Following up a complaint from a local resident that Taxi fares were now very high and that when he queried them, the taxi driver quoted the rate per metre and couldn't 'translate' them into pence per mile, I made enquires of two local authorities: Harlow District Council and Broxbourne Borough Council.

Both issue taxis with metric-only meters and both Councils charge by the metre, though Harlow Council does on its tariff chart at least inform you of the price per yard.

For the record:

Broxbourne BC: First 1500 metres: £2.20, thereafter 10p for every 121 metres
Harlow DC: First 395 metres: £1.80; thereafter each 158 metres at 20p up to a total of £2.40; thereafter 20p for every 333 metres.

Both authorities say they were 'only following government guidelines'.

There are times when it does seem we are fighting a losing battle

Tony Bennett

Presumably, 1500 metres is the metric equivalent of one mile.
However, a conversion reveals that one mile is 1609 metres.
Does this mean that Broxbourne taxis slipped in a hidden fare increase by "downsizing" from one mile for £2.20 to 1500 metres (0.93 mile)?