I would very much like someone to help the population of Kuala Lumpur find a voice on a subject that upsets many of us daily but makes us feel helpless to do anything. I am talking about taxis that hold us to ransom but that we have to pay in order to go about our daily lives.

I am disgusted at the treatment I receive from many taxi drivers on a daily basis and I know that I am not alone. The job of a taxi driver is to take people from one place to another on request from the 'client'. Instead we receive abuse, swearing and rudeness because we want to go somewhere they don't want to go.

Another tactic of the KL taxi driver is to say their meter does not work or to cover it with a cloth or fix it so the charge is far higher than it should be. What they do not realise is that I tip extremely well those taxi drivers who treat me with respect and do not try to cheat me.

I am giving up on taxis soon. Every morning I see people waiting for cabs on the road and even when they are empty, they won't pick you up. It is frustrating because the situation never seems to get better - in fact it is getting far worse.

I am absolutely incredulous that in a developed city such as Kuala Lumpur the taxis are so backward. I would like to name and shame two who were especially rude.

HWA 7607 slapped my sister because she didn't want to get out on a darkened street at night and she arrived at my house crying and afraid.

HWA 6939 prompted me to write this letter because of his absolute rudeness this morning. He told me that his meter broke in a storm (?) and that he would tell all his friends not to pick me up. When I asked him why, he said that he didn't know but that he would do it anyway.

Taxi driving is a profession. If you don't want to do your job properly and take pride in it, then don't do the job.

Can you imagine a doctor telling a patient that they will only operate if the person has a particular illness and, even then, they will only work when it is not raining and they can be bothered?

Can you imagine choosing from a restaurant menu, only to be told that you can only eat what they want to serve today ... then telling you the till is broken and they will have to make up a charge?

We are being robbed and yet no one does anything about it.

I know many people have this problem. Can you not write an article to highlight this problem and urge the government to enforce their very lax rules on this profession?

Alternatively, why not begin a campaign called 'Taxi Watch' where readers can name and shame those drivers who provide a poor service? By doing this then maybe we can encourage KL taxis to stop treating their customers like third-class citizens.