Sammy the cabbie (Letters, February 27) asked where I get my information from. In fact, it is from Tim Nichols, environmental health and licensing manager, corroborated by David Collins, the Hackney carriage officer.

My letter should not be seen as an attack on Hackney cab drivers, the majority of whom are hard-working and decent people.

However, if a poll of the people I work with is anything to go by, it is a common experience to find it difficult to hail a cab from the side of the road. Instead, people are frequently forced to walk to the nearest serviced taxi rank.

It is a very reasonable question to ask why there are marked-out ranks rarely if ever visited by taxis at a time when there is a huge pressure on parking spaces.

Finally, taxi ranks in the centre of the city, late at night, may cause people to congregate once the clubs and pubs have closed. This flies in the face of common sense, which suggests people should be encouraged to disperse as quickly as possible. Noise and anti-social behaviour late at night in city centres is very much an issue.

Left to organise themselves, cabbies quickly learn where and at what time people will be leaving clubs and bars and will arrange to pick up from outside these establishments.

-Steve, St Peter's Place, Brighton