Up to 10 years in jail sought for Istanbul taxi driver for overcharging Saudi tourist

ISTANBUL

Prosecutors in Istanbul are demanding up to 10 years in jail for a taxi driver who cheated a tourist from Saudi Arabia by unnecessarily extending a journey and thus charging him extra. 

The prosecutors accuse the taxi driver of committing “aggravated fraud.”

The tourist stopped the tax in the Kadıköy district on Istanbul’s Asian side to go to the Sabiha Gökçen Airport, also on the Asian side, in order to take a flight back to Saudi Arabia.

According to the prosecutors’ indictment, the taxi driver realized that the Saudi tourist was not familiar with Istanbul so took him over the Bosphorus to the European side via the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, before returning to the Asian side. He then further extended the trip by taking a longer route to the airport.

The unnecessarily long trip caused the Saudi tourist to miss his flight, while also ending up paying much more than he should have paid for the trip.

After the tourist opted to open a legal case against the driver, prosecutors are now demanded a jail sentence of between three and 10 years.

The driver has denied the charges, claiming that he got confused and took the wrong exit to the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge.