A family, returning from Bengaluru on Tuesday, found hiring a cab service a harrowing experience at the Thiruvanathapuram airport.
Thomas Tibu Abraham, a resident of Karamana in the city, reached the airport along with his parents from Bengaluru around 9 p.m.
They tried to hire a taxi from the airport but found that the pre-paid taxi service from the airport would cost Rs.600 to travel up to Karamana.
They then logged on to the Ola online site and booked a cab with the taxi operator.
According to Mr. Abraham, the Ola taxi driver reached the airport on time, and even as the family was loading their bags into the car, a group of men, identifying themselves as taxi drivers operating from the airport, surrounded them.
“They said they would not allow a taxi from outside to pick up passengers from the airport and threatened to damage the car,” Mr. Abraham said.
Adamant
With the men not relenting despite pleas from Mr. Abraham and his father, the family then asked the driver to wait outside the airport and walked all the way to the gate.
However, Mr. Abraham said the men followed them and again threatened the taxi driver, who then fled the spot.
Wait
“We had to wait for another half an hour to get an autorickshaw by 9.30 p.m., on which we went home.”
“The men at the airport who threatened us waited there till we left to make sure that the cab driver did not pick us up,” he said.
Mr. Abraham said that he had lodged a complaint on a toll-free number of the City police.
Recorded by Vanitha Cell
This has been recorded by the Vanitha Cell, which in turn has forwarded the complaint to the Valiyathura police station.
No use reasoning
“The whole experience was a terrible one, particularly for my parents. We tried reasoning with the men at the airport saying that there were no such problems in the Bengaluru airport. They then said that was Bengaluru, this was Thiruvananthapuram,” he told The Hindu .
Rs.600 charged for pre-paid taxi service to Karamana
Taxi drivers threaten, drive away driver of cab service
