Taxi Driver Online

£5 taxi home cost me £80 after scam
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AN 18-YEAR-OLD has called in police after claiming a taxi driver duped him out of £80 in a credit card scam.
Matt Beard had been told by his taxi driver to pay for his £5 Hanley to Burslem fare by credit card at 4am on Tuesday.
But he later discovered he had been given back a credit card belonging to a Mr M Waymont rather than his own.
After calling his bank to report his missing card he was told £80 had been taken from his account.
Matt, of Mill Hill, had been drinking with friends in Hanley before waiting for a private hire taxi by KFC.
Matt, who works in the kitchens at The Harecastle Farm, at Talke Pits, said: "I was waiting for the taxi I had booked when a guy came up and said he would take me home for £5. He had all the badges, so I got in.
"When we were nearly home, he said I would have to pay by credit card. He took my card and put it in a chip and pin machine. He then asked me if I wanted to buy an iPhone. I had a look at it, then he gave me what I thought was my card and I got out.
"At home I realised I had a different card. I phoned up the bank to stop my account, but £80 had already been taken, which is the most that could go out of my account."
Matt says the driver was Asian, aged between 20 and 25 and driving a silver car.
His mother Janine Croxton, aged 37, said: "It's breaking his heart as someone conned him. He works hard for his money."
Licensing regulations mean only hackney carriages are allowed to pick up people in the street without being pre-booked.
Shahnwaz Mirza, vice chairman of Stoke-on-Trent Hackney Carriage Association, said: "Only hackney carriages are for public hire.
"It will say on a drivers' badge if he is a hackney carriage driver. Also hackney carriage plates are white, while private hire are yellow."
Staffordshire Police today confirmed they are investigating Matt's complaint which is also being looked at by Stoke-on-Trent City Council's licensing department.
A council spokesman said: "We are looking through CCTV footage."

Serves him right!!! If he'd have been patient and waited for his pre booked cab that would have been waiting for him for 5-10 minutes when he had allready left then none of this would have happened. If some stranger off the street offered you a lift home you certainly wouldn't hand over your bank/credit cards when he's trying to sell you a knock of phone.Robberies and sexual assaults give taxi drivers a bad name but until some of these victims drink less or discover their brains then things will carry on happening.

And what of the broken hearted pre booked PH driver that turned up to find no one there...did he not think of that poor driver?

Now as this was a pre booked fare, the company should have the customer details. As there was a contract in place the company could send an invoice for the fare + costs. That would upset him even more.

_________________
Grandad,
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thats twisting the knife

and adding the VAT would be twisting it again...


telling him you take visa?

priceless...............

Credit Card machines have their advantages, but one woman gave me a £30 tip on a £16 fare because she pushed too many '0's.

I did tell her though, too honest.

whispers

excuse me love......hello?......damn



i had a [edited by admin] ranting on at me for the duration of his 30 minute ride home, he stumbled out, chucked £20 at me (£18 on the meter)

i shouted after him about his other £20 on the car floor, he didnt hear me...