Taxi driver collects passenger art

A US taxi driver has collected more than 7,000 drawings from customers after asking them to become artists during journeys.

Fabio Peralta, who works in New York City, always travels with a pen and supply of computer paper which he hands to passengers before driving them to their destinations.

"I tell them to create art, any kind of art," Peralta told The New York Post. "I don't care what it is. Whatever comes to their brain, I say.

"Doctors, lawyers, bankers will say: 'Hey, I'm no artist'. And I tell them they become one in my cab. I never had a painting I didn't like, no matter how bad it is."

The cabbie, who started his job 40 years ago, has also been encouraging his passengers to record videos in the back seat in recent months.

He explained: "People do whatever. They wave to the camera, they talk about their day, they tell stories. I ask if they want to be filmed, and then I pull over in a safe spot."