Fake taximeters, kilometre-long detours, cash-only payments. Social media is awash with reports of an alleged scam involving taxi drivers stationed at Lisbon Airport.
“A trap for tourists”, is how Josien Nation, a foreign content creator living in Portugal, describes it in a video posted on her Facebook page Nations Without Borders (source in Portuguese) on 14 August.
In the video, she says taxi drivers charge more than they should or do not have the meter running. “Taxis are just a scam,” she says.
Josien Nation says there is a high chance of being ripped off by taxis at the airport and sets out two scenarios. In the first, the tourist negotiates the price with the driver for the journey between the airport and their destination. The driver sets the price and the meter stays off.
In the second, the tourist does not negotiate the price and the meter is not switched on, so the taxi driver decides on whatever fare he fancies at the end of the journey.
A user on Reddit highlights (source in Portuguese) another case: “I have been taking taxis regularly for more than 10 years to go from the airport to Largo do Rato. The journey usually costs around 11 euros. Twice this week, the driver tried to pull a fast one on me: either by taking unnecessary detours of several kilometres or by using fake taximeters on their phone. They then present a fare of 19 euros, 21 euros or even more, to be paid in cash.”
Zeynep Tinaz Redmont, a Turkish journalist living in Portugal, also recalls an occasion when she was charged more than she should have been for a trip to central Lisbon. “In recent years, taking a taxi from the airport to downtown Lisbon has become a stressful experience. When we go to the airport, the fare usually does not exceed 14 euros. The return journey is another story,” she writes in an article published in Diário de Notícias (source in Portuguese) in May this year.
“On one occasion, I politely pointed out to the driver that he had not turned on the meter. He braked sharply just as we left the airport and said: ‘If you want to get out, get out. The journey has a fixed price: 25 euros.‘” She goes on to explain that she ended up agreeing to pay 20 euros for the trip after telling the driver that she travelled frequently and had never heard of such a fixed fare.
These accounts have now gained prominence after the Public Security Police (PSP) carried out a road inspection operation at the arrivals area of Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon, in which 67 offences related to taxi activity were detected.
The Lisbon Metropolitan Command said in a statement on Wednesday that, as part of Tuesday’s operation, around a hundred taxis were inspected, resulting in 32 offences for “improper positioning of the taximeter”, out of a total of 67.
Among the offences detected, a further eight relate to the absence of a CMT (Taxi Driver’s Certificate), six to a lack of mandatory documents, six to fire extinguishers past their expiry date, three to a lack of inspection and three to “lack of Group 2 for the taxi driver” (mandatory certification on the driving licence for taxi drivers).
Two offences were also recorded for a taximeter calibration that was out of date, two for taxi vehicles in poor condition, one for failure to use restraint systems, one for lack of insurance, one for driving under the influence of alcohol and one for parking in a private car park.
The PSP also issued two notices ordering the presentation of documents and complied with two outstanding requests for external action relating to one of the drivers.
The PSP’s inspection operation went down badly with the National Association of Road Transport in Light Vehicles (ANTRAL), which accused the authorities of staging a “media show” at the taxi rank at Lisbon Airport’s arrivals area.
In a statement, ANTRAL says this show of force paralyses the boarding of passengers and leaves the rank deserted, giving tourists a “degrading and frightening” image of the country.
The association representing the sector stresses that it has nothing against inspections and recalls that it has been actively fighting the illegal touting for customers at the facility, but contests the choice of location and the method used, with vehicles being inspected when passengers are already on board.
For the organisation, carrying out the operation at this strategic point of the airport and “in this way” appears, regrettably, to be aimed at “other ends”, to the detriment of users’ lives and the sector’s image.