I HOPE that Oxford’s licensed vehicle drivers will oppose the compulsory introduction of video and audio recording in their vehicles, if not for themselves, then on behalf of those of their customers who object to being filmed and recorded while travelling.

Thames Travel Bus Company introduced a similar system around five years ago, and while I was once a regular customer of theirs, I have not used any of their services since.

Oxford City Council’s proposal is even more intrusive because, while a bus is a public space, a taxi/minicab is a private space for the time that it is hired.

I certainly would not be willing to undertake any taxi journey under the conditions proposed by Oxford City Council.

I find it incredible that, in a country that we like to think of as free, local authority officials could propose to record, without permission, the private conversations, of potentially many thousands of people every year.

The very least that Oxford City Council could do is to licence some vehicles with CCTV and some without. This would give anyone who wishes to travel in a CCTV-monitored environment the freedom to do so, while it would extend the same courtesy to those who object to travelling/living in such an environment.

This is something called freedom of choice and it is sadly a phrase that appears to be absent from the vocabularies of increasing numbers of people in public ‘service’.

STEVEN FENNER, Warbler Close, Tilehurst, Reading