Video shows unregistered driver shouting at couple when they question what should have been a €55 fare

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Paris’s main airport has introduced new taxi regulations after an unregistered driver charged a Thai couple €247 (£220) for a trip to the city centre.

Under the Taxi Officiel Aéroport or Official Airport Taxi scheme, around 40 drivers at Charles de Gaulle airport will wear numbered blue vests so that new arrivals at the country’s biggest hub, which is also Europe’s second largest, are able to spot them easily.

“The hunt for illegal taxi drivers is a public safety priority,” said the Paris police chief, Michel Delpuech. “Taxi services are part of hospitality and we must not play down the terrible effects”.

The new scheme will operate from 5am to 11pm every day and official taxis will arrive at a special easy-to-find rank.

French police opened an investigation after two Thai tourists were charged €247 for the 30-mile (45km) journey from Charles de Gaulle airport to central Paris. A video of the incident shows the driver shouting at the couple in English: “Taxis in Paris are expensive … you pay me.”

The journey should have cost €55 under a flat-rate system introduced for official taxis picking up at the French capital’s airports. The couple offered to pay €200 if the driver unlocked the doors and let them out. “You are crazy,” he shouted back.

The driver, who was identified from the video that went viral after it was posted on YouTube, was jailed for eight months last month after being found guilty of fraud and extortion involving threats.

French police say 918 verbal warnings were issued to unlicensed taxi drivers last year, compared with 243 in 2016. Between 7,000 and 8,000 taxis are taken every day from Charles de Gaulle airport and around 6,000 from Orly, south of the city.

Illegal taxis also operate around Parisian railway stations, including the Gare du Nord terminus for the Eurostar. They risk fines of up to €15,000 and jail sentences if caught, as well as having their vehicles and driving licenses confiscated.

Tourists are encouraged to only take vehicles from the official taxi ranks and not be waylaid by the many other unlicensed drivers hanging around arrivals.