KEY POINTS:
It's worth paying a little extra to guarantee your safety, says an Auckland woman targeted by a sleazy taxi driver.
Annette Brothers, who works in women's magazine sales, said that a driver picked her up from the central city in late May after a night out with friends.
The man called her cellphone the following day to advise her she had dropped her wallet in his car.
He offered to drop it off at her home, but his good deed was quickly undone by a text message sent shortly before he arrived.
It said: "It has always been my fantasy to be with a white woman. Please tell me you will be the one."
"I felt violated," said Brothers. "They are meant to be professional."
Brothers said it was her first experience of inappropriate behaviour by a taxi driver, and she called the Taxi Federation to complain when she couldn't find a listing for the firm.
She said she would be happy to pay a different company $2 more to get home safely.
Land Transport New Zealand spokesman Andy Knackstedt said such incidents should be brought to the attention of the taxi company in the first instance.
Complaints could also be made to LTNZ and police.
The LTNZ's taxi enforcement team has had 84 complaints in Auckland and Wellington since being launched a year ago.
