Newly released data shows rickshaw drivers are secretly moving the decimal point on credit card machines to scam tourists in London out of hundreds of pounds.
A complaint file from Transport for London (TfL) revealed that some drivers charged as much as £1,300 for journeys of just a few hundred metres.
Others have charged their customers twice to rip off visitors riding around the capital's sights in their gaudily decorated bicycle taxis.
The complaint log was released following a request under the Freedom of Information Act and shows the techniques used by some unscrupulous passengers, who see tourists as easy targets.
A customer claimed she was scammed out of £1,300 for a ride in a 457-metre rickshaw.
She wrote to TfL: “I was scammed after taking transport from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
“We drove a few blocks toward the palace and something broke. We got out of the rickshaw and I paid the vendor and asked for a receipt. He said, 'No.'
“I immediately called my husband to check if he had charged me the correct amount. 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 believe it was deliberate.”
She added that she believed she and her friend were targeted because they were women, adding: “He enjoyed it.”
A couple who hailed a bicycle taxi to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella at a West End theatre were told they had to pay £9.40.
The theatregoer wrote: “I tapped my card. It wasn't until the interval that I checked my online banking app and saw that £94.40 had been debited from me.”
These examples suggest that the seller added a zero to the bill, moved the decimal point, and hoped the customer wouldn't check it carefully.
In two complaints it was alleged that the driver insisted the fare was genuine because he had a 'hand meter'.
A mother contacted TfL with a photo of her crashed rickshaw, saying: “Not only is it daytime theft – he tried to charge me £130 for the ride – but it’s also very unsafe.
“He tried to go through the cycle path tunnel on Bermondsey Road and crashed at the end because there wasn't enough room. He became very aggressive.”
There were also complaints from people who said their payments had been delayed twice, doubling their bill.
A couple paid £296 for a 13-minute theatre visit.
They eventually agreed to pay £110 but reported the scam to their hotel, which urged them to make an official complaint.
'Bicycle taxi industry should be banned'
Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, said “rip-off rickshaw drivers” were giving London a bad name and the pedicab industry should be banned.
“TfL now has the powers they need to take action and stop this once and for all, and it's 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 monitor drivers carrying passengers in the city's tourist hotspots.
A TfL spokesperson said the company welcomes the new, “robust and effective” powers it will be given under the Pedicabs (London) Act 2024.
“We are in discussions with the bicycle taxi industry and other interested parties to help us shape proposals ahead of a public consultation, including carrying out an impact assessment.
“Once these proposals have been developed, we will launch a public consultation and we hope to do this in early 2025. Feedback from our consultation will help shape this important new regulation and will allow us to confirm a timetable for its introduction.”
In July, Henry Winkler, the actor who played the Fonz in the American comedy Happy Days, warned others on social media about how he had been scammed by a rickshaw driver while visiting London with his family.
Winkler, 78, posted a “travel tip” saying, “Never take one of those bike taxis without absolutely negotiating the price first.
“This person in London drove us around in circles and eventually to our destination seven blocks away for $170!”
A traffic analysis by the Sunday Telegraph found that two rickshaw drivers ferrying visitors from London sped through red lights as they weaved through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge Road.
