Concorde could fly you to New York and back faster than a speeding bullet – with a glass of champagne and bragging rights to boot – for 83p per mile (about £1 per mile adjusted for inflation). The common-or-garden Hackney cab may cost about five times as much (for example, Heathrow to Warren Street is 17.9 miles and can cost £84 = £4.69/mile). Indeed, a one-way trip in a black cab from Heathrow to Fitzrovia may cost more than a return flight to Vienna on a budget airline. This is the result of market-distorting preferential rules.