By Associated Press
Fri Mar 30, 8:19 PM

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - A taxi driver told police he was stiffed on an $8,200 cross-country fare by a female passenger he shuttled from Beverly Hills, Calif. to North Carolina.

The meter in Levon Mikayelyan's taxi cab hit the staggering fare after a 2,600-mile journey that ended at a Holiday Inn in Chapel Hill. Mikayelyan said the rider's family paid him only $800, Chapel Hill police spokeswoman Jane Cousins said Friday.

"We do get reports of people who are not able to pay cab drivers, but certainly not with this amount," Cousins said.

Mikayelyan filed a police report Tuesday but no charges have been filed. Cousins said police were done with the case and referred Mikayelyan to a magistrate judge.

Leo Mika, a dispatcher for West Coast Yellow Cab, said Friday that the company has been paid another $2,000 toward the fare and plans to get the rest through small claims court. Mikayelyan agreed to give the woman a 25 percent discount off the metered rate, Mika said.

"She told him, 'When we get there we'll pay you,' but when he got there she didn't pay," Mika said, adding that it was the first time one of the company's taxi drivers had made such a long trip.

Mikayelyan was driving back to California on Friday, Mika said.

The company is based outside Los Angeles in Van Nuys, Calif.


dayumm..

the whole thing seems kinda odd

XxAxX said:

You can say that again!

Christ almighty! Imagine making conversation for 2,600 miles. They'd know your life story by the time you'd run off and fleeced them.

onenitealone said:

well, they'd have had to stop and eat and sleep and...i mean, the cabbie certainly gave her the benefit of the doubt for quite some time there still, that was really mean of her

XxAxX said:

True. When I lived at my parents' home - which is 20 miles away from the nearest city, so only about a £25/$45 taxi fare, nothing HUGE - you'd have to stump up the cash before the taxi driver would even start the engine. So she must have looked like Annie or something. Imagine how pissed off you'd be making that journey back.

i bet the full story is plenty interesting

XxAxX said:

They need a professional to sort this out. Judge Judy.

onenitealone said:

or jerry springer.

XxAxX said:

Then they can bring out that 'bodyguard' who interrupts the fights.

onenitealone said:

with the audience all shouting nasty comments and such

XxAxX said:

Audience:

"Taxi! Taxi! Taxi!"

if they had the dough to take a cab across the country why in hell wouldn't they buy a first class plane ticket? that might be your first clue.



we had someone show up at our place in a cab once. a cab. at our farm. an hour away from the city. i think it must have been a drunk farm employee or something. darn sure my dad didn't pony up the cab fare. that dude was a little upset too.

Interesting.

This would be a good made-for-TV movie.