Brit tourist charged £470 for five minute taxi ride – and even tipped the driver

An irate British tourist says he has been left out of pocket after being charged NZ$930 (£470) for a five-minute taxi ride.

John Barrett even included a tip after he was conned of his hard-earned cash by an unscrupulous taxi driver in Wellington, New Zealand.

He reported the incident to authorities and has even attempted to track down the taxi driver himself after his credit card company was unable to recover the huge bill on his behalf.

He told Stuff.co.nz : "I honestly don’t know what else to do."

“I’m in a complete loop I cannot break out of because I cannot get the contact details for this taxi company.”

He and his wife Susan had arrived in the Kiwi capital by bus on January 21 and hopped into a taxi outside the railway station which they thought looked legitimate.

The driver of the white vehicle even showed his ID, putting them at ease about the journey.

"There was nothing at the time that made us think anything was wrong," Barrett said.

He claims the meter read $NZ10 for the short trip, but claims the driver had used his finger to obscure the card reader when he went to pay.

He was made aware of the error when his MasterCard Telex was refused at a supermarket.

Upon checking his statement, he discovered a mystery $930 charge from "Taxi Wellington."

Internet searches have so far been unable to indicate a company under this name, and his efforts to track the driver down by ringing the local cab companies has proved fruitless.

Mr Barrett has contacted the local Transport Agency, Wellington City Council and New Zealand’s Taxi Federation following the incident, none of which have been able to locate the driver.

Taxi Federation executive director John Hart said hat deregulation of the industry in 2017 meant it was hard to track down independent operators.

He says overcharging is rampant, particularly against unsuspecting tourists.

“We’ve had many other instances of this sort of thing but none at this level.”

“These are the ones we’re hearing of, but I think there are probably a whole lot more, and the concern would be that visitors from overseas are being ripped off.”

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