Hong Kong Police have arrested seven people as part of an undercover operation targeting taxi drivers overcharging people traveling to and from the airport, with one driver charging a passenger almost nine times the standard fare.
The suspects, including five men and two women aged 32 to 69, were arrested on Wednesday, Apple Daily reported.
Two of the men arrested were taxi drivers who offered to take two police officers to Hung Hom in Kowloon for HK$2,480 (US$318) and to Sha Tin for HK$1,780 (US$228). Where do they think they are, Tokyo? The two respective journeys would normally cost HK$280 and HK$250 (US$36 and US$32).
A male and female were also arrested for soliciting business for the drivers at the airport.
Meanwhile, another group of officers disguised as passengers rented three private cars — one from the airport to Sha Tin, one from Sha Tin to the airport, and one from Ma On Shan to the airport.
The drivers — two men and a women — were arrested on suspicion of using a vehicle without third-party insurance, and for illegally driving a motor vehicle for the carriage of passengers for hire or reward.
The drivers charged HK$450, HK$400 and HK$350 for the respective journeys (US$58, US$51, and US$45)
All three cars were detained for inspection, and all three drivers were released on bail and have to report to the police at the end of this month.
Hong Kong police have reminded drivers that taxi drivers that they can be fined up to HK$10,000 and even received up to six months in prison for overcharging under the Road Traffic Ordinance.
This comes as part of a crackdown on taxi drivers in Hong Kong, who are notorious for overcharging and refusing to take passengers. The city’s Transport Complaints Unit revealed in their recent quarterly report that they received 2,919 taxi-related complaints for the third quarter. Of these, 97.3 percent (that’s 2,840) concerned bad manners, overcharging, refusing fares, and so on.
This is a 7.7 percent increase from the previous quarter, when the TCU received 2,710 complaints regarding taxi services.
