An increasing number of illegal taxis with local license plates are operating in Bao'an and Longgang districts outside Shenzhen's Special Economic Zone (SEZ), yesterday's Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

The illegal taxis, usually made from abandoned saloons, are almost identical to legitimate taxis, the report said.

Zhang Hua, who has been a taxi driver in Bao'an for more than four years, said it is very difficult to identify illegal taxis. "They have a taxi company's name on the body and standard rooftop sign. Some even have a meter, which passengers won't associate with illegal taxis," said Zhang.

Zhang discovered the first of such taxis two months ago when he saw a taxi supposedly from the same company as his. He went up to the taxi to say hello to his colleague, only to find a driver he didn't know. Zhang was suspicious, and called the company's reservation hotline to check the license plate number. "I was told that the company didn't have a taxi with that license plate."

Zhang said since then he had kept an eye on taxis and found that many are actually illegal. He said some drivers have several fake license plates they change every week to evade inspection. "However, they can't produce legitimate receipts to passengers."

The newspaper said some passengers are willing to take illegal taxis which charge less than the legitimate ones.

A brief investigation by the newspaper revealed that many unlicensed car repair firms outside the SEZ are behind the scam.

The newspaper said a car repair shop usually charges 800 yuan (US$103) to 1,200 yuan to paint a vehicle the same color as a legal taxi. They also provide the standard rooftop signs and meters purchased from illegal channels for several hundred yuan for a rooftop sign and 2,000-3,000 yuan for a meter, the newspaper quoted a licensed car repair owner, who declined to be named, as saying.

The owner said a car repair shop can transform an abandoned vehicle into a taxi overnight, but they are cautious in accepting orders.

Illegal taxis have been seen running in Shenzhen, but they usually carry license plates from places such as Shanwei, Heyuan, Huizhou and Dongguan. Some illegal taxis also have license plates from other provinces like Anhui and Hunan.

Editor: Donald