A group of Scots pals on a football trip to Serbia have shared a shocking video of a taxi driver who took them on an ‘off-road’ route to beat traffic.
Ryan Dinse, from Edinburgh, travelled to Belgrade on Friday with friends to watch the ‘Eternal Derby’ between FK Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) and Partizan Belgrade.
The five friends got in a taxi outside the airport in Belgrade and were left gobsmacked after the driver took them on a bumpy ride across an embankment along the motorway.
Ryan said the cabbie had noticed there was a significant traffic jam in the city centre and took matters into his own hands, reports Edinburgh Live.
He said: “God knows what the traffic was about but the boy wasn’t for sitting in it anyway.
“We had just come out of the airport and he asked if we needed a taxi and within about 30 seconds we had the seat belts buckled up tight.
“It was a great introduction to life in Serbia.”
In the video, Ryan and friends can be heard nervously laughing as the driver goes off the road and up an embankment, as he tries to beat the long line of traffic.
The footage shows the car bypassing lorries waiting in the gridlock.
One passenger is heard asking, “Is there no police in Serbia?”, as the group laugh.
Shortly after another member of the group spots officers, and says: “Look, there they are ahead.”
The cabbie then tries to rejoin the motorway after being notified of the presence of Serbian law enforcement.
Elements of the video had to be muted as the lads used some colourful language during the eventful ride.
The group admitted that they haven’t seen many sights in the city, but are soldering through a weekend session culminating in a Sunday trip to the Rajko Mitić Stadium - colloquially known as “Marakana” - after the famous Brazilian stadium.
The derby is understood to be one of the fiercest rivalries in European sport.
