By John Kennedy
Have you noticed how easy it is to find a London taxi-cab, yes the days or nights of waiting for that yellow for hire sign have well and truly gone. London's economy is slowing and I like many of my colleague's are feeling the pinch, in fact we have done since August 2007.

Everybody in the square mile knows that a marked increase in taxi-cab availability means a lack of economic activity within many of the banks. They haven't got over the credit crunch and the price of fuel has risen by approximately 30% since January this year. This is a double whammy for the taxi trade here in London and many of us feel like we are caught in a pincer movement of a vast increase in costs and a downturn in business.

Inflation is the main concern of the Bank of England and it must steer a course that may mean short term pain for a more stable economic future. We must resist the temptation to seek a fuel surcharge which will merely feed through into inflation and could possibly lead to higher interest rates. All businesses should try to take the hit now and not pass on input costs to consumers.

The Government should use the windfall from VAT on fuel to help the elderly, the needy and essential users of fuel. If we all pull in the same direction we can make a difference to inflation within these shores. The Oil price will fall but only after it finds a level which matches the cost of sourcing and refining this most valuable of products.

It's not all gloom and doom in fact this is a golden opportunity for the new Mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police to rid London of the scourge of taxi/mini-cab touts. Just maybe these darks clouds have the odd silver lining after all?