Helsinki Police carried out surprise inspections of taxis on Friday. A total of 79 taxis were inspected during the inspection, with deficiencies found in 30. The police issued fines to 21 drivers, while 20 others were charged traffic penalty fees, which can be up to 200 euros.
The surveillance was carried out in cooperation between the Helsinki Police, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), the Tax Administration and the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland.
According to police, the most common deficiencies involved logbook entries or the absence of a valid logbook, as well as shortcomings in display of personal identification or price information.
The results of the inspections were very similar to those of a similar crackdown conducted nearly a year ago.
On the positive side, police said, no serious deficiencies were detected. The vehicles were all in good condition with appropriate taxi signage and traffic permits, while all drivers had a valid driving licenses.
Tax officials said that ‘grey economy’ phenomena persist in the taxi industry, though.
“Many small players have entered the industry. Incompetence has been observed, as well as indifference to obligations and fulfilling them. Missing sales and undeclared work are the most common signals of the grey economy in the industry,” said Tarja Valsi, Deputy Director of the Tax Administration.
Valsi urged taxi customers to pay attention to receipts and the information listed on them. Failure to receive a receipt even when one is requested is typically a tell-tale sign of grey-market operations, she said.
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