1300 Class
Pam Poovey's Stunt Double
UPDATE: TRANSPORT minister Rachel Nolan says a crackdown on taxis would include investigations into claims a driver charged extra for an overweight passenger.
Ms Nolan described the allegations as ``completely unacceptable''.
Speaking this morning at the opening of Brisbane's northern busway, she said a current major crackdown on taxi driver compliance would be expanded to include a ``good look'' at these allegations.
``The reason that cabs have a meter is so that everybody understands what is the appropriate fare, and just in the past month we've been running quite a major compliance hit to ensure that at any given time the taxi is running the right rate through the meter,'' she said.
``This is very activelly being looked at right now, and I'm speicficically going to look at those issues.''
Her comments come after a taxi driver revealed one of his colleagues slugged a woman passenger with an extra fee because she was overweight.
The Ipswich driver said local customers were regularly being ripped-off by a range of dubious surcharges.
The Yellow Cab driver, who asked to remain anonymous, said regular customers had reported a series of scams.
"One lady said she was charged extra at the end of her journey for being overweight - it's outrageous," he told The Queensland Times.
"I never heard anything like it before".
The allegations come a day after the government announced strict new driving standards for drivers.
Other incidents reported by the driver included:
Passengers being forced to pay a $10 surcharge on public holidays.
Passengers being charged for air-conditioning and use of a GPS system.
One driver refusing to leave his car to open the gate for a blind passenger.
Thats like totally unfair.