Fined for drunken vomiting in a taxi

Hi TT,

Ok this is not a proud moment but I do need some help. I was at the Oktoberfest on Sunday and after having a bit too much to drink was sick out the window of a taxi. A little bit and I mean "a really little" bit fell in-between the window crevice.

We ended up pulling over having a pretty heated argument and small fight because the taxi driver called his mates over who were just dam aggressive.

Then the Police turned up. Apparently this Taxi Drivers mate had called them. They arrived as things were getting pretty heated and told me I had to pay the guy €150 because I refused to pay him his asking price of €300.

There was no official documentation but they did make us swap details. This guy phoned me the other day demanding his money but here is the catch. The guy doesn’t know exactly where I live and I am conveniently changing address in the next week. So I am going to have to register my new address. So in theory If I cancel my phone number (the only information) he has I can’t decide whether he will be leaving things their or if he contacts the police will the police help him to find me.

Any help on the matter would be appreciated.

150 seems excessive, but on the other hand, if you vomited (who cares how little), the guy is going to be pissed!

If the car reeks, he isn't gonna have customers. So I guess I would have paid him for the cost of a car wash and detailing (if inside) and reasonable lost revenue for the night. Maybe 100?

Only partners, good friends and parents are obligated to clean up a loved ones puke

Taxi drivers are the scum of the earth, but have some sympathy with the guy, it's probably not the first time it's happenend. They make a mint fleecing drunks leaving the Wies'n but still, how would you feel if someone puked in your car, on your bike, on your doorstep? Phone him up, apologise, and if he's calmer offer him some cash. If he's still a dick put the phone down and forget him.

You puked in his car on one of his most lucrative days of business. I've talked to lots of taxi drivers, and there's no other time of year that they make as much money as they do at Oktoberfest. I don't care if it's a lot or a little, he can't go around and pick up other passengers when the car stinks of vomit, so effectively, you killed his ability to earn money for the rest of that evening. Probably €150 is a fair price of what he would have made.

I'd offer him 100 and ask for a receipt. Claim it back on taxes.

If understnad your post correctly, no vomit was in the car, therefore the car didn't stink. If that is accurate, then i say screw him. But if he did have to stop taking customers because there was puke inthe car or it smelled like it, then he deserves some compensation. I agree with gemini that the value of a detailing would be fair.

My 9-yr-old son threw up in a taxi on the way to the airport a few years ago - on a holiday. The standard cleaning fee back then was 25DM, so 40€ should do.
Call Taxi München eG at 089-77 30 77 and ask them. Do you have the taxi driver's cab number? Because if he tried to overcharge you he can get in trouble, same applies to calling in colleagues to threaten you.

Wow thats a great point! I dont have his cab number but I do have his details maybe they will issue it? At the end of the day I agreed to pay and had every intention of doing so but its only after he started to get aggressive that hes making me doubt paying him. Hell since I am changing address does that mean the police will help him. Surely round this time of the year its like really common and in regards to comment about puke none was directy in the car.

Something similar happened to me a few years ago (oysters + bloody mary = no no) on an Ash Wednesday.

Anyway, on the way home “blahhhhhh� same scenio as Matt, although I wasn’t drunk but very very queasy.

I apologized to the cab driver gave him my personal details and few days later I got a bill in the post. I informed my Haftplichtversicherung and faxed them the bill. The Insurance company managed to lower the costs and they paid everything and since then I have never had another oyster.

I'm with the taxi driver on this. He has probably had 3 weeks of people puking "just a little bit". Some Oktoberfest f*&$er puked all down the door and keypad to my building and if I had caught them, drunk or not, they'd have cleaned it up. As would all the blokes who clearly used it as pissoir over the last 3 weeks.

Don't expect tolerance from people who see the downside of the Oktoberfest day in day out.

Happenend to an aquaintance recently too. EUR 200 is the going rate.

£50 was the going rate in London when I still lived there. Euro 150 really excessive though - best advice from sarabyrd, call Taxi Muenchen and find out if they have a standard rate for such things.

€150 is actually the normal rate. Asked a taxi driver about this a few weeks back (just to make conversation). It's not just the cleaning of the car, but it's also the time it's off the road to be cleaned, well so he said.

