In response to Michael Williams' complaint about taxi fares (Letters, May 11), the price of your taxi to Brighton Marina was correct.

Let me explain how. On a Sunday, the flag fare is £3.10, being 80p extra on top of the standard £2.30.

The national average for a 2-mile fare on Tariff 2 (Sunday) is £5.88.

Please consider this. All cab drivers are self-employed, so we own the cabs and have to meet the day-to-day running costs ourselves.

These include: insurance, tax, office dues, fuel, maintenance and relicensing fees to the council for the driver's badge/licence.

All taxi drivers provide a door-to-door service.

If you break the fare down to four sharing a cab from the Marina, the cost would equate to £2.75 each.

All taxi drivers have to go through a CRB/police check, a medical and a knowledge test of Brighton and Hove before being licensed.

Let me also explain the difference between a Hackney Carriage and a Private Hire Vehicle.

Hackneys are the aqua-and-white cars you can flag down on the street or find at ranks around the city.

Private Hire Vehicles can only do radio work and are not permitted to be flagged down on the streets. If one stops for you in the street and you get in, you will not be insured if you have an accident.

Also, if you go out and have a drink, paying £11 for a taxi home is better than losing your licence or causing an accident.

-D S Darling, cab driver, Portslade