e?AID=/20070331/NEWS/703310334&SearchID=732766 32053272
Mar 31, 2007
Cabbie says he was stiffed on fare from Calif. to N.C.
Chapel Hill
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.