Suspect taxi meters bund at airport

JAKARTA: The Jakarta and Banten Trade and Industry's standards agencies suspended 64 taxis after examining their tampered taxi meters and expired licenses at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Thursday.

The officials conducted the spot check in response to growing customers' complaints about jacked-up meters. They found some meters' security seals had been broken or replaced, suggesting they had been modified.

Head of the Banten Metering Agency, Hudaya, said miscreants may face a one-year jail term or Rp 2 million (US$209) in fines for violating the 1981 law on metering.

In this instance, drivers were told to return their cars to their taxi pools and stay off the road until the operators update the licenses and repair the suspect meters.

Taxi driver Parluhutan, whose meter was seized, said he was innocent.

"My job is only to drive the taxi, get passengers and hand in the money to the management. I don't know anything about document completeness," he said, adding the meter seizure made him unable to feed his family. -- JP