Indian-origin cabbie says he had to spend more than 10 hours with passenger

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New York City taxi driver Kulvinder Singh Ahluwalia had to spend more than 10 hours with a passenger who refused to leave his taxi as she searched for an appropriate hotel, and insisted he drive her around until she found one.

The New York Post reported March 30, that “a passenger from hell” got into Ahluwalia’s cab around 2 a.m., on April 29/30,  in Chinatown, with 12 bags and a wad of money.

The passenger, identified as Shira Belfer, 62, was forced by police to get into Ahluwalia’s cab after she was thrown out from a hotel near Allen and Madison streets, the Post report says.

“A cop pulled me over, and they said that this lady has been kicked out from a hotel. ‘Can you take her to another hotel?’?” Ahluwalia told The Post. She was supposed to be taken just three blocks away, to Redford Hotel, but instead, she allegedly told Ahluwalia there were no rooms available for the categories she was looking for, the Indian-origin taxi driver said, adding that he ended up driving her to more than 15 hotels but to no avail. “I’m getting bananas because there’s no check-in until 3 in the afternoon,” Ahluwalia is quoted saying, as his wife called him and asked where he was.

“Then I said, ‘That’s it! I cannot take it anymore! I need to call the cops to get you out of this,” he told The Post. Finally, Belfer paid him $230, out of which $115 made up for the parking fine he had to pay while waiting for her at one stop, he said.  Belfer told The Post she had been thrown out of the last hotel because she complained about the conditions.

According to The Post report, Belfer has in the past, filed suits against various entities.