Good grief I did not think this kind of thing was covered under Haftpflicht? Or was it not because you had been drinking?

Still one question left to be answered...Does anyone know if the police help taxi drivers to collect these sort of un official bills

It's not really unofficial. If you don't pay he could sue you for it in a civil court case.

OK, perhaps his demand for €300 was OTT but you are looking at a fair ammount of money you owe.

Well the idea to tell my Haftpflicht came from a colleague of mine, after I told her what happened. Since I’ve had this insurance for 5 years at the time, and never used/claimed anything, I thought “why not�

The bill that the cab driver sent me was for ca. 300 D-Marks and my insurance managed to get the bill down to 170-ish D-Marks

@ Matt if you are insured: speak to your insurance, the worse thing they can say is “no�. Your insurance company will also know the “going rate� of the lost income due to the cleaning of the cab.

Also, the cab driver could file a report with the Polizei, and if he lost some earnings because of you, he probably will.

Fair point but If my number is cancelled and I change address which is what I have to do, how can he file a law suit against me? Will the police check with the KVR about my new location or will they just let it be.

You can file a law suit against "persons unknown" and it will still be processed.If he has your telephone number and / or name, you could be tracked down even if you move.

Depends how hard they want to try it; the police may well help.

It was your bad and really you should pay up.
But the demand was so OTT I'd be thinking maybe cross your fingers.

Similar thing happenend to me a few years ago.

Don't be a dick, pay the bill.

And what happened @Monks Town!!
Eleanor Pipe Down!

I hope it's verjährt now.

Anyway, as I stood to leave the Wies'nthe bench tipped and fell against a waitress. As I stood up slowly and the waitress was right by the bench there wasn't the force to cause her any injury.

However she claimed that she wouldn't be able to work and I would have to cover her loss of earnings for the whole Wies'n. I did begin to co operate but she was so out of order in the end I got the hell out while she was screaming for security.

@Matt: Have you called yet? I called my tame taxi driver and left a message, he should be in touch soon.

What an interesting thread.

1) Brit drinks too much
2) Pukes
3) Gets into fight
4) Wants no responsibility for his actions

While factual, the addition of the word "brit" adds a nice little holier than thou accent to your post!

what do you expect? Bumpy's American.

Lol well if i was american some how I would be able to sue him and probably win for all of the suggested above!

All I am saying if you read the thread is the fact that this guy got aggressive and thats why I am contemplating on not paying him

mmm. dodgy taxi driver gets agressive and invites his agressive mates round to help him agressively ask you to pay for the cleaning and loss of earnings on his taxi.

now maybe i'm being naive, or maybe because i come from a less than nice part of the world, but if you dont pay, whats to stop him from inviting his agressive friends round to talk to you again. he has your phone number, he'll have your address soon, and he'll have your new address too. or he might just forget about it.

last quote i had was 300 euros for broken legs.

put simply maybe the police will be the least of your worries.

Sorry for jumping in here, but just a question: Why does the tax driver's attitude matter one bit? You puked on/in part of his taxi.

It really doesn't matter whether he says "pretty please".

Did he have an angry face too ???

I've an idea , I'll piss all over your car and see how u like it.

See your point but your are being naive. If your taking people home from Oktoberfest and charging them higher prices than normal which we all know that they do. Then your risking the possibility of that happening, I cannot stress how little on the crevice of his car window there was. I am not bothered about him or his aggressive friends at all end of the day the police are the ones who can make my life hell not some turkish taxi driver with an attitude problem.

humm...a hint of justification with a dash of racism

They do NOT charge higher prices than normal. You are on the ticker, which is fixed.

And Matt, yes, they can chase you down. If you change addresses, your mail will eventually catch up with you, as can the police and any extra fines for dodging the responsibility in the first place.

have you ever met pissed of macho eastern europeans in nasty situations? the police will follow it up if charges are pressed by the driver, they will have access to all relevant documents and files to get you place of abode.

hope for your sake he presses charges and doesnt do the macho turkish thing. you hurt his pride mate.

(btw as you were pissed at the time how do you know it was just a tiny bit?)

Turkish driver. Relevant to the situation, the Turkish bit, is it? Hmmmm i can see this merging with the 'pure discrimination' thread... or taking it over, as that one has gone all group-huggy.

