiry line, you should return the call within one working day.

Email Enquiries

• You should check emails to enquiry email addresses every working day and reply by email within three working days. If you cannot send a full reply within that time, send an email to say when you will be able to send a full reply.
• If you are on holiday, off sick or absent for some other reason, you should put a message on your email account to thank people for their emails, tell them why you are absent, when you will return to work and how often your emails will be checked by your colleagues. If your colleagues can't check your emails for any reason, you should include in your message another email address or phone number for urgent enquiries.
• You should send an email acknowledgement, even if you are dealing with the enquiry.
• You should take any action needed, such as sending follow-up information by post, within 48 hours.
• You should use a personal greeting on all your email replies, for example 'Hi George' or 'Dear Mr Skirving' (depending on who you are contacting and how they would prefer to be addressed), and give follow-up contact details in case the person wants to make any more enquiries. Write your emails in a helpful, polite and informal way.
• You should always fill in the 'Subject' part of the email.
• Include an email signature in every email you send. It should include your name, job title, the company name, phone number and website address.

There are companies that offer call handling services and it may be worth investing in these services if you feel you are unable to manage the flow of incoming enquiries with your existing resources. If new enquiries are the life blood of your business it is important that you examine this part of the business to make sure it is working

Google offers free products and advertising for UK charities

Google has launched a new initiative to provide nonprofit organisations in the UK with free products, including up to £6,600 a month in advertising credit and free access to Google Apps.

Unlike most businesses, which have to pay for access to Google’s online communication and collaboration tools, charity workers will be able to access applications such as Gmail, Google Talk, Hangouts and Drive for free.

They will also be able to develop campaign ideas in real-time with colleagues from other offices through Google Docs and brainstorm charity initiatives via the video conferencing tool Google Hangouts.

The idea is to help UK nonprofits cut IT costs, operate more efficiently, and communicate more effectively, according to Google. The advertising credit, which can be used to buy Google AdWords, will also enable them to promote their causes more widely and reach more donors.

“Through Google for Nonprofits, we want to support the incredible work of charitable organisations in the UK by eliminating some of the technical challenges and costs that they face,” said Dan Cobley, managing director of Google UK.

Moving to Google Mail

For assistance with taking advantage of this offer contact Delta Digital. Find out about making the transition to Google Mail. Watch the video >>

Understanding Google Adwords

Watch the short video below.

Mobile Friendly Websites

The mobile phone seems to be leading the pack as the hardware tool of choice over fixed devices such as the desktop PC and even the laptop and tablet because of its size and flexibility. More photos are taken now than ever before because of the shift in mobile phone camera technology. Likewise, more texts and pictures are being moved around with the cheaper data packages and unlimited texts. The average 13-17 year old sends more than 2,000 text messages per month. The modern phone is less obtrusive, fitting into pockets, handbags or fastening to belts.

With the majority of mobile subscribers owning smartphones, today’s shoppers are now better equipped than ever to find the best deals and get feedback about products on their shopping lists—anytime, anywhere. From pre-purchase research, to sharing an exciting find with friends, new data shows that smartphone and tablet owners are embracing their devices to make the most of their shopping experience.

It’s no secret smartphone owners bring their handsets just about everywhere they go. Mobile shoppers like to use their devices for in-store activities. In fact, 78 percent of mobile shoppers say they’ve used their smartphone to find a store, and another 63 percent have checked prices online while shopping. Overall, smartphone owners are three times more likely to use their handset for some in-store activities, like claiming mobile coupons (39%) or using shopping lists (40%), compared to tablet owners. (Neilson Wire, 2012)

Now when shop assistants ask “Can I help you?” The response is more likely to be “Yes, what’s your WiFi password?”

In the business to consumer sector, it is easy to understand therefore why it is necessary to have a mobile friendly website. In the business to business sector it is also essential to have a website not only well designed for the PC but also the mobile phone. 

• This year more people will use mobile phones than PCs to get online 
• Google estimates that around 50% of mobile searches are for local services
• Research indicates that 6 in 10 visitors will leave a mobile-unfriendly site
• Consumers on the go use mobile search mostly for finding out the essential information, quickly contacting the business or locating business on the map
• Having a mobile optimised website is now imperative for your business

Some interesting statistics about mobile users also support the case:

• 60% of users expect a mobile site to load in 3 seconds or less
• 71% of users expect a site to load as fast as a desktop site
• 78% of users will retry a site two times or less if it does not load initially

So, now that we understand why we need to be mobile friendly what needs to be done? Unfortunately, there is not one definitive correct approach to mobile development. Several factors need to be considered before devising a mobile strategy. There are a number of choices available and it very much depends on your budget, needs and starting point. It is worth keeping in mind that it may not be essential to have a full version of your standard website rendered for mobile phone use.

If you are about to revamp your existing website or starting a new one, it is possible to have it designed as a “responsive” website. This is the term used for a website that responds to the type of device the viewer is using and renders the layout to suit. This is particularly common now for WordPress websites using responsive templates. WordPress is a very popular open source design platform and many free Plugins are available. If you add plugins yourself, always make sure you have a backup in case it conflicts with other functionality or plugins.

Other online platforms such as Weebly and Wix offer hosted mobile friendly versions as part of their subscription services. The beauty of the responsive website is that you only have to maintain one website. The down side is that you may not be able to take advantage of all the features of a mobile phone such as the motion sensor, barcode scanner and GPS tracking.

If you do not want to modify your existing website, another product worth considering is the GoMobi addon which uses a sub-domain of your website to create a mobile friendly website to run in parallel. A piece of code is generated to place in the header of your normal website to divert mobile users to this sub-domain.

Last but not least, it is worth mentioning the growing success of the relatively unknown .tel domain name. As with other solutions, there are options when registering a .tel name and it may depend on the size of the organisation and what functionality you want from it. It is always advisable to have a mobile strategy in place before making any purchase. 

For more information on Mobile Friendly Websites, speak to the an experienced mobile website consultant.

The 3 Levels of Awareness

When you communicate a message to someone, three levels of awareness are at play at the same time:

• objective reality - what the person actually sees and hears happening
• interpretation - how they make sense of what they hear and see
• the individual - how they react to what they see and hear

Getting the message across depends on the level of awareness you have while you are in conversation.

Network Rail Edinburgh Waverley Station

Edinburgh Waverley Station, Edinburgh EH1 1BB

Monday to Saturday 04:00 - 00:45, Sunday 06:00 - 00:45

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Tickets & travel information

• National Rail Enquiries
  08457 48 49 50 
• Train operator contact information
  Cross Country
  East Coast
  First TransPennine Express
  ScotRail
  Virgin Trains

Station enquiries

General station enquiries: 08457 11 41 41

• Lost property

 

To and from the station

• Travelling by car
• Cyclists
• Buses

Station facilities

• Ticket office
• Toilets, showers and baby changing
• Lost property and left luggage
• Wi-Fi

Parking

• Book parking online  
• Long and short stay parking
• Cycle parking
• Accessible parking

Disabled access

• How to book assistance
• Accessible facilities
• Arriving and departing

Food, drink and shopping

• Food and drink
• Shops and services

Redevelopment

• How we're transforming Waverley station
• Artist's impressions

A Lesson in Colour: How to Turn Yellow Green

Struggling Yellow Pages maker hibu hangs its hopes on new website

Hibu is rapidly heading towards a debt-for-equity swap that will wipe out shareholders. In return, a raft of hedge funds and other creditors will take full ownership of the firm.

Read more: www.thisismoney.co.uk