Brian Coleman’s letter in last week’s paper (‘No more says Boris’, Opinion, February 5) extolls the virtue of Boris Johnson’s “freeze” in his portion of our council tax bills.

But I feel it is only fair to inform Barnet residents that even with the freeze in the GLA precept, the average Barnet couple getting the bus to and from work will be £90 a year worse off as a result of the 11 per cent hike in bus fares that Johnson has introduced as part of his budget.

Bus users will already be feeling the pinch of this inflation busting increase as the new fares were introduced in January, right at the time the recession was beginning to bite, and people were beginning to struggle.

Of course, those who paid for advanced Oyster tickets during the snow storms last week were short-changed even further as a result of the buses not running.

Frankly they deserve a refund.

Councillor Kath McGuirk, Labour, environment and transport spokeswoman