THE Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) yesterday warned that profiteering at the expense of tourists would give the island a bad name.
Tourism Department Tourist Services director, Lefkos Phylactides, was commenting on reports that taxi drivers in the Ayia Napa district had been ripping off tourists by doubling their fares.
According to Politis newspaper, Scandinavian tourists have complained that taxi drivers are charging them nearly twice the amount recorded on the taxi metre. When the tourists complain, the drivers treat them badly. In one instance a man was charged £4 when the taxi metre read £2.30.
“Any sort of profiteering gives a country a bad name, whether it takes place in a taxi, restaurant or kiosk,” Phylactides told the Cyprus Mail.
Nicosia district Transport Controller Lakis Ioannou said tourists could protect themselves by refusing to pay any more than was displayed on the metre and should also look out for a price list displaying the different tariffs stuck on the backseat windows.
“People should pay what the taxi metre says and refuse to pay a penny more. No one is allowed to charge any more than that and anyone who tries is breaking the law,” said Ioannou.
“Prices only fluctuate according to the time of day (it’s slightly more expensive at night) or if the traveller has a lot of baggage. However, depending on the trip, there is a different tariff, which is punched into the metre from the beginning, so that the passenger knows what he or she is being charged.”
Ioannou also said the transportation department had a special police unit made up of around 40 officers which carried out national spot checks on taxis to ensure everything was in order. Nevertheless, this does nothing to protect unsuspecting travellers from being charged twice their fare once they reach their destination.
“If someone has been swindled, they should write down the car registration’s number, note the time of the trip and the pick up and destination points and then file a complaint. Tourists can do it through the CTO and locals can come directly to us. All complaints are then investigated and, if found guilty, the taxi driver faces disciplinary action,” said Ioannou.
Penalties range from a fine to losing their professional licence and having their taxi stripped of its rights and turned into a normal car. Having a prior disciplinary conviction also plays a role, he said.
But, according to Phylactides, not that many tourists came forward to complain.
“If you were on holiday abroad and a taxi driver ripped you off would you go through the procedure of having an argument, looking for the local tourism organisation, filing a complaint etc?
“People come to Cyprus in good faith and you can’t expect them to go through a complicated procedure during the seven days they are on holiday. However, this does not mean that it does not happen. The fact that complaints do not reach us is not reflection of the real situation,” he said.
Phylactides said it wasn’t practical for tourists to complain in Cyprus, as there was no formal procedure for them to follow. “No one tells them what to do, or where to go. It’s also a problem to prove such a complaint,” he said.
He pointed out that other EU countries, such as Spain, Malta and the UK had effectively dealt with the problem of taxi profiteering. In Greece, for instance, passengers get a printed receipt at the end of each trip, he said.
“We have a problem. I don’t have the solution, but why can’t we solve it? It’s not very hard and takes better policing from everyone, including the police and the transport department,” said Phylactides.
He suggested every taxi should have a personal four-digit number stuck on its back window with a toll free number where people could dial in their complaints. Or, he said, a sign could be placed inside the taxis informing passengers of their rights, such as not paying more than is registered on the metre.
