British holidaymakers have voted taxi drivers in Paris and Rome as the rudest in the world.
According to the survey by airporttransfers.co.uk, cab drivers in the capital cities of France and Italy are seen as the most unhelpful. Their counterparts in holiday destinations such as San Antonio on the Spanish island of Ibiza, Dubai and Magaluf on the island of Majorca are also not polite with their customers, it said.
The survey ranked taxi drivers in Pefkos on the Greek island of Rhodes and the Turkish resort of Marmaris as some of the friendliest in the world. Cabbies in Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, New York and Palma Nova in Majorca are also polite and helpful, it said.
The survey was based on responses from 2,162 UK holidaymakers who had taken an overseas holiday in the last 12 months.
For the question on what they thought made a taxi driver ‘friendly’, 86 per cent of respondents said that it was a ‘talkative’ driver, while 42 per cent also said that a friendly taxi driver would give them advice or knowledge about the local area. When asked who they considered a ‘rude’ taxi driver, 51 per cent said it was someone who was ‘unhelpful.’
‘Taxi rides around the world can be totally different experiences, depending on the time and the place,’ comments Airporttransfers.co.uk managing director Chris Clarkson.
‘You could stumble upon the most helpful taxi driver in the world, who gives you a guided tour of the area you’re in on the way to your end destination, or you could have someone that just grunts in response to anything you say,’ he adds.
