$200 taxi fares for a 5km trip: how illegal overcharging is surging – even as Victorian police are forced to crack down

Taxis in Sydney. While NSW cabs are more regulated than in Victoria, both states are struggling with how to prevent repeat offenders from simply starting up at a different taxi network. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images

Victoria’s taxi industry wants a crackdown on rogue drivers after police had to be called to force an entire rank of uncooperative cabbies to turn on their meters, as taxis across Australia continue to illegally overcharge.

The extent of illegal behaviour from taxi drivers was laid bare last Wednesday in Melbourne, when tens of thousands of people, including many families, moved through the city on their way home from several major events including a Matildas match.