Cabbie drives 1,600 miles -- customer refuses to pay

[TeeKee]

by Scott Carmichael (RSS feed) on Dec 22nd 2009

Life as a cabbie is no walk in the park. They deal with drunk passengers, being robbed, and often spend part of their shift cleaning up puke in the backseat of their "office".

The worst customers are probably those that take the cabbie for a ride. These thieves take advantage of taxi cab services, and run off without paying, when they reach their destination.

South Florida cab passenger Lucilo Perez (pictured here on the right) took things to the next level. Perez convinced cabbie Lelis Almeira to drive from Miami to Western Tennessee, without the means or intention of paying.

This is a 20 hour / 1,600 mile drive, and the cabbie had to pay for his own gas and food using his credit card.


When he arrived in Tennessee, the lady Perez was traveling to meet, said there was no way she'd pay for the cab. Apparently, Perez was under the impression that his lady friend would cough up the $3000 cab fare.

Memphis police arrested Perez, and he'll now need to find the cash to pay his cab driver. Meanwhile, the cab driver has lost all faith in humanity. Though I do feel sorry for him, the tough lesson here is to get a guarantee that you'll be paid - especially on a 1,600 mile journey.

 

[singveld]

typical amercian
just look at their commerical and tv stations.
it is a very stupid country.

 

[jumpmrt]

This is rather off-beat and unusual.

Taxi drivers won't drive out of their own city usually, and in the 1st place their taxi licenses are only valid for their own local city.

Long-haul commuters needs different license scheme, and even that their license will be valid for certain routes only. In the USA these long-hauls are usually e.g. Grey Hounds (bus) and they sell tickets pre-paid before journey. I took them before.

For cross state 1600miles rides, usually Americans use rental cars. If they are so rich to want someone to drive just them without other passengers, the limited option is usually a limousine service, which they will ask for your credit card on the spot as you call them to get booking.

Most people will either drive or fly in USA for long-haul. Grey Hound is not a popular option. Limo is for the luxury, usually only business or rich pleasure or honeymoon.