As for naivete, Matt, saying you've more to worry about from the police than the aggressive taxi driver and his aggressive mates... well, pot kettle black.

Facts are facts. How he spoke to you will be irrelevant to anyone reviewing this "case".

I think a fine is fair any day of the week, regardless of if it were O'fest or not, and even regardless of if he was angry. Its not his fault you drank too much, and if you were drunk and vomiting, how do you know if you are not misconstruing the situation? Its possible you were out of line, too...you know?

LOL ok they dont charge higher prices,they just drive around a few routes that tourists are not to sure about to increase the fare. How can you be so naive and think they dont do that. Although thanks for your answer´you did answer my question but so far only regualted mail i receive is phone stuff which I am cancelling anyway. Cheers for you help

(Gideon: btw as you were pissed at the time how do you know it was just a tiny bit?)
Fabulous question. Who's more likely to have caused the situation to get out of hand... sober, busy taxi driver with lots of paying customers lined up on the street or some kid so drunk he pukes out the window. tough luck, pay up.

because its not worth it. average price of a cab in munich is say 10 euros even if you do some fancy navigation shit it's bloody difficult to put anymore than 5 on top. you get more in tips (which can then nicley slip into your pocket) and are back on the road if youre quick. about your address you're registered in germany so your findable.

my ex girlfriends brother was a jura student and taxi driver in munich. you make more money driving two people five kilometres each than one ten.

I'm not naive, but I'm also not a tourist, as neither are you.

You are trying to justify you not paying this bill by either saying "They rip us off all the time" or with "He had a bad attitude" or by "Well, I think I can get away with it". Sorry, not all of us agree with any of these stances. I answered your question, you got good advice from Sarabyrd to check the fines, another idea to try using Haftpflicht insurance.

You were in the wrong. Quit trying to justify yourself. Either pay or don't pay, but don't expect sympathy if the coppers and a court date catch you.

Wow the opinions on taxi drivers are so varied in this forum. There was no racism implied by calling him a turkish cab driver as all I was doing was stating the truth. As much as you can say he was not a fault like read back through the thread. This guy called his mates over and started getting aggressive even after I said sure "my bad" Ill pay. I know it was a little bit because when some guy is asking you to pay up €300 your aware at what damage you have caused pissed or not.

ask the police. they're neutral and they said 150 was right yes?

Can the two gay dudes bring in the Catholic church angle on this thread please ? I mean this thread IS kinda sticking out there on this issue I feel . kthx.

That "right hand man" of Pope Ratbag, Schorsch whatever looks pretty buff for his age I must say.

Will that do Parnell?

gay catholic white single lazy british drunk pukes in hard working muslim turkish guy's taxi denying him the ability to feed his 14 children, of whom three are handicapped and one on a life support machine.

Pay 150€.
It really is that simple.
You have done damage and that damage needs to be paid for.
Ever tried to get liquid out of a car window? It is a right bastard to clean and to get rid of the smell, you'd be better off firebombing the car.
Sure, consult your insurer or the Taxizentrale, who may serve as a negociator between the two parties, but you still have done damage regardless of the person on the receiving end of their actions, regardless of their pals, their ethnic origin or your cheapskatedness.
Not paying will make it harder for every other English-speaker to get a taxi in this city, quite frankly.

I asked a taxi driver and he told me 150 is the going rate (don't know why he was trying it on for 300) - they're not allowed to use their taxis if there's any sort of vomit or vomit smell, so it's for the loss of earnings while they clean (which during the o'fest is quite a bit) as well as the cleaning itself.

I had a similar experience when my cousin barfed in a cab, again tried to make it out the window, but when it goes between the window and the door it's a bugger to remove (worse than actually in the taxi by all accounts).

Basically you ought to pay it, as Monkstown pointed out earlier, they can still file a complaint about you even if they don't have your name...

I was gonna go with a "Jesus Approves" pic but everyone's seen those...

He just called back, €350 - €500 for removing the window and cleaning the inside of the door, not to mention missed revenue. I think €150 is a bargain under the circumstances. Get a receipt from the taxi driver and make sure he signs a paper saying all claims are covered with payment of that amount.

#1 Brit drinks too much...It wasnt the comment about the cab driver that started the racism. Why did everyone seem to miss this one?