Lyft Car Lifted
Local Lyft driver towed and ticketed after Hooters bound sting operation

KVUE — Lyft driver Anthony Nguyen knew right away the two passengers who got into his vehicle Friday night were not ordinary patrons.
They asked for a 1.8-mile ride from downtown to the Hooters in South Austin, making a donation of $7 to Nguyen. As he soon found out, they were actually undercover workers trying to catch illegal drivers. His dashcam video caught the whole ordeal.
When the passengers couldn't answer simple questions and requested to be taken to Hooters, his gut told him something was off. "I've been on the Facebook group, I knew that the other sting operations went to Hooters," says Nguyen.
Nguyen drives for both Uber and Lyft and he's an advocate for TNCs or transportation networking companies that are illegal in Austin. The city says you need a chauffeur's license and an operating authority — neither of which Uber or Lyft drivers have.
The city has towed and ticketed several people since Uber and Lyft started operating just months ago. The city is unable to get the number of citations to KVUE until Monday. The cost of Nguyen's tow was $171 and the tickets will cost at least a couple hundred dollars. "It's really just a hassle to go through this process and watch your car be towed away," says Nguyen.
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To read the full story, and to see Nguyen's dash camera recording, head to KVUE.