Pirate taxi drivers in Barcelona, hunting for tourists to scam them

BarcelonaThe scene repeats itself time and again. Outside the nightclubs on the Passeig Marítim, a taxi stops and the driver chats through the window with a group of foreign women who want to go home after a night out. Against all regulations, the taxi driver negotiates the price of the trip with them. He asks for between 50 and 60 euros to go to the city center. That's almost five times the actual cost of such a journey. A few minutes later, another taxi stops and negotiates with a group of five French people. In this case, he offers to take them to their destination—at 402 Carrer Rosselló—for 65 euros. More than four times the legal fare. The official app of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) calculates that this is a ride that, on the meter, should cost a maximum of 15 euros.

This is happening before the eyes of an ARA team on a Friday night, but it's a common practice every night. Some taxi drivers flout all regulations to pick up customers and charge whatever fares they want, ignoring the taximeter. They primarily target tourists returning from nightclubs along the seafront promenade. The combination of the desire to get home, alcohol consumption, unfamiliarity with the city, the distances between origin and destination, and how taxis operate makes them easy prey.

A short time is enough to check the modus operandi These taxi drivers skip the line of about fifteen vehicles at the taxi rank on Ramon Trias Fargas Street and stop a few meters further on, either on the Barceloneta seafront promenade or at the corner of Trelawny Street. There, they negotiate prices directly with customers. If someone calls them out or they feel watched, they go for a walk around the area and return a few minutes later to hunt down a new victim to scam. At four in the morning, when the flow of tourists leaving the nightclubs is already high, seven or eight different taxis can be found parked there. Some vehicles don't even stop and continue looking for customers as they slowly drive along the seafront promenade. To avoid being booed by the taxi drivers who are patiently waiting in line, many pretend they are picking up a ride booked through an app. That's why they display the T-3 fare indicator on the taxi, which means you have a fixed price because you've been booked through an app and are going to pick up a passenger. In many cases, however, the reality is that they aren't going to pick up anyone in particular and are looking for victims to scam. However, they don't always get away with it, and sometimes there are conflicts with other taxi drivers who criticize them for... malpractice

This is corroborated by one of the workers who keeps order in the area every night and prefers to remain anonymous. After 15 years working in the same place, he's seen it all. Even drivers taking advantage of some customers' intoxicated state. "I've seen taxi drivers charge a drunk tourist three times the fare," he recounts. He explains that those queuing at the taxi stand often try to scam customers, and that he's been threatened more than once when he's warned them. "Most of them are Pakistani," he concludes.

One of these unlicensed taxi drivers is Mustafa. He tries to negotiate prices with customers leaving nightclubs, standing less than 100 meters from the taxi stand. He notices he's being watched and drives off with his green light on. Word quickly spreads among the other taxi drivers, and for a while they all disappear from the promenade where they were illegally cruising. Even one of his compatriots returns after a while and shows a service request on his phone to explain that he wasn't soliciting customers illegally but had a ride booked through an app. That's why he was standing where he shouldn't have been, he repeats fearfully.

Six taxi drivers expelled

The Barcelona City Police and the Metropolitan Taxi Institute (IMET) have long been aware of these practices within the sector and are cracking down on them. In fact, during the last weeks of August and the first weeks of September, the City Police carried out a special operation with checkpoints in the area near nightclubs, resulting in 14 complaints against taxi drivers related to the fare system, according to municipal sources. From the beginning of January to September, the City Police had filed 71 complaints related to these practices within the city of Barcelona. IMET sources also indicate that since 2024, 144 sanctioning proceedings have been opened throughout the metropolitan area against taxi drivers for soliciting passengers through offers or providing services with fares different from those approved by the Institute. During all of 2023, 192 proceedings were initiated for these reasons. Nearly one in ten disciplinary proceedings opened against taxi drivers are related to these practices. These proceedings emphasize that these are two serious infractions according to the Metropolitan Taxi Regulations, punishable by fines of up to €1,400. Furthermore, repeat offenders risk losing their license. Since 2024, the IMET (Metropolitan Taxi Institute) has revoked the licenses of six taxi drivers who had already been sanctioned twice for this reason.

Discontent in the sector

The existence of these unlicensed taxi drivers is also generating unease within the sector, which has been fighting against these practices for years and which, some time ago, even confronted drivers who scam tourists in person. "What they do is tarnish the image of the entire group. It's a real disgrace," says Tito Álvarez, spokesperson for Élite Taxi, one of the most outspoken voices within the sector against unlicensed taxi drivers, in a conversation with ARA. "Yellow and black is a symbol of trust, and those who use it to scam deserve to have their licenses revoked immediately," he adds. "All this filth must be eliminated from the sector by any means necessary," says Álvarez, who asserts that these are organized groups that "coordinate and warn each other" when they see a police presence. The Élite spokesperson emphasizes that "most of the taxi drivers who engage in these practices" display FreeNow signs and Uber stickers. "This shows what kind of taxi drivers they are. The taxi industry needs to become more professional and implement measures to combat all these bad practices," he points out, explaining that the new law being debated in Parliament includes very large fines and provides for vehicle impoundment in such cases.