IF I may reply to S Roberts and Lorraine Barrow (Citizen Letters, last week), both show total ignorance about taxis.

The taxi trade does not expect special privileges but just wants Lancaster's authorities to follow Government guidelines.

One of the recommendations of the Parliamentary transport select committee in 1995 was that consideration should be given to the use of bus lanes by taxis - the Government accepted the principle behind that recommendation.

In the intervening years all sorts of facile excuses have been put forward to justify the exclusion of taxis from bus lanes in Lancaster. The police even stated that it would be dangerous to allow taxis to use bus lanes but, despite four letters to them, are unable to say what the danger is.

As to enforcement, the police stationed a sergeant and three constables at Spring Garden Street at a time when they complained their resources were stretched but sat for long periods in cars on Chapel Street, ignoring private cars using that bus and taxi lane. All I asked for was equal treatment.

I would also suggest your correspondents read the Local Transport Plan prepared by the county council but returned by the Government for its failure to take into account taxis as part of the public transport system.

In the matter of fares, the extra distance involved in not using Spring Garden Street is half a mile and the journey time can be up to 20 minutes at peak times. You may also have noticed that the time at red of some traffic lights, including those outside Revolution, has been doubled recently, increasing congestion.

The level of fares is set by the council, after being advertised to give the public time to object to any variation, which means that a period of up to six months can elapse before a new fare is instituted. This means the system is too slow to respond to changes in fuel price and therefore fares do not increase when fuel prices do. This is in contrast to Stagecoach, who's fares go up with prices but never down.

The final point, about driving, I concede. There are some taxi drivers who flout the law and they are the trade's worst enemy. More enlightened drivers would like to see them removed too, but this is as likely as removing all bad drivers from the roads.

David Hodgson, Heysham.