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© (c) 2016 AFPMan arrested over unpaid taxi fare for 850-km trip
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© (c) 2016 AFP
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weisse
Damn, in London you'll struggle to find a black cab driver who'll go south of the river. This driver went 850km. For that distance you'll expect some kind of down payment or insurance.
Next time drop him off at the nearest airport.
Dukeleto
I remember a story being told about a long term Japanese prison inmate who was released from prison. He did not actually want to be released but his prison term was up. The world presented an incredibly unfamiliar and daunting place to the man. The first thing he did was hail a taxi and requested the driver to drive him to a destination a couple of hours away. This was done by the taxi driver and towards the end the taxi driver was directed to stop at a police station. On arrival the ex-con told the taxi driver he had no money. He simply wanted to be arrested and go back to prison where he had a roof over his head and three square meals a day in a place he was familiar with!
commanteer
I drove a taxi for a short while, and these kinds of long distance fares did happen, for various reasons. For example, the fare doesn't like flying and money is not an object, the fare is a fugitive and wants to avoid airports and railway stations, the fare wants to get someplace quickly and can't find a quick flight....
I'm pretty sure that drivers usually checked to be sure the passenger could pay before heading off, though. Even in Japan, I would expect a deposit, credit card number or something.
Gerard van Schip
What's up with all the hate towards the driver. Thank god we live in a country where people still trust each other.
Yubaru
A bit of advice for the taxi driver here, if it sounds too good, it probably is......hope you learned a lesson there.
kawabegawa198
Well done to you. What a nice person you are.
nath
I used to be friends with a taxi driver, and rides of this length happened to him on occasion. Though, he told me that over X number of KM he had to find a second driver to alternate with. So it's not necessarily a to-good-to-be-true situation.
That said, for a journey of that length, a down-payment should be required up front. The taxi company should put that into their regulations to give the drives some ammo to work with.
kurisupisu
Surely, any taxi driver would question why it is necessary to take a taxi when there are far cheaper modes of transportation available?
Greed got the better of him?
Mirai Hayashi
Get a credit card number first?
Akula
Jetstar is dirt cheap on the Matsuyama-Narita route these days.
Laptop_Warrior
You're not far off, but not in the way you think. Most of the fare for a long drive like this would go to the taxi company, not the driver. But on the return leg, the driver could carry passengers off the meter and pocket the full amount. This is a practice that has become increasingly difficult now that most taxis have cameras mounted in their interiors, but it's possible the driver found a way around it.
smithinjapan
I really have little sympathy for these drivers. This has been done so many times that by now they should be asking up front to see the money for such a drive, and/or to get a down payment. It should be policy, and the customers made to understand as such.
JohnDigsJapan
A little gullible the driver was. I haven't heard of stress being a mitigating circumstance yet either.
GW
dumb & dumber......
A.N. Other
I always thought taxi drivers didn't like long trips because they could rack up more money on multiple short trips... and I've also heard that taxi trips for such long distances usually need to be booked in advance.
goldorak
@ commanteer, until today i considered 50-100km to be 'long distance' taxi rides, but a few hundreds km let alone 850km really?! Surely ppl who can't travel by plane or train for whatever reasons have company/private chauffeurs and do not use standard local cabbies?
Perso i would put am 850km ride in the 'stop taking the P and get the F out of my taxi' category. Even in 'weird/unique' Japan this makes no sense at all. Taxi drivers who accept such clients no questions asked are mugs.
sensei258
I once had a taxi driver ask me for an advance. It was late at night, in a quiet suburb of Tacoma, and I was too far from home to walk. It wasn't a long trip to drive, so I asked him why (after I gave him the cash). It turned out that area had a high rate of crime, specifically meth heads, and he'd been tricked before.
Anyway, if I was a taxi driver, and a guy got in and told me he wanted to go 850 km away, the first thing I would have said is "Show me the money"
Mocheake
These gullible drivers need to watch ''Jerry Maguire'' and learn a handy catchphrase: show me the money!
gogogo
This is a tacit used by Yakuza to get out of town avoiding police or other people trying to find them. The Taxi driver must have been scared to even ask.... I talked to a Taxi driver once that drove someone from Tokyo to Osaka under the same guise.
Disillusioned
Gees! This cabbie must be really stupid or desperate, or both!
sweet and sour
You've got to be kidding us! Who in their right mind would agree to this ridiculous fare when for a fraction of the cost one could fly or take the shinkansen? Taxi drivers take note! People in their right minds or indeed have the means to pay you just don't do this.
nath
Me too. It's the victim's fault. He deserves little to no sympathy.
drlucifer
I find the fare of 270,000yen to be a bit cheap for a 850Km trip. Toll will be to and fro not less 60,000yen Fuel to and fro about 25,000frs.
nath
60,000 in fuel for 1700 km? I doubt it. Nothing even close to that.
Wc626
Agree. The idiot driver should've demanded 1/2 up front at least.
Kobe White Bar Owner
We used to get illegal cabs in London to drive us home after a night clubbing then walk to the ATM to get some money out but do a runner.