'The Oscar goes to you': Taxi driver 'fakes heart attack' to avoid short fare

A woman claims a taxi driver faked a heart attack to avoid driving her from Sydney Airport because he wanted a more expensive fare.

The woman sent video of her confrontation with the 13 CABS taxi driver to the Nine Network’s A Current Affair.

In the video, the driver is seen stepping out of the car and clinging to a tree.

“I am not driving ma’am. My condition is not well,” he says.

But the passenger doesn’t buy it.

A Sydney 13 CABS taxi driver holds his chest and keels over near a tree. His passenger claims he was faking a heart attack because he wanted a more expensive fare.
A woman claims this 13 CABS driver faked a heart attack over a cheap fare. She wanted to go from Sydney Airport to Annandale. Source: A Current Affair

In the video, she claims the cabbie stopped the car in Sydenham because he did not want to drive her to Annandale, about 10 kilometres from the airport.

The taxi driver rebukes the claim and keels over, placing his hand on his chest.

“You said you wanted to turn the meter off because you wanted a bigger fare,” the passenger says.

She says he told her he wanted a “larger fare” than what he would get driving her from the airport to Annandale.

The driver gets down on his knees and the woman tells him: “The Oscar award goes to you.”

He then sits in the front-passenger seat, asking her to call an ambulance.

The pair continue to argue.

NSW Taxi Council deputy chief executive Nick Abrahim said taxi drivers could not refuse fares unless they were finishing a shift.

13 CABS chief operating officer Stuart Overell told ACA the driver filmed in the video had since been fired.

Yahoo News Australia has contacted 13 CABS for comment.

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