Rickshaw drivers are secretly changing the decimal point on credit card machines to “swindle” London tourists out of hundreds of pounds, newly released data shows.
A complaints file collected by Transport for London (TfL) reveals that some drivers were charged £1,300 for journeys of just a few hundred metres.
Others charged customers twice to rip off those visiting the capital’s landmarks in their ornate rickshaws.
The complaints register was released following a freedom of information request and illustrates the techniques used by some unscrupulous drivers who view tourists as easy targets.
A customer claimed she was scammed out of £1,300 for a 500-metre rickshaw ride.
She wrote to TfL: “I was scammed after taking transport from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
“We walked a few blocks toward the Palace and something broke. We got out of the rickshaw, I paid the vendor and asked for a receipt. He said, ‘No.’”
“I immediately called my husband to make sure he had charged me correctly. My husband called me back and said the seller had charged me £1,278.96.”
Another woman wrote: “I took a rickshaw from Mayfair to High Street Kensington and was charged £336 instead of £33.60. I think this was intentional.”
She added that she believed she and her friend were targeted because they were women, adding: “He liked that.”
A couple who hailed a rickshaw to go see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella at a West End theatre were told they would have to pay £9.40.
The viewer wrote: “I used my card. It was only at the interval that I checked my online banking app and saw I had been charged £94.40.”
These examples suggest that the seller had added another zero to the invoice, shifting the decimal place and hoping that the customer would not check correctly.
Two complaints claimed the driver insisted the fare was real because he had a “portable meter.”
One mother contacted TfL with a photo of their crashed rickshaw, saying: “Not only is this daylight robbery – he tried to charge me £130 for the journey – but it’s also very dangerous.
“He tried to go through the cycle tunnel on Bermondsey Road and fell at the end because there wasn’t enough room. He became very aggressive.”
People have also complained that their payments have been delayed twice, doubling the bill.
A couple were charged £296 for a 13-minute journey to the theatre.
They eventually agreed to pay £110 but reported the scam to their hotel, who encouraged them to make a formal complaint.
“The rickshaw industry should be banned”
Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Association of Licensed Taxi Drivers, said “rip-off rickshaw drivers” were giving London a bad name and the rickshaw industry should be banned.
“TfL now has the powers to act and put an end to this situation once and for all. It is high time they used them to protect visitors to our great city from these scammers.”
The Conservative government has introduced new rules allowing TfL to start regulating drivers who solicit passengers at tourist locations in the city.
A TfL spokesperson said it welcomed the “robust and effective” new powers it will have under the Rickshaws (London) Act 2024.
“We are working with the rickshaw industry and other interested parties to help us develop proposals for public consultation, including carrying out an impact assessment.
“Once these proposals are developed, we will launch a public consultation and hope to do so in early 2025. The feedback from our consultation will help shape these important new regulations and allow us to confirm a timeline for their introduction.”
In July, Henry Winkler, the actor who played Fonz in the American comedy Happy Days, took to social media to warn others about how he was scammed by a rickshaw driver while visiting London with his family.
Winkler, 78, posted a “travel tip” saying: “Don’t take one of these bike taxis without absolutely negotiating the price first.
“This guy in London took us around in circles before finally getting us to our destination, seven blocks away, for $170!”
Traffic analysis by the Sunday Telegraph revealed that two rickshaw drivers carrying London visitors ran red lights while slaloming between pedestrians on Westminster Bridge Road.
