City taxi inspectors seized a Queens man’s minivan at JFK Airport because they thought he was an illegal cabby — but he claims he was just dropping off two neighbors for a flight.
“It was a shock to me they thought I was a cab driver,” said Melih Kalyoncu, 61, a Turkish-American who immigrated to the US in 1980.
The mailman said he drove his Little Neck neighbors to JFK on May 1 so they could catch a flight to San Francisco.
TLC officers approached the couple and asked who he was. Neighbor George Arnold said Kalyoncu was his “brother,” which he calls him affectionately.
When the inspectors asked Kalyoncu what their relationship was, he said he was the couple’s mailman — and the officers seized his car.
He pleaded guilty and said he paid $600 to get back his van quickly.
A TLC spokesman said he could have paid bond to get his car back, and then fought the summons in court. The agency also said Kalyoncu told inspectors the couple was his client.
An enforcement unit was opened at JFK last year to stop illegal cabs.
“Due to the crazy amount of pressure, they are resorting to less scrupulous tactics, such as racial profiling,” a source said.