A dodgy taxi company has entered liquidation after being banned from Sydney Airport twice amid a crackdown on rogue drivers ripping off customers.
Apex Cabs, which is owned by Indian-born Mushtaq Mohammed and based in the immigrant-majority suburb of Bankstown, was first banned in September for “unsafe and disruptive behaviour” including touting, tailgating, traffic obstruction and property damage.
The company was then banned a second time after trying to get around the NSW Point to Point Transport Commissioner’s orders by rebranding as Elite Zoom Cabs, and went into voluntary liquidation on Tuesday, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Mr Mohammed confirmed after the second ban his drivers were jumping ship to other companies, and NSW Taxi Council CEO Nick Abrahim said Apex Cabs losing the ability to operate at the airport would have been a major factor.
“That puts a big dent in your business, because the airport is quite lucrative for picking up passengers and picking up fares,” he said.
“You’re losing a very important part of operating a taxi business and many of those operators and drivers would have left.”
In October the NSW government increased fines for drivers who rip off passengers or refuse to use their meters from $1,000 to $3,000, and some taxi companies are now calling for a new system to prevent banned drivers from re-signing with new operators.
A month before that the state government and Sydney Airport brought in flat-rate taxi fares to stop drivers – the vast majority of whom are immigrants – from ripping off arriving passengers, and a 12-month trial of the $60 fixed fare to the CBD began on November 3.
“The NSW Point to Point Commission has received frequent complaints of taxi drivers taking advantage of first-time arrivals to Sydney, with hotel concierges livid to find out their guests have been slugged wildly overpriced fares of more than $150 for the 13km trip,” the transport minister said at the time.
“The practice of overcharging and refusing to use meters has even led to drivers touting for business inside the arrivals hall at the airport.”
The Victorian government has launched a crackdown on driver behaviour in the state’s taxi and rideshare sector in response to a series of shocking incidents, including the case of predatory Indian 13cabs driver Jarnail Singh, who pleaded guilty last December to 499 charges, including fraud, overcharging, and assaulting disabled passengers.
Header image: Left, an Apex Cab driver who allegedly overcharged a customer (Product Review). Right, an Apex Cabs taxi rebranded as Elite Zoom Cabs (supplied).
The post Dodgy Indian-owned taxi firm collapses after Sydney Airport ban first appeared on The Noticer.
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