Wednesday, August 06, 2008

A typhoon and an attempted scam

The typhoon #8 signal was hoisted early this morning which means that offices, schools (it was summer holidays anyway) and most shops will be closed and services suspended until the signal is lowered. Depending on the severity of the weather, a reasonable number of people will go to work anyway. It is usually possible for those like myself who do not live on or close to an MTR station to find a taxi although you may get quite wet in the process.

The first taxi I flagged down wanted to charge me a HK$30 premium because of the typhoon. This would have roughly doubled the fare. I have been living in HK for well over a decade and this is the first time a taxi driver has tried to extort more than the metered fare from me. It's illegal for them to charge more than the metered fare. In any case, with two other taxis coming down the street behind him, it was a rather pointless exercise and I had no hesitation in telling him to foxtrot oscar. My only regret is that I forgot to make a note of his licence plate.

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