Prague cabbies fleece mayor

When the mayor of Prague heard rumours of taxi drivers overcharging tourists for rides he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Pavel Bem donned a wig, a false beard and adopted the best English accent he could muster and set out on a covert operation that would put Inspector Clouseau to shame.

But the doughty mayor was unprepared for the shocking results of his detective work.

After climbing into a cab at the city's faux-medieval Old Town Square for a routine three-kilometre (1.8-mile) trip across the river Vltava and up the cobbles to Prague Castle he was overcharged 500%.

The driver demanded 785 koruny, or just over £20, for a ride which would set back a native a mere £4. When the mayor asked for a receipt, he received one which contained a fake name of the taxi firm, a fake telephone number, and did not include other mandatory data such as the length of the route and the fare.

"This is such a fundamental and flagrant violation of the rules that the driver deserves the most severe punishment," Mr Bem told the Prague newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes, whose banner headline across the front page yesterday - Taxi Drivers Fleece Prague Mayor - sounded a salutary note for the hordes of German and British tourists clogging the pubs of the city centre.

That it was not the end of the story, however. On the way back, another cabbie charged Mr Bem the proper fare of 134 koruny (£3), but when the mayor wanted to pay in euros, upped it to €10 (£7).

"I consider the taxi drivers a longstanding and serious problem, which harms the city's image at home and abroad," Mr Bem said in a statement. He said city hall officials will intensify regular undercover checks on cabbies.

The mayor had been looking forward to a bumper tourist 2005, tipped to bring 30% more Britons than last year.

The plague of taxi-robbers is a common problem for unsuspecting foreigners across eastern Europe, from the mafias who demand up to $100 (£54) for the half-hour drive into Moscow to the pampered but idle cabbies of Zagreb in Croatia, whose rates are bizarrely higher than those of London, Amsterdam, or Vienna.

The bottom line is that you should always agree on the fare beforehand. Ladislav Havel, head of the Czech travel agencies association, assured Radio Prague that the rapacious taxi driver was becoming a thing of the past in Prague. But Mr Bem might find such optimism misplaced.