The police arrested a female taxi driver on Friday for attempting to overcharge a passenger from the mainland after seeing a video clip taken by the male passenger capturing the incident.
The Public Security Police (PSP) said in a statement on Friday that its officers caught the driver at 3:50 p.m. on Friday outside the Venetian in Avenida Cidade Nova.
According to a report by local Chinese-language daily Macao Daily News, which posted the video clip on its Facebook page after the passenger provided the newspaper with the film, the male passenger and his friend got into a taxi at the Barrier Gate border checkpoint. He asked the driver to take them to Macau Fisherman’s Wharf.
According to the report, after the cab left the taxi rank outside the border checkpoint, the driver told the two passengers that she would not use the taxi meter and demanded 200 patacas for the trip.
According to the report, the male passenger told the cabbie that he is a reporter from a Guangdong TV station. He captured the situation on his mobile phone and argued with the driver. The driver, who appeared to be afraid that her act would be disclosed, then agreed to use the taxi meter and asked for mercy by requesting the male passenger not to report her for the offence, the report said.
The report said that the male passenger eventually paid the fare based on the meter.
The PSP statement said that in response to a video clip circulating on the Internet about the incident, the police launched an investigation and identified the female taxi driver.
The woman was arrested at 3:50 p.m. on Friday in Avenida Cidade Nova during an operation by the police to combat offences by taxi drivers, the statement said.
The statement said that the female driver in her forties admitted that she had attempted to overcharge the passenger.
The statement said that the female driver had previously committed a string of taxi offences as well as a case of disobedience in another taxi offence.
