Taxi driver accused of false theft, assault claim

A Green Cabs driver has been accused of making a false theft claim. Photo / Greg Bowker

A former taxi driver has been charged with theft and making a false statement to police after claiming he was attacked and robbed of $700.

He faced the charges in the Manukau District Court today, where he was remanded on bail.

In February the 24-year-old man was employed as a taxi driver for Green Cabs in Queenstown when he reported an alleged assault and robbery to police.

He told police on February 5 that he had picked up a male passenger in Queenstown's CBD and driven him to the Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park where he was attacked and robbed by the passenger and two other men.

Police said coverage of the report in media and on the Queenstown Police Facebook page alerted members of the public to the case.

Acting Detective Sergeant Matt Jones said people reported they recognised the voice of a caller who used the driver's cell phone to call Green Cabs after the incident as a relative of the driver.

"This information, together with a number of consistencies in other information gathered and out-of-character behaviour by the arrested man, has led police to the conclusion that this is a false complaint," he said.

The investigation had taken up a lot of police time and resources, police said.

Police said Green Cabs had co-operated with the investigation, and that the man was no longer employed by the company.

He will next appear in the Manukau District Court on June 17.