Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)SUE Clarke experienced every woman’s nightmare after accepting a taxi ride to La Cala market last week.
The gift shop owner had been waiting for a bus with her sister and a friend near her home in Miraflores when a man of Scandinavian appearance offered them a lift in his car.
“He said the bus had broken down and he could give us a ride to the market,” she explained.
“Foolishly we believed him and got into his car, but when we arrived he demanded 19 euros fare for a trip that costs two euros on the bus.
“When we refused to pay he grabbed my hand and became very aggressive.
“I threatened to call the police and we finally managed to get out of the car.”
Shaken by her experience, Clarke, who owns a gift shop in Calypso, was shocked when a few days later the same man pulled up at the same bus stop soliciting for business.
“He had the same line about the bus breaking down. When I recognised him I almost had a heart attack, but I shook my fist at him and he sped off.”
Sue describes the man as northern European, clean cut with good English.
He drives a silver car, possibly a Ford Fiesta and the number plate is 712 8FW.
In light of recent experiences of missing teenagers and several date rapes, the Olive Press has reported the offence to the police. “We will pass it onto our traffic department,” said a spokesman. “Thanks for your help.”
I had to pay 25€ in a real taxi from Riviera to La Cala, sounds like you missed a deal there.
Its odd when it only costs 35€ from La Cala to Banus.
I have to say that the headline to this article is very misleading. The impression I got is that an unlicensed person is driving around in a taxi pretending to be a taxi driver. However on reading the article it appears that this person is driving around in an ordinary car. This misconception is likely to make people scared to get into a licensed taxi as you imply that one of them might be driven by this man and is defamatory to all legitimate taxi drivers.
If this person is driving an ordinary car then you’ve got to be pretty stupid to get in. Does this Sue Clarke make a habit of accepting lifts from perfect strangers?
Good point Chris, was it a taxi or just an ordinary car? Sue hasn’t got many marbles!
was this lady by anyway blonde
to clear things up.. it was a normal car… just like hundreds of dodgy taxi drivers you get in London late on a friday or saturday night…
and fred watch what you say about people… I don’t like your insulting tone here…
Well, you’ve got to be a few sandwiches short of a pic-nic to get into a strangers car whether it’s in London or Spain.
Those people in London usually only do it cos there’s no other way to get home and they’re pissed. Still a daft thing to do though.
And Jon – that’s nice for Fred! You should see him when he really let’s rip!! :-(|)
This guy is still operating. I have been approached twice by him telling me the bus has broken down and each time it was the middle of the day. He drives a silver ford fiesta, and I have the registration number. The last approach was 5th august at el camino, cabopino as I waited for the bus to Marbella. Unfortunately we flew home the same day so didn’t have time to do much about it. No, I am not blonde and my male partner was with me each time!
Jon – if you are going to pick up my comment about Sue’s marbles, then you should also pick up Chris for calling her “stupid” and franco for calling her “blond”. Those comments are insulting – will you comment on those too?
This whole article is confusing because its strapline talks of a “woman’s worst nightmare” when in fact she was with a male friend, so it’s nowhere near the same as similar stories of lone women taking lifts in a strangers car, which coincidentally are the circumstances in which most date rapes and assaults in cars take place. That was my point.