Police are hunting for a man who, we think, can safely be called one of Hong Kong’s worst taxi drivers.

After attempting to massively overcharge a female passenger in the early hours of Sunday morning, the middle-aged driver intentionally drove her to the wrong place, punched her in the face and snatched HK$200 (US$26) from her wallet.

The woman — who reportedly ended up going to hospital — had refused to pay HK$500 (under US$64) for a taxi journey that should have cost between HK$30 to HK$50 (US$3.80 to US$6.40).

According to Apple Daily, the passenger — a 26-year-old foreign female — hailed a cab to take her from Hollywood Road in Central to Queen’s Road East in Wan Chai about 2am on Sunday morning.

During mid afternoon traffic, Google estimates the 2.5-odd kilometers between Hollywood Road in Central and Wan Chai takes just over 10 minutes to drive.

At 2am, this would of course be a lot quicker and, even being generous, should have cost no more than about HK$50.

Taxi drivers in Hong Kong, however, are notorious for illegally hiking up their prices after the MTR stops running around 1am.

Sure enough, the pair got into an argument after the driver asked the passenger for the HK$500 and she refused.

For perspective, a taxi journey from Tseung Kwan O to the Airport, which takes about 40 minutes, should only set you back HK$355 (or just over US$45).

The driver then started driving around, and, according to the newspaper, he took the cab up to the Peak, which is nowhere near Wan Chai.

He then punched the passenger in the left eye and snatched HK$200 from her purse before finally dropping her off at Queen’s Road East and driving off.

The passenger then reported the incident to the police, who are looking for a taxi driver aged 30 to 40 years-old.

Under the Road Traffic Ordinance, taxi drivers who overcharge can be fined up to HK$10,000 and can even receive up to 10 years in prison.

The city’s Transport Complaints Unit revealed in their recent quarterly report that they received 2,919 taxi-related complaints for the third quarter. Of these, 97.3 percent (that’s 2,840) concerned bad manners, overcharging, refusing fares, and so on.

This is a 7.7 percent increase from the previous quarter, when the TCU received 2,710 complaints regarding taxi services.

*This story has been updated after some readers disputed the previous estimate of 15 minutes between Hollywood Rd in Central and Wan Chai, saying it would be maximum 5-6 minutes. As traffic stands at 3.30pm, Google tells us it’s about 10 minutes. Admittedly at 2am, there’s less traffic. As Coconuts has been repeatedly stranded in Central desperately hailing taxis, we feel your pain.

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