A safety message following a terrifying taxi ride
Did you know that an estimated12,000 travelers are kidnapped every year? A recent speaking engagement in a foreign country started off with avoiding abduction at the airport. This serves as a timely reminder to us all that as we drift in and out of interesting places, an occupational hazard is personal safety, and it’s surprisingly easy to get complacent about this.
I recently had a speaking engagement in a European country, and ended up unwittingly in a very dangerous situation with a ride from airport.
Arriving at approximately 8.00pm in October I already knew there was a strike on in this large city.
I was the last through customs, then I was more or less waved through to collect my baggage which by then was alone on the conveyer belt. I loaded my trolley and headed outside for a taxi. It was by now 9pm, only a few travelers lingered, and what looked like a couple of police.
I was approached by a rather tall solidly built, black man and asked if I needed a taxi - I replied ‘yes’.
He lead the way outside to his flash large black minivan, it was at the taxi stand, but no other vehicles were around. He loaded my luggage into the back & I stepped inside to the back seating. Now, in my tired state I did not notice that he didn’t have ‘TAXI’ on the vehicle.
The minute the doors locked, I knew I had made a mistake, I literally woke up. My gut was telling me this was different, this was not the normal ‘taxi’. I realised my normal cautiousness to anything out of the norm, had not kicked in quick enough.
I put my lapse down to 30hrs of flying & not sleeping…
We started travelling fast…so I questioned the driver, how much & how long would it take to reach the city?
My questions were not answered well and I became nervous…so decided to continually check though window for signs saying the name of the city I was traveling too. The driver drove like an absolute maniac and at times was driven of motorway and I did not see any appropriate city or exit signs.
Of course my mind was also travelling at 200 miles an hour as to how the hell was I to get out of this situation…my only idea at this time, was call someone on mobile, but this was no good as my phone was packed away in my luggage anyway. So I but next best thing and pretended to pretend to; it was conveniently dark in the back of the van.
I talked loudly for a long time about distance, the van, looking forward to seeing my friends etc, actually anything I could think of…
What seemed like an eternity, we drove back on motorway for the rest of the journey to City!
Yes, with great relief, approximately, 45 minutes later, this nightmare ended (normally 20 minute drive) & parked across the road from my Hotel, he could have pulled up outside! He would not allow me to pay the fare by credit card, insisting on cash only - a hefty 80 Euro! When I returned to the airport 2 days later, my return fare was only 18 Euro!
I did not query the fare as I just relieved that I had arrived there in one piece, so would have paid any price to get there safely…
I know that many airports around the world do encourage travelers to be cautious about accepting rides from taxi drivers who approach you, or are not from designated companies, but when you are falling off an airplane after 20-30 hours of traveling, this is sometimes not top of mind. I believe that pretending to talk to loved ones on my mobile phone probably helped to keep me safe that night - hopefully this story of my journey will serve as a reminder to other speakers to keep safety top of mind too.
(I’ve not specified the country I was traveling in as it’s a GSF member country - and not some dark, out of the way place few people venture to, but this could easily have happened anywhere!)
Comment by Michael Anthony Podolinsky on Jun 24, 2011
Hi Juliet
Sorry you went through this. Must have been quite scary. Did not know 2000 travelers get abducted. Where did you get that stat?
The guy was obviously not a kidnapper, just an illegal taxi. Without the fee negotiated up front, they are free to charge whatever damage they think they can do to your purse or wallet. Obviously, he did not pull up to the hotel as a doorman or porter would have shoed him away with NO fare.
Sorry, I don’t believe the details of the guys’ color or size had anything to do with the problem though. Just his hutzpah to pull it off. It could have been a petite, young white female with a Glock giving you a bottle of complimentary mineral water laced with a sleeping aid and you wake up in a brothel somewhere on heroin.
This is a great reminder to all international speakers. Use taxis in the airport taxi queue or hotel taxi queue, not from the street or illegal taxis. If one is not available, approach security and ask them to secure you a safe ride or call your hotel concierge to do the same. Women particularly but probably all of us may be better off pre-arranging ground transport and have it on the client’s master bill.
Why such a problem exists? For example, in Mexico, they had 1/3 of the police who were corrupt so they up and fired them. Suddenly, they put a large number of guys with guns and training on the street. As such, never pick up a taxi on the street. You might go a couple of blocks, pull over and have two guys get in on either side of you and you spend the rest of the day with your head on the floor with a gun pointed at it until they empty out your bank accounts and max out your credit cards.
Some other safety points:
1) Make sure the picture in the taxi permit matches your driver. It could be a legal taxi that is stolen.
2) Leave the taxi number with the hotel when you leave
3) If in a dangerous place, take a photo of the taxi plate and driver (“Can I have my picture with you for my facebook page of this trip?”) and upload it from your phone to family. If the driver refuses, refuse the ride.
4) lock the doors when you enter a taxi
5) Check your bags as they are loaded into the boot (trunk). and don’t take your eyes off your luggage until the boot is closed. In BKK I had a bag loaded and sat in the back (like you were tired… so was I) and the bag got unloaded after I sat down and the boot deck was closed.
6) Instead of talking loudly, consider calling the client, the hotel or even the police on your phone. Send an email or text to a trusted friend describing the vehicle and where you are… just in case.
On a different issue, I was transiting last week from Bahrain through Mumbai on my way back to Singapore and a guy from Jetairways asked for my passport as I deplaned and said he’d get me my boarding pass for my next jetairways flight. I stayed next to him as we walked and then he handed my passport to another guy who did not seem to speak English. I asked for my passport back and did not get it but as he was next to me, did not grab the guy and take it. At security, I had to empty out a bag as the Mumbai airport security were rather gruff and I turned around and this guy was GONE. After 28 minutes of asking the security head to help find this guy and him telling me I should have gotten this guy’s name, a Jetairways ground-staff (3rd guy) comes with my passport and boarding pass with an apology. I felt so stupid. But when I gave the first guy my passport, he called me by name as I got out of business class and it just seemed like part of that process.
I hope none of us every has to go through Marla’s nightmare or worse. Thanks for the reminder!
God bless you
mike