VietNamNet Bridge - With a distance of about 3km, a female taxi driver who faked a Ha Anh Taxi charged two British tourists up to $50. The tourists took pictures of the taxi and sent them to the authorities.



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Hanoi has 113 taxi firms with nearly 18,000 cabs. The Hanoi Transport Inspectorate has established two hotlines to handle taxi-related violations.




On the afternoon of February 15, Mr. Nicola Iraland and Ms. Brianna Solomon caught a cab of Ha Anh Taxi (actually fake taxi) from the Ngoc Son Temple to the Ho Chi Minh Museum.

Upon arriving, the two visitors argued with the female taxi driver about the fares. Suddenly, the female driver got out of the car, opened the back door and took the $50 banknote from the hand of a visitor and asked them to get out.

The two tourists took photos of the plate numbers and reported the incident to the tourist service division of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The division combined with traffic inspectors to trace the taxi driver, who is identified as Ngo Thi Nhung.

On February 19, Nhung expressed remorse, cried and offered apology to the British tourists.

She said that due to the language barrier, when she showed five fingers signaling $5, the passenger gave her $50. As cabs are not allowed to park, she hurriedly took the banknote and invited passengers to take off the cab quickly. Until she came home, she knew that the banknote is $50.

At the meeting yesterday, representatives of the Hanoi Traffic Inspectorate confirmed to handle the fake taxi driver and expected that the two visitors to come back to Hanoi the next time.

The tourists were happy to claim back their money and thanked the local authorities.

According to regulations, the taxi driver will have to pay VND14 million ($700) fine while her driving license will be revoked for 60 days and her car will be seized for 30 days.

Hanoi has 113 taxi firms with nearly 18,000 cabs. The Hanoi Transport Inspectorate has established two hotlines to handle taxi-related violations.

The Hanoi Taxi Association has also set up a hotline for passengers at 04.38525252 and 04.37710851. If visitors are cheated by taxi drivers in Hanoi, they are advised to call the above numbers.

T. Van