Sydney taxi passenger 'held hostage' over fare dispute
A Sydney man said his taxi driver started "driving around like a crazy person" after allegedly refusing to take his work debit card as payment.
Fabian Webb had just returned from a work conference and when he went to pay for the $12 fare at the end of the trip, the driver told him he had to use PayWave because of COVID-19 concerns with touching the keypad.
"The gentleman just refused my card - but my work debit card doesn't have the PayWave function," Fabian told Today.
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Fabian Webb had just returned from a work conference and when he went to pay for the $12 fare at the end of the trip, the driver told him he had to use PayWave because of COVID-19 concerns with touching the keypad. Today
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After a back and forth between the two, Fabian said the driver threatened to take him back to the pick up destination if he couldn't pay with the tap method.
"I was perfectly happy to pay with my work card, but the driver just started taking off, I tried to get the gentleman to stop and opened both passenger doors of the car," he said.
"I was assuming he would just stop and pull over - I didn't have my seatbelt buckled, my luggage was stuck in the boot and he just drove out into open traffic for a good five to 10 minutes, driving around Oxford Street like a crazy person."
Fabian couldn't believe what was happening and pulled his phone out to record the driver's actions.
"Pull over! Help! Help! Call the police! Call the police! Pull over! Pullover," a panicked Fabian can be heard yelling in the confronting footage.
Fabian tried to get the driver to stop by opening both doors of the taxi. Supplied
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Thankfully, Fabian said a police vehicle eventually pulled the taxi over and instructed the driver to take Fabian's work debit card as payment.
"She was fantastic, she was able to help me out but it was a very distressing situation," he said.
"I was left in quite a bit of shock after the whole event."
The taxi driver has since been suspended and the NSW Taxi Council told 9News: "Drivers shouldn't get involved in what type of method the passenger uses to pay".
See what else Fabian had to say about his ordeal in the video above
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