A tourist has been left fuming after being charged £500 for a 10-minute journey into London’s Soho in a pedicab.
The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, is claiming he was scammed after a short trip while on a night out with friends in the West End, on July 29.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), he said he was "distracted" by the pedicab, or 'rickshaw' driver, who took him and a friend from Mayfair to Soho.
He then paid for the journey by card, without realising how much the man was charging.
A receipt seen by the LDRS shows £500 was instantly taken out of the man's account on the same day he made the journey.
The tourist said the driver had “completely distracted” him during the incident, which happened after he’d had several drinks.
“I should have realised but I blindly put my card in the machine,” he said. “He was good at what he did. I wouldn't get in one again."
The man said he suspects the scammer is a repeated offender. He claims that during the journey, he ranted about being recently fined for playing loud music from his vehicle.
The man has reported the incident to Westminster City Council and said he wants the driver to be caught and ordered to give his money back.
He added: "It's £500 – I'm not going to let that go. He should be fined £5,000 and have his pedicab taken off him. They're not safe.
"They obviously need to be regulated like taxis and they need to be licensed. At the end of the day, these guys could be anyone."
Westminster City Council and the Met Police have recently been cracking-down on "nuisance" pedicab drivers in the West End. A driver who charged £180 for a three-minute trip was also made to give the money back during a council operation in February.
Most recently, six drivers were prosecuted and fined more than £5,000 in total for making noise and annoying locals at City of London Magistrates Court on July 26. Another was fined more than £1,000 after giving a false name and address.
But the vehicles are currently unregulated, which makes it hard for authorities to stop scammers. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in April that new laws will be introduced to control them, in what he called “the wild west of pedicabs or rickshaws”.
Westminster City Council leader Adam Hug recently said: “Unlicensed pedicabs are a dangerous nuisance across the West End.
“We’ve had enough of drivers blocking pavements, annoying residents and businesses late at night, and charging extortionate fares to visitors.
“We hope that introducing new guidelines will set a high bar for safety and outline clear expectations for pedicab drivers, making sure passengers are safe and local people are not disturbed.
"People visiting the West End deserve to be able to travel through our city safely without being ripped off. We will continue to work with the police and take action against any pedicab drivers who flout the law.”
