The taxi driver charged two tourists €230 for a ride from the Charles-de-Gaulle airport, north of Paris, to their hotel in the 10th arrondissement in the city centre on Friday, January 1st.
The official price rate for the ride is €53.
After being contacted by the victims of the scam, the French taxi association Les nouveaux taxis parisiens (LNTP) reported the driver in question to the police.
Bonsoir @prefpolice ci-joint un message laissé par un touriste sur notre Page:
« No more taxi in Paris. We were charged EUR 230 from CDG airport to 75010. (Arrive 75010 around 1st Jan 2021 5:00pm) Are you crazy? How can I trust Paris’s taxi anymore? DQ-656-XP Black Skoda » pic.twitter.com/jAmvfcQ7Jt
— Les Nouveaux Taxis Parisiens (@LNTParisiens) January 2, 2021
The tourists, who flew in from Hong Kong, were far from the first to pay stung by rogue taxi drivers at the airport.
Unlicenced taxi drivers are known to wait around the airports or other touristy areas to prey on foreigners who are not familiar with the French fixed taxi fares.
However the taxi driver in question for this particular scam was not a rogue operator, but a proper taxi that had given the Hong Kong tourists an official receipt for their overpriced ride.
“This is a real taxi, it's one of ours. This gentleman has cast shame on our profession,” President of LNTP Jean Barreira told French newspaper Le Figaro, as he explained why the association has decided to file a formal complaint.
Barreira confirmed that the police have launched an investigation into the matter.
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How did a tourist get into CDG in the first place?
“The tourists, who flew in from Hong Kong, were far from the first to pay stung by rogue taxi” pay stung??? be stung?
I nearly got stung before New Year as a returning resident – negotiating your way around CDG isn’t easy at the best of times and I never normally get a taxi but was a bit laden down with a train to catch – with Covid restrictions (one way walkways etc) at the mo and what turns out to be dodgy people shepherding you I was told by three separate people to go to door 16 then I realised it was a scam and then one of the three tried to stop me going back out to arrivals and said he would do me a special deal at 65 – he said the 53 euros wasn’t happening with Covid …I used to live in Italy and had thought I was savvy but this lot threw me. Covid, Brexit, masks and steamed-up glasses has turned me into a credulous wreck! I walked away, found the right place, paid my 53 euros to a LOVELY man and thought blimey, lucky escape…
If you have been over charged in Paris, what is the authority you complain to and how do you get their email address?
If planning to taxi from CDG, I always have a card in my wallet that has my destination address printed on it. It also has the price of 53E ? printed under that. I have never had a problem after I started this. I did have a driver to CDG who; when we were in heavy traffic pulled out his card machine and claimed it was broken, and said if I couldn’t pay I would need to get out…but I had cash.
If you have been over charged in Paris, what is the authority you complain to and how do you get their email address?