German Tourists Fall Prey to Rogue Taxi in Bulgaria's Sunny Beach

Foreign tourists are urged to be careful with taxi services in Bulgaria, especially in the Black Sea resorts. Photo by BGNES

Two 19-year-old Germans are the victims of the latest incident with foreign tourists and rogue taxi drives in Bulgaria, who, however, were busted by the Bulgarian police.

The two German tourists took a cab at about 4:30 am on May 23 from a disco in Sunny Beach, the largest Bulgarian Black Sea resort, to their hotel.

In addition, to the cab driver, however, there was also another man in the taxi. When the tourists got out, the other man grabbed one of them and told the other to bring EUR 200, or he would not let go of his friend.

The German tourists paid the extortionists, and went in. Several hours later they decided to call the police in Nessebar, who quickly managed to find the rogue taxi – a cab with Burgas license plates and its driver, a 25-year-old man from Pomorie, who admitted to his crime.

He also admitted that the other man in the taxi who helped him extort the German tourists is 29-year-old with a criminal record.

The most widely-publicized scandal with a rogue taxi in Bulgaria occurred two years ago, when a rogue cabbed charged officials of the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF BGN 102 for a ride from Sofia Airport to the Grand Hotel Sofia in the downtown.

Two months ago, the Bulgarian Parliament adopted changes in the Auto Transport Act providing for a ceiling of cab fares; it is now up to each individual municipality to determine maximum allowed cab fares, with Sofia and Varna setting prices at BGN 1.5-1.6 per km.

However, the vast majority of the abuses occur on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast where many of the smaller municipalities with some of the major resorts might have a hard time applying this regulation.

More on Bulgaria's rogue taxis read HERE

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