Taxi driver fined, barred from Bucharest airport after refusing passenger pickup

A taxi driver who refused to pick up a passenger at Bucharest’s Henri Coandă International Airport on Thursday night, citing the rule that prohibits the second car in line from leaving the queue, was fined and had his professional license suspended, according to the Romanian Police. Local news channel Digi24 quoted sources saying the refused passenger was former prime minister Dacian Cioloș.

According to the official announcement, at roughly 11:45 p.m., a police officer conducted a routine check on a taxi waiting in the designated arrivals terminal pickup area. During the inspection, the officer was alerted to another driver who had allegedly refused to accept a passenger on the grounds that he was second in line and, therefore, not permitted to leave the queue.

In response, police issued the driver a RON 500 fine for refusing a fare - an offense under Romania’s taxi law. His professional taxi license was also confiscated on the spot.

According to a statement from the National Company of Bucharest Airports (CNAB), as quoted by News.ro, this is the 29th recorded violation of taxi regulations at the airport over the past six months. More than half of these cases involved serious misconduct, such as demanding unjustified fares, refusing passengers, or tampering with fare meters. In such instances, drivers were suspended from operating at the airport for 12 months.

The most recent violation prompted the harshest available penalty: the driver’s airport access badge was permanently revoked, effectively banning them from picking up passengers at the airport ever again. Two taxi drivers have now been permanently barred from the airport since the start of the year.

For lesser violations, such as abandoning vehicles in designated waiting areas or approaching travelers unsolicited, drivers have faced suspensions ranging from 30 to 180 days. These penalties are applied alongside routine and unannounced checks by the Air Transport Police.

Last month, a taxi driver at the Henri Coandă Airport who scammed 90-year-old Nigerian Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka was detained by police. The driver demanded EUR 400 for the trip to downtown Bucharest, more than 20 times the normal amount for a fare.