A local couple who claim to have had a violent dispute with a taxi driver over the weekend have said on Sunday that they are seeking police aid.

Li Yang, a resident of Wangjing, Chaoyang district, alleged that a driver working for Beijing Beichuang Taxi Company took advantage of wet weather on Friday to try and overcharge her and her husband.

She also said that the driver assaulted her husband when they attempted to obtain information to file a complaint.

"He told us if we wanted a ride it would cost 100 yuan ($16) from Sanyuan Bridge to the Wangjing area, which usually costs about 15 yuan," said Li.

Li claims that her husband's face was  bleeding after the driver punched him in the eye for trying to take a picture of the taxi's license plate.

"We spent the whole day getting my husband's eyes checked over in hospital on Sunday. We hope the police will investigate and punish the driver," said Li.

One employee from the Beichuang taxi company customer complaints department, who declined to be named,  confirmed the driver's identity number that Li provided, but said that he was not aware of any registered complaints.

Li posted details of the taxi dispute on her microblog, and the information had been reposted 9,000 times as of Sunday.

Many of the comments are critical of local taxi services or included other tales of price increases and drivers who were unwilling to pick up customers. 

Dong Zhengyu, a singer from Australia posted a similar experience on his microblog and called for local authorities to take action.

Dong alleges that a taxi driver overcharged him at the Anhua Bridge, Chaoyang district. He said the driver told him that this is how it's supposed to be in bad weather.

"Such complaints aren't new at all in Beijing. Overcharging happens even in fine weather conditions, however, it is never dealt with properly," said Guo Yushan, director of the Transition Institute, which conducts research and surveys on taxi companies.

According to Guo, the local government controls the number of taxis on Beijing's roads, currently around 66,000, which are managed by 12 major companies.

"There's no market competition between the companies, meaning their profits don't rely on their reputations, so they couldn't care less about the customer's complaints," added Guo.

The Ministry of Transport announced in January that taxi drivers could be fined for bartering for higher fares without using the meter or cutting a journey short.

However, Liu Meiyin, an official from the taxi industry management office, admitted that there were no nationwide regulations for the punishment of drivers or companies, Xinhua News Agency reported on January 18.