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PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 11:48 am 
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A BRITISH man who dropped off a friend at Paphos Airport was harassed and abused by police who accused him of operating as an unlicensed taxi driver, claimed a 43-year-old resident of Cyprus yesterday.

David Roach, a Paphos resident for the last seven years, had just dropped off the daughter of a friend at the airport at 1pm yesterday when a taxi driver accused him of operating illegal taxi rides to the airport all week.

“A taxi driver started shouting at me, accused me of coming every day this week. Before I knew it, two taxi drivers and around eight policemen surrounded me, claiming it was illegal to take people to the airport for money,” said Roach.

The unsuspecting motorist had attracted the interest of nearby taxi drivers and police officers when his ride handed him some money for petrol.

“I have been to the airport two times in the last six months. Once last Wednesday when I picked up my friend’s daughter, as he’s not very well at the moment, and today (yesterday) when I took her back to the airport.

“I was helping out a friend. The daughter innocently gave me some money for the petrol when I dropped her off. I didn’t ask her for it, but when she offered I said thank you. I won’t say no to petrol money,” said Roach.

However, according to the British national, this did not stick with the police who insisted on taking him down to the station for questioning.

“Eight cops and two taxi drivers all came up to me. The police superior was very abusive to me. I told him I’d done nothing wrong and was perfectly capable of getting in my car and driving off.

“They wanted me to go down to the station with them. I said if you’re not arresting me, then I don’t want to go. The man in charge threatened to take me anyway if I left.”

Eventually, the police let him go, but not before booking him for an expired road tax.

“They kept me there approximately 25-30 minutes. They took my details and address, and said it could go to court. If it does, I will make a right farce of it. I have a white two-door Pajero, it’s not exactly a commercial use car,” said Roach.

The 43-year-old questioned the heavy-handed tactics of the police, who refused to reveal their names. He added that the behaviour of the police and taxi drivers would not encourage people to return to the island, or to take taxis.

“Cyprus is low on tourism. Friends coming over to visit are a big part of tourism. Perfectly innocent people seeing this will say why should I come back. I certainty won’t take a taxi again. Everything I did was within my rights, it’s not illegal to take petrol money,” he said.

Asked whether he knew the taxi driver in question who made the accusations that led to the police intervention, he replied: “I’m an entertainer and this taxi driver has seen me sing my heart out in bars. I don’t know what made him think I was taking his business.”


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:32 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:26 pm
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Location: Tala
This is a VERY worrying story, and quite frightening for the innocent person.

Why do Cypriots think that they can get away with treating people like this.
It is just not acceptable. Why were there 8 police officers. Why did they become
involved when it was so evident it was all so innocent.

The word is getting out that Cyprus and Paphos is not really a nice place
to visit after all!!


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:35 pm 
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Not the first time this has happened and certainly wont be the last.

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:28 pm 
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I was at the airport today collecting a friend as well, and the whole system of leaving the baggage hall through to the transport is a disgrace for a new airport. The tour reps erect small stalls in a line directly in front of the exit meaning theres an immediate bottleneck, many clients then gets squeezed through and then have to come back into the terminal as theyve missed the contact point. Needs to be sorted out. Hermes, remove your digits.

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