I discovered to my cost about the latest scam involving tourists and non Mexican locals , taxi drivers and yes the boys in blue.....
I had pulled into the Oxxo on 28th and as we were about to leave a taxi pulled in behind me blocking me in (there were plaenty of spaces available next to us) he eventually moved off and i was just pulling out when he screeched to a halt in front of me and another taxi came in behind boxing me in, the driver then proceeded to scream at me about supposadley hitting his car and showed me an inch diameter dent in the car, he said i had reversed into him causing this huge amount of damage (let me just say at this point i drive a big 2 and a half ton truck, if i had hit him i would have destroyed his little car ... but i digress) within seconds around 15 taxi's pulled up around us and the intimidation began, then the police arrived followed by the Taxi mafia boss who strutted around with his puffed out chest throwing insults at me...i stayed calm i must add... turns out the wanted 250 usd from me for the damage i had caused ... i was having non of it and refused luckily a spanish speaking friend showed up and warned me if i didnt pay something (and agreed it was wrong and he had been thru the same thing recently) i would end up in jail, so i took out a 100 dollar bill and basically told the guy take it or leave it, of course he took it and after a few more scowls in my direction and comments about not showing respect ???? they took off, but not before i heard the cop tell the taxi driver not to forget to pay him his cut.... well another lesson learned as they say, it turns out this kind of blatent robbery is becoming more and more common and i have no advice on how to avoid it, needless to say my opinion of the police has dropped another few notches (my opinion of the taxistas has always been very low anyway) and i will just have to try and be careful of where i park in the future .
Oh i forgot to add that the cop took my licence and despite paying off the mafia for the supposed damage , i still have to now visit the station and pay another fine for being involved in a road traffic accident and to get my licence back..
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