Another one from Dublin.
Taxi driver secretly added €9 to hundreds of fares
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/c ... 83660.html
Image: Collins Court/Irish Independent
Passengers were ripped off 280 times by device
A taxi driver ripped off passengers 280 times by secretly using a remote control to add €9 to fares without their knowledge, a court has heard.
Dublin District Court heard yesterday that the scam unravelled when a tip-off led to one driver, followed by a recall of 206 other taximeters with which the remote device was compatible.
Judge Anthony Halpin said the amount of over-charging could have been "colossal".
Robert Griffin (66), of Maplewood Park, Springfield, Tallaght, Dublin, was fined €750 after he pleaded guilty to 280 counts of over-charging contrary to the Taxi Regulation Act.
He was accused of using a concealed remote control 20 times a week from February 4 until May 10 this year.
He was prosecuted following an investigation by the National Transport Authority (NTA), which found that he covertly topped up the final fare on the taximeters.
The increase was added to the final fare on the completion of passengers' journeys.
NTA inspector Liam Kavanagh told Judge Anthony Halpin that earlier this year he received information that a number of taxis were over-charging passengers using the remote device which was linked to some meters.
A confidential source led him to a taxi rank at Tallaght Hospital where the defendant was sitting in his car, he said.
Mr Kavanagh told the court he carried out a routine inspection and found the remote control device in the driver's door.
He suspected an offence had been committed and advised Griffin to hand it over.
"He admitted he had used the remote control to add extras to taxi fares," the inspector said.
He was "visibly shaken" and told the NTA official he was not well.
Mr Kavanagh told Judge Halpin he did not want to cause the driver too much upset at the rank and told him they could meet at the NTA inspection centre the following day, "and leave it until emotions had calmed down".
Griffin agreed and when he went there his meter was inspected by the taxi metrology service. He was cautioned by the inspector and made full admissions that he used the remote device to add to fares.
Mr Kavanagh explained that Griffin kept the remote fixed to the driver's door with Velcro and as he drove along he pressed it, increasing the fare by €9 per journey.
The court heard some other drivers who used the device had kept it between their legs.
As a result of specific information, Griffin had been targeted but his co-operation was "key" to the success of the operation, shortening it by a number of months, the court was told.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-a ... -1.4079519
In pleas for leniency, the defence said Griffin, a grandfather, had heart issues and other health problems which were of grave concern. He did not give evidence or address the court at his hearing on Monday.
He was not currently working “and does not know if he will ever go back” to taxi work, his solicitor told the court.
Griffin offered a full apology and accepted full responsibility, the solicitor submitted.
The judge said one feature that helped the accused in the measurement of the sanction was his co-operation with the NTA. The court did not have evidence that all 206 taxis sensitive to the device were involved in the scam but Judge Halpin said “many of them were”.
Image: Cyril Byrne/Irish Times
