Auckland taxi shock: Crown Cabs driver charges tourists $163 for trips less than 10km

“We wanted to go a certain way on Mount Roskill. He didn’t know where it was, so we had to spell it out for him,” the woman said. reporter.

“He put it on his phone and walked around instead of going straight up the hill, so we went through Spaghetti Junction…we should have known then.”

During the journey of less than 10 kilometers, the woman’s husband looked at the taxi meter and saw that it said $80. “I said no, it should be $8,” he said.

The couple also noticed that the driver was not displaying his minor passenger service licence, a legal requirement for all taxis and shuttles.

“When we got there he told me it would cost like $145,” the woman said.

“When he told me the price, the sky was blue.

“I was mean to her and said, ‘Look, this costs more than it costs to fly here, mate’, and she kept saying, ‘Measure lady, there’s proof of that’… it was pretty loud and it was raining. I just paid.”

She and her husband were supposed to be at the airport for their flight at 6 the next morning and wanted to go in and get some sleep.

“I didn’t want to stand there and go back and forth.”

It wasn’t until Saturday morning that the woman checked her bank statement and saw that she had been charged $163.43 by Crown Cabs; this figure averaged just over $17 per kilometer.

“I just thought, oh damn. They obviously work nights thinking they can catch a few sheep given the weather… (They) take advantage of people coming out and having a great time.”

He said that he had the Uber application on his phone, but when the couple saw a row of taxis, they immediately jumped in and wanted to return to their daughter’s house.

“We don’t want others to be robbed like we were.”

Junior Passenger Services Association spokesman Warren Quirke said last month: reporter He had received “multiple complaints” about Crown Cabs.

He claimed the drivers targeted international tourists traveling from the city to the airport and did not understand New Zealand’s regulations.

“It is the driver’s responsibility to negotiate the fare before the trip takes place, but this does not happen.”

reporter He tried to contact Crown Cabs but the company had disconnected his phone number.

According to the New Zealand Companies Office Register, Crown Cabs Limited was renamed Crown Eftpose Limited in 2022.

Other passengers had previously voiced price inflating by the company, as well as other allegations against drivers, on social media.

On one occasion, a female tourist was charged over $50 for a 10-minute ride from Britomart to Ponsonby.

Another passenger claimed they were charged $150 for a taxi ride from Ponsonby to Queen St with the same company in July.

“A-hole took advantage of my drunken state. And no, I didn’t throw up in his car, I was nice,” the passenger wrote.

Waka Kotahi My advice to consumers is to contact the taxi company directly. in the first place. When people go to the agency with a complaint of overcharging, most are referred to the Disputes Tribunal.

So complaints are time-consuming and cumbersome.

The agency investigated five cases of driver fraud, poor service or overcharging in the 2022-23 fiscal year. Two drivers received warnings; Two of them were entered into the agency’s system for a “compliance review,” a spokesman said.

Another issue is trying to negotiate a fee in the first place.

Waka Kotahi says that “under normal circumstances” taxi drivers can only refuse to carry passengers if they consider on reasonable grounds that their personal safety would be threatened or endangered.

However, this violates another rule; drivers and passengers must agree on the scale or basis of the fare before the trip.

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter covering breaking news. It worked for: reporter Since 2022.

Subscribe to The Daily HA free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.