A local taxi driver has lost his operating license for forcing a Japanese passenger to pay 2,300 yuan ($375.82) for a 4-kilometer ride in Pudong New Area, local media reported Sunday.

The Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority also required the driver, surnamed Zhao, to return the money to the passenger, according to a report in the Shanghai Law Journal.

The victim, who was not identified beyond his nationality, got into Zhao's taxi last month near the Longyang Road Station on metro Line 2 and asked to be taken to the Okura Garden Hotel, a luxury hotel in Huangpu district.

While passing the intersection of Yanggao Road South and Pujian Road, Zhao demanded the exorbitant charge, the report said. To prevent the passenger from leaving, Zhao stopped the car, locked the doors and told the passenger not to call the police. The passenger gave the driver 500 yuan that he had on him, plus another 1,800 yuan worth of foreign currency.

It was unclear if Zhao physically threatened the passenger.

The passenger later reported the incident to a taxi customer complaint hotline. An enforcement team from the Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority used surveillance video footage and satellite tracking data to determine which taxi the passenger had taken that day. The investigators then questioned the driver, Zhao, who worked for Shanghai Mingtai Taxi Co, one of the smaller taxi companies in the city.

Zhao initially refused to acknowledge that he overcharged the passenger, but he changed his tune after investigators confronted him with the evidence they had collected. He eventually admitted to taking advantage of the passenger.

The transportation authority advises passengers who run into similar trouble to call the police and photograph the driver and the taxi's license plate, said Chen Zhaohui, a press officer from the Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority's law enforcement team.