Their website screams out “London’s largest minicab service”.
Yet when I tried ringing them last night for a pickup in Greenwich, I was told that they were busy.
No estimated time of an available taxi, no apology that they couldn’t fulfil my request, not even a smile down the phone when speaking to me.

My first impression of Addison Lee PLC is one of disrespect to the people that pay them and an unwilling and unhelpful approach to communication. Will I be ringing them again in the future? No. Their contact number has been deleted already. Instead I’ll be calling Data Cars who were happy to have my custom and were polite and friendly on the phone.

Even if you can’t satisfy someone’s request, a positive happy attitude when speaking to them will make them come back another day.

Porsche has filed its court bid to quash the proposed congestion charge rise for high polluting vehicles.
The car maker’s legal challenge comes as London’s mayor, Ken Livingstone, plans to raise the daily charge from £8 to £25 for the most polluting cars.
In its High Court action Porsche described the rise, which comes into effect on 27 October in central London, as “unfair” and an “illegal” action.

This could be an interesting court case to watch. I’ve never been a fan of the congestion charge, mainly because I have no idea where the money that’s raised is spent. I certainly don’t breath in £8 of difference any time I pay to go into central London and I’m pretty sure that will be the same if it’s raised to £25 for certain vehicles.

This is very similar to the latest edition in Livingstone’s arsenal, the low emissions zone. Intended to prevent the most polluting vehicles from travelling in and around London by whacking them with a £200 daily charge. Again, do I breath in £200 worth of difference or is this just another system set in place to stealth tax the buggery out of us when it switches to every vehicle on the road?

Towns and cities around the world are turning out the lights for an hour to highlight the threat of climate change.

Sydney was the first major city to begin “Earth Hour”, when at 2000 (0900 GMT), lights went out on landmarks like the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Lights were then turned off in Bangkok, Manila, Budapest, Copenhagen and Dublin as those cities joined the effort.

I can’t really see the point in this exercise. The majority of architectural and shop lighting is discharge lighting, which when turned on has an initial surge that is far greater than it’s running current. This alone, across the amount of lights that were turned off, would probably still use up a good proportion of the power they would use with the lights still on.

I personally think all architectural lighting should be switched off at around midnight - 2am. Whenever I’m working late in London, I’m always surprised by how much lighting is still on when no one is around. I appreciate that London is a huge tourist attraction and certain areas can look good at night when lit. But how many tourists realistically walk around London after 2am?

If you really want to make a dent in the power consumption market and prove that you’re green, turn your buildings lights off for more than an hour.

I quite enjoy my job. I get access to some rather unique places and occasionally the odd office block. Today I’m in the Ernst & Young building in London Bridge doing some lighting for a charity event they’re staging in aid of Sport Relief.

It’s a fairly straight forward number. Think Strictly Come Dancing, low budget, charity and you’ve pretty much nailed it. There is a perk, the freshly made food by their chef. Lovely.

A man who scaled a 27-storey building in central London has been arrested for allegedly wasting police time.

Hundreds of workers stopped to watch as the man, aged 45, climbed up Portland House in Victoria Street without ropes.

Police taped off the area and later arrested him on suspicion of criminal damage and wasting police time.

Police said Mr Robert was bailed until an unspecified date in February.

Mr Robert has so far climbed more than 70 of the world’s tallest structures, including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

I’m surprised they didn’t have him under the anti-terrorism act. The only waste of police time was the police waiting around for him. They should have gone and had a doughnut or tackled some real criminals and returned later when he was on his way down in the lift. As for criminal damage, I hardly think a pair of rubber shoes is going to damage concrete.