Don't take black cabs from the London airport - just got scammed

After analyzing and enumerating all the possible ways to do an airport transfer from Heathrow Airport to Central London, my friend wanted to try getting an airport taxi on the spot.

I told her booking a pre-booked cab includes a waiting time of an extra 60 minutes but since it's our first time in London airport, she doesn't like to be in a hurry so okay, I didn't book anything.

Upon picking up our luggages, we went out and saw the taxi stand.

She did a quick search online of around how much it would cost, online it says should cost about £60-110. It's the same price range as my research.

I thought, "hmm £110 max, sure.. how expensive could it get? and I'll make sure they'll use the meter. and it's my first time too, I can make mistakes and charge it to experience."

So we lined up the taxi stand and immediately got assigned taxi.

We got a big taxi that could fit all of our 4 luggages.

It was a 6-seater with 3 seats facing each other, the 3 seats in front were folded up to give space to our luggage.

It's my first time seeing this type of taxi. I'm thrilled and took many pictures!

The meter starts.

The driver was friendly and we did some small talk about where we're going, how long are we here for, and what we do for a living..

Then he became quiet.

I lost track of time but I kept looking at the meter to see if we're on track. Once we hit £50 on the meter, I went to check Google Maps if we're half way there.

I got shocked that we're still near the airport and he did not take the suggested route by Google Maps.

"At this rate, we will hit £150", I thought. I sort of panicked, so I asked the driver why he didn't go through M4 (the suggested route in the map).

He explained very thoroughly that M4 was very much in traffic and the route we're taking is the fastest. He name dropped some routes that I didn't understand, (obviously because I'm a foreigner) perhaps to make me feel like he knows what he's doing.

I was almost convinced that he had good intentions. But when we reached our destination, our bill was a whopping £200!

I felt really bad about it, but he was a black cab and I heard good things about black cabs.. So I thought, maybe it's because it's a black cab that's why it's expensive.

I double checked online and asked my friend who's a local here about it, he also confirmed that £200+ is expensive.

I reckon if he were to stick to the original route route, the meter could've ran slower while in traffic and we still wouldn't be able to reach this ridiculous amount.

But what do I know, I'm a foreigner.

I'm almost certain we got scammed, it should have been £150 max but £200 is just ridiculous.

Don't take the meter for long rides. It's better to have a fixed rate.

I'm booking a pre-booked cab next time. Mistakes in London are too expensive.