Up to 10 years in jail sought for taxi driver for overcharging tourist

Prosecutors in Istanbul are demanding up to 10 years in jail for a taxi driver who cheated a tourist by unnecessarily extending a journey. Prosecutors accuse the taxi driver of committing "aggravated fraud."

Tourist stopped the taxi in the Kadik"oy district on Istanbul's Asian side to go to the G"okcen Airport, also on the Asian side. According to the prosecutors' indictment, taxi driver realized that the tourist was not familiar with Istanbul so took him over the Bosphorus to the European side via the Sultan Selim Bridge, before returning to the Asian side again. He then further extended the trip by taking a longer route to the airport.

Unnecessarily long trip caused the tourist to miss his flight, while also ending up paying much more. Driver has denied the charges, claiming that he got confused and took the wrong exit to the Sultan Selim Bridge.

Source