ACCORDING to Conservative group leader Jeff Green: "The public will be horrified at this amount of money being taken from their council tax" to pay for taxis.

Actually Jeff … I'm not.

Seems pretty reasonable to me.

According to the Local Government Association, most councillors will need to commit between five and 20 hours per week to council business.

So, let's assume that on most days, councillors will engage in some legitimate council activity.

I think the 20 hours per week is a bit low; many councillors work at council business most days and many evenings. So £3,000 between 20 Labour councillors, that's £150 per person in a full year.

Not all journeys are cost-effective or feasible by public transport.

Issues of time and cost come into play.

In many circumstances, use of a taxi will be the most cost effective solution – and a £3,000 bill over a full year for 20 people to me shows a fair amount of restraint.

So get real Jeff. Can you tell me if any of your colleagues have claimed for taxi fares... and what they have claimed in car allowances?

Andrew Green, Upton.