The 'death taxi' of Benidorm: sharp edges on the seats, no seat belts, and doors blocked

It is a very common practice, especially among tourists of the residential model, that is, long-stay; and a frequent problem in many tourist destinations around the world: illegal taxis. If you know a more or less large group of residents of other nationalities, especially elderly people from Marina Baixa, you can see that some prefer to trust fraudulent transportation services for their trips to the airport rather than taxis.

With price always being the main attraction of these illegal proposals, few customers stop to think about the serious dangers they expose themselves to by using them since they are not subject to the same quality and safety standards as legal taxis.

Therefore, the Local Police of Benidorm have been training for a few days in inspecting all types of transport vehicles because, as explained by the spokesperson for the body, Quique Tortosa, "from the departments of Citizen Security and Mobility, specialized training is being promoted for agents assigned to traffic or transport because a series of incidents have been detected in some vehicles that are transporting passengers as if they were taxis but do not have the necessary licenses."

Precisely for this reason, it was surprising that this same Friday the Local Police, during one of those controls, decided to immobilize a taxi belonging to Benidorm's legal fleet and impose a fine of "more than 9,000 euros" for the "very serious deficiencies" it presented in safety issues.

Sources from the Local Police explained to TodoAlicante that, among other things, "it had broken rear door opening systems, blocked seat belts, rear seats covered with adhesive tape without proper padding and inside it had sharp elements from the vehicle's own structure."

With this long list of irregularities, explain the same sources, "the imposed fines amount to a total of more than 9,000 euros" and, of course, "the vehicle has been immobilized until deficiencies are corrected."

Despite everything, the spokesperson for the Local Police of Costa Blanca's tourist capital, Quique Tortosa, emphasized that "it is important to stress that Benidorm's taxi service is completely safe" and that despite how striking the situation is, "this case is proof since irregularities are detected immediately."

In any case, and despite that dangerous anecdote coinciding with this training action being carried out by Benidorm's police officers, the greatest danger for users remains pirate taxis because, as Tortosa insists, "they are private vehicles lacking any type of badge and operate by word of mouth among tourists, mostly British origin."

And that is the big problem as explained at the beginning of this article because unlike what happens elsewhere in the world where one might find pirate drivers offering their services at airport terminal exits or on streets in Benidorm offers move differently. Almost undetectable.

These illegal taxi drivers do not need to publicly offer their services because as Tortosa explains tourists themselves "facilitate each other with driver's phone numbers." "Without license they carry out passenger pickups" which mainly work for trips "between Benidorm and airport."

This parallel business alongside regulated tourism activity is so difficult to control that "we don't have real statistics. We only have what we call 'black figure,' that is those we have reported," argues Quique Tortosa.

The spokesperson acknowledges that "we don't know how many there are in total." A control which although agents continue training for more efficient performance remains very complex due to nature of this type infraction preventing reliable statistics.

In this regard adds Tortosa what happens these cases when locate one these vehicles proceed immobilization driver report same driver could continue activity renting another car buying it.