Taxi companies from Assen and the surrounding area are once again emphatically warning visitors of the upcoming TT and the TT Festival with flyers and stickers about rogue taxis in the city. “Be careful when you get into a taxi in Assen. You could easily be dealing with a snorer.”
And such a mustache is an illegal taxi driver, who drives around with yellow license plates, in order to quickly make a lot of money from the TT crowds. “And if you get into such a taxi, it can cost you dearly.
Taxi driver Marjan van der Pol would like to prevent all that misery. That is why she is busy putting stickers on taxi windows at the Assen taxi stand near the station. She also distributes flyers among her colleagues. It is up to them to spread the message further, and with it the information that passengers should pay attention to as soon as they get into a taxi. “We want it to be a fun party for everyone again. And not for people to be scammed.”
With the TT, according to Van der Pol, taxis will come to Assen from all over the world again to take the 200,000 people from A to B. “But this must be done as safely as possible, via a normal route, and for a reasonable price. But unfortunately there are taxi cowboys among them every year who try to make a profit.”
The result is that exorbitantly high prices are charged for a very simple ride. And it could be worse, warns the Assen taxi boss. “If the car does not have blue license plates but just yellow ones, then it is an illegal taxi. If you get into one, you are not insured. Cheap can therefore be expensive. Because you will get a very nasty tail if you have an accident with that taxi.”
(Watch the video report below about the campaign for a reliable TT taxi)
