Reports of taxi fare overcharge for foreigners top 6,000 in 5 years: lawmaker
The number of complaints submitted by foreigners on alleged taxi fare overcharges in Seoul over the past five years came to more than 6,000, but corrective measures have been taken on only about 3 percent of them, a lawmaker said Sunday. The number of such reports submitted between 2021 and August this year totaled 6,481, Rep. Mo Gyeong-jong of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said, citing…
In Seoul, complaints of alleged taxi fare overcharges by foreigners have topped 6,000 over the past five years, according to a lawmaker. However, corrective actions have only been taken in roughly 3 percent of these cases, the lawmaker reported on Sunday. Between 2021 and August of this year, a total of 6,481 complaints were submitted, according to Seoul city government data cited by Rep. Mo Gyeong-jong of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
Of these, only 204 cases, or 3.1 percent, received administrative measures. In 28 of those cases, taxi drivers had their licenses suspended or canceled, while the remaining 176 cases received only warnings.
Most of the reported cases, 67 percent, were closed without further action due to challenges in verifying the overcharge or because complainants withdrew their complaints voluntarily, the data showed. In 2013, the city government revised its policy on taxi fare overcharge complaints, enabling foreigners to seek up to 500,000 won ($374) in compensation if their report leads to an administrative measure.
Despite this policy amendment, there has been no instance where a taxi driver's license was permanently revoked due to a fare overcharge complaint, according to the available data.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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