The cost of riding in a black cab can vary by nearly £1 per mile depending on where you are in Britain, according to a new index that ranks the cheapest and most expensive UK cities to take a taxi.

In Coventry, passengers pay an average of £3.11 per mile to ride in a hackney carriage, while in Liverpool the average cost per mile is just £2.15, a difference of 96p.

The analysis, by private number plate firm Regtransfers.co.uk, used local authority data to rank the average cost for one, two, three, four and five-mile journeys in black cabs in Britain's 25 largest cities. It reveals the stark disparity in fares, with people in some cities paying almost 45pc more for a taxi journey compared to elsewhere in the country.

While some would assume that London is home to the highest-priced taxis in the country, four other cities have more expensive black cabs.

Coventry tops the list, followed by Leeds (£3.06 per mile), Oxford (£3.04) and Cambridge (£3.03). By comparison, Liverpool, Edinburgh (£2.22), Brighton (£2.28) and Kingston-upon-Hull (£2.45) rank bottom. London's average black cab cost is £2.99 per mile.