A man has taken to social media to report his experience with a taxi driver who charged him a whooping £250 (468 AU$) fare after he fell asleep in the taxi.
The man named Ryan took a taxi from Melbourne Airport and was headed to Berwick late into the night.
Before he knew it, he had dozed off during the trip.
Ryan was jolted awake and given a $468 fare (that increased to $486 after extra charges were added) for a trip that would usually cost around $160 (£84).
When he asked for an explanation as to why the cost had risen so quickly after what was just a 30-minute nap, the taxi driver claimed that ‘tolls on the way’ was to blame for the extraordinarily high fare.
“I’m a new taxi driver. I just know what the meter is saying, how are you going to pay buddy?” the taxi driver told him.
Allegedly, the driver was also rude to him, telling him: “Buddy stop complaining about me OK. I’m a taxi driver, not a bank manager.”
Fortunately for Ryan, his bank account had been frozen while he was out of the country so his card declined when he attempted to pay.
He eventually paid the driver $200 (£105) which was all the money he had on him.
“I offered the driver $200 cash that I had left from my holiday and if he wanted the rest of what I supposedly owed him, he could come to the same address the next day, knock on my door and I’ll give it to him,” Ryan told the Daily Mail Australia.
“However if he did come I told him I’d get the situation looked into.
“(I’ve) never heard or seen from the driver again. He got his $200 and that’s the final part of the story.”
A video of the experience was posted on TikTok, and many viewers expressed surprise at the event.
One viewer wrote: “He saw a vulnerable human and took his chances. I wouldn’t be able to control myself in anger!”
Another one commented: “I would (have) got him to drive me to the police station,” while another person said: “The way the cab driver speaks to you for asking reasonable questions is a disgrace.”
