On February 17 (the eighth day of the first lunar month), Chinese swimming star Fu Yuanhui posted on his Weibo for help, which attracted the attention of all walks of life. Subsequently, many netizens followed the post and complained about their unpleasant experience of being "slaughtered" when taking a taxi during their trip to Changbai Mountain.
Ms. Li from Beijing said that as soon as she landed at Changbaishan Airport on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, she and her friends were "slaughtered" by taxi drivers, and they were asked for 150 yuan for a 15-minute drive. There are also many netizens who reported that many local taxi-calling ** in Changbai Mountain could not call a car, so they could only stop the car on the side of the road, as for **, it was like "opening a blind box".
The phenomenon of taxi drivers "not using a meter and a fixed price" also occurs from time to time in other places, and it appears in the newspapers and the Internet from time to time, and the masses unanimously criticize this behavior. This article provides a rough overview of the legal issues involved.
1. The illegality and punishment of taxi drivers' bargaining behavior
The bargaining behavior of taxi drivers usually refers to the fact that taxi drivers deliberately do not use the meter according to the regulations, but collect fees according to their own wishes or negotiate with passengers. This kind of behavior violates the legitimate rights and interests of passengers and is an illegal act.
At present, the main thing that regulates the taxi operation service behavior is the departmental regulation of the Ministry of Transport, "Regulations on the Administration of Cruise Taxi Business Services", and its Article 48 stipulates the penalty standard for "not using taxi metering equipment in accordance with the regulations and charging fees in violation of regulations".
In addition, many places have also formulated local management regulations, for the illegal behavior of taxis without meters, the general penalties are as follows:
One isFor minor violations, if the fee is not charged according to the meter and the circumstances are relatively minor, a public security penalty will generally be admonished and a fine of about 100 yuan will be imposed.
The second isFor more serious violations, such as deliberately raising fees without metering, malicious detours, etc., a higher fine will generally be imposed, and the amount may reach or exceed several hundred yuan.
The third isFor serious violations of the law that maliciously do not use the meter, such as repeated violations, intentional fraud of passengers, etc., the penalty of revocation of the taxi driver's license will generally be taken, and the circumstances will even be investigated for criminal responsibility.
Four areIn some places, taxi companies will also be subject to administrative penalties, such as suspension of operations and revocation of transport permits, to further punish illegal acts.
2. Whether the passenger can refuse to pay the fare
Since the taxi driver is operating illegally, does the passenger have the right to refuse to pay the fare?
In the author's opinion, although the taxi driver's behavior of "not using the meter and paying a fixed price" is illegal and unreasonable, passengers should not refuse to pay the fare after the taxi has fulfilled its transportation obligations.
This is because the relationship between a taxi driver and a passenger is a typical contract of carriage and falls within the scope of civil law adjustment. Private law follows the principle of autonomy of will, and as long as the parties reach an agreement, the contract is formed and takes effect.
Therefore, although the driver's failure to use the meter violates the administrative mandatory regulations, it usually does not affect the validity of the contract, and the passenger should not refuse to pay the fare.
As for the illegal operation of taxi drivers, the administrative department should intervene and adjust, punish them according to the regulations, and refund the overcharged fares to passengers.
For example, in response to the above-mentioned Fu Yuanhui's online request for help on February 17, the Changbai Mountain Protection and Development Zone issued an official notice on the evening of the 17th, stating that it had imposed a fine of 30,000 yuan on the black car driver Pan Moumou according to the upper limit in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
Of course, this may be because Fu Yuanhui is not an ordinary tourist, and she can quickly solve this problem with her powerful celebrity effect.
3. How to effectively prevent and deal with such problems
One is** taxi administrative departments should strengthen the supervision and inspection of cruise taxi business behavior, and in conjunction with the relevant departments to correct and stop illegal activities in cruise taxi business and other illegal acts, to maintain the order of the taxi market.
The second isTaxi management companies should restrain illegal behaviors by strengthening warning education and service monitoring for drivers, and can also upgrade traditional taximeters through technical means, as long as passengers get on the bus, the system automatically starts metering, so as to avoid subsequent disputes.
