Bulgarian News Dissection

Standard daily reports today:

Таксиметров ??офьор в Слънчев бряг е принудил клиент да му плати 100 лв. сметка, запла??вайки го с нож. ??нцидентът е станал около 3 ч. след полунощ пред дискотека “Ориндж” в курорта.
Малко преди това таксито било наето от двама холандски туристи от пиацата на хотел “Кубан”. Те поискали да ги откара до близък хотел, в който са отседнали, а след това до нощния бар.
Преди да се качат в колата, клиентите договорили с ??офьора да му платят сумата от 14 лв. за превоза.
Когато обаче стигнали до дискотеката, водача им поискал 96 лв., отчетени на апарата. Чужденецът отказал и оставяйки банкнота от 20 лв. на седалката, тръгнал да слиза.
В този момент таксиджията заключил автоматично вратите, извадил нож и го опрял в тялото на летовника. След като платил исканите 100 лв., туристът бил освободен.
По случая е образувано досъдебно производство, след като ограбеният сигнализирал полицията в Несебър.

Here’s the story in brief:

The news is that a taxicab driver at Sunny beach (a Black sea resort) has forced his client to pay him Leva 100 (Euro 50) for a ride which should have been no more than a few euro. The driver has agreed to take two Dutch men from the Kuban hotel to their own hotel, and then to a disco for Euro 7. When they arrived at the disco, though, the taxi driver asked for Leva 96 – which was shown on the taximeter*. The Dutch refused, and left Leva 20. Driver locked the doors from the inside, and pulled out a knife, touching the body of one of the tourists. Scared, the latter paid the required amount of money. The police has started an investigation after the tourist complained.

My comment:
This is a clear example of what I’ve been writing in the last months – it is not the government that is responsible for everything. It is each of us, Bulgarians, who should be taking care of our own country. Why would the taxi driver want to cheat the Dutch? Just because they might have been drunk? Or because he probably believed that they are not as smart as himself? Or because he is desperate from his life, but instead of trying to work as a normal cab driver, he prefers to show what a big hero he is, and with a knife…
But this driver is not alone; the taxi drivers in all cities have formed an informal mafia-style coordination, when they want to protest, they just get on their cars, and go and block the main streets of the city. Few years ago they’ve blocked the whole building of the Parliament. There are a number of cases, where they would get together, and beat their customers, if they have tried to defend their rights.
Of course, there are customers, who are jerks, but by using brutal force, knives, gas-sprays, etc., one does not solve problems, but rather creates more problems.

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* – There’s no such price for a cab ride, even at the middle of the night; it must have been a scam.