Some taxi-cab drivers have a reputation for overcharging or treating passengers unfairly.
One taxi driver in Rome picked up a passenger at the Termini train station and proceeded to a clinic on the outskirts of town.
As The Local reports, during the fare one of the rear tires blew out. The understandably grumpy cabby proceeded to change the tire.
Then to the chagrin of the passenger, the driver blamed the 330 pound passenger for the mishap. Adding to the flat fare of €30 ($33.50) the cab driver charged the customer a fee of €50 ($55.84) for the flat tire.
The Italian man paid the unorthodox fee. Later he spoke to a Roman paper, Il Messaggero and said, “When he came back into the car I could hear him muttering to himself. I didn’t understand what he was saying.”
“I felt humiliated. It wasn’t fair. This is also a kind of discrimination. It was obvious that he was mocking me because I am obese.”
In addition to speaking to the Italian press the customer levied a formal complaint against the cab driver through an association for obese people in his native city of Lecco, in northern Italy.