A group of Edinburgh lads travelling to Serbia for the Belgrade derby have shared a terrifying video of a taxi driver taking them on an alternative route to beat traffic.
Ryan Dinse, from the north of Edinburgh, had travelled to Belgrade on Friday with friends to watch the ‘Eternal Derby’ between FK Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) and Partizan Belgrade, which is renowned for its violence and ferocity.
And the group experienced an interesting welcome as after exiting the airport in Belgrade the group managed to secure a taxi that was about to take them on a bumpy ride.
Upon travelling towards the city centre, Ryan and his four mates were taken off road by a taxi driver, that they suspect was not licensed, in order to beat what looks like a traffic jam.
Ryan said he had no idea what the cause of the traffic was but that within about 30 seconds of being in the taxi, the lads had the seat belts fastened tight.
Ryan said: “We are here for the Belgrade derby today. God knows what the traffic was about but the boy wasn’t for sitting in it anyway.
“We had just come out of the airport and he asked if we needed a taxi and within about 30 seconds we had the seat belts buckled up tight.
“It was a great introduction to life in Serbia.”
In the video, Ryan along with some friends can be heard nervously laughing as the driver goes off the road and tries to beat the long line of traffic by travelling along a grass embankment.
One member of the group is heard asking: “Is there no police in Serbia?”, as the rest of the group chuckles.
But moments later another member of the group can be heard saying: “Look, there they are ahead.”
The driver then tries to rejoin the long queue after being notified of the Serbian law enforcement’s presence.
Unfortunately elements of the video had to be muted as there is some colourful language as the lads try to come to terms with the situation that they found themselves in.
The group admitted that they have not seen many sights in the eastern European capital city but are soldering through a weekend session that culminates in a trip to the Rajko Mitić Stadium - which is colloquially known as "Marakana" after the famous Brazilian stadium - on Sunday.
The derby is understood to be one of the fiercest rivalries in European sport.