The third isIt is best to choose a regular taxi or online car-hailing through the platform, and choose a regular taxi service, especially a reputable and reputable taxi company, which can reduce the probability of encountering unreasonable charges or other bad services.
Four areWhen customers take the bus, if they encounter behaviors that infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of passengers, such as not using the meter, fixed price, arbitrary price increase, reverse erasure, etc., they can take photos, record**, etc. to retain relevant evidence materials, and call 12328 or 12345 service** to complain.
Relevant laws and regulations
1.Article 48 of the Regulations on the Administration of Cruise Taxi Business Services
Cruise taxi driver in violation of these provisions, in any of the following circumstances, by the local people's taxi administrative departments at or above the county level shall be ordered to correct, and imposed a fine of not less than 200 Yuan but not more than 500 Yuan:
1) Refusal to ride, bargaining, dumping passengers on the way, or deliberately detouring;
2) Carrying other passengers without the passenger's consent;
3) Failure to use taxi-metering equipment in accordance with regulations, or charging fees in violation of regulations;
4) Failure to issue the corresponding fare bills in accordance with the regulations;
5) Failure to use cruise taxi-related equipment in accordance with regulations;
6) Failure to perform the agreement after accepting the cruising taxi call-on task;
7) Do not use civilized language in accordance with the regulations, and the appearance of the car does not meet the requirements;
8) Soliciting passengers without permission at airports, railway stations, bus passenger stations, ports, public transportation hubs, and other passenger flow distribution centers;
9) Transferring, reselling, or forging cruising taxi-related bills.
2.Article 16 of the Judicial Interpretation of the General Principles of Contract Codification of the Civil Code
In any of the following circumstances, where a contract violates the mandatory provisions of laws or administrative regulations, and the perpetrator bears administrative or criminal liability to achieve the legislative purpose of the mandatory provisions, the people's court may determine that the contract is not invalid due to the violation of the mandatory provisions on the basis of the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 153 of the Civil Code that "except where the mandatory provisions do not cause the civil juristic act to be invalid".
1) Although the mandatory provisions are intended to maintain social and public order, the impact of the actual performance of the contract on social and public order is significantly minor, and determining that the contract is invalid will lead to unfair and just results in the handling of the case;
2) The mandatory provisions are aimed at safeguarding the national interests such as taxation and land transfer fees or the legitimate interests of other civil subjects, rather than the civil rights and interests of the parties to the contract, and the determination of the validity of the contract will not affect the realization of the purpose of the specification;
3) The purpose of the mandatory provisions is to require one of the parties to strengthen risk control, internal management, etc., and the other party has no ability or obligation to review whether the contract violates the mandatory provisions, and the determination that the contract is invalid will cause it to bear adverse consequences;
4) Although one of the parties violates the mandatory provisions at the time of the conclusion of the contract, after the conclusion of the contract, it has met the conditions for correcting the violation of the mandatory provisions, but violates the principle of good faith and does not make corrections;
5) Other circumstances provided for by laws or judicial interpretations.
Where the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations are intended to regulate the performance of a contract after it has been concluded, and a party requests that the contract be invalid on the grounds that the contract violates the mandatory provisions, the people's court will not support it. However, the performance of the contract will inevitably lead to a violation of mandatory provisions or other provisions of laws or judicial interpretations.
Where it is found that the contract is valid on the basis of the preceding two paragraphs, but the parties' illegal acts have not been addressed, the people's court shall submit a judicial recommendation to the relevant administrative departments. Where a party's conduct is suspected of a crime, the case leads shall be transferred to the criminal investigation organs; Where it is a private criminal prosecution case, the parties shall be informed that they may separately initiate litigation in the people's court with jurisdiction.
Special Statement:
This article was originally written by the lawyers of Jiawei Law Firm and only represents the author's own views and should not be regarded as formal legal opinions or suggestions issued by Jiawei Law Firm or its lawyers. If you need to ** or quote anything from this article, please give credit to the source.
The China Consumers Association named Fu Yuanhui for being blackmailed