I am writing in on behalf of my dad, 62, whom is the Taxi Driver. Sharing in the video, on his experience with an erroneous and arrogant passenger who tried to evade the Taxi fare and stirred a series of trouble.
He then tapped my dad’s hands with his hands and took that as a ‘payment’. My dad refused him to get off the car as he hadn’t paid up. The passenger shouted “I don’t want to pay, CALL THE POLICE!”. The passenger went berserk and created a ruckus in the car, provoking my dad to call the police, and started peeling the ID tag off the windshield, which he claims to use it for his ‘evident’.
As matters escalated and got out of hand, my dad decided to get out of the car and approached two by-passers for assistance.
Meanwhile, the police were informed and the passenger got off the cab and continued his ruckus, this time round tried to check with my dad with his body against my dad’s, somehow trying to initiate some form of retaliation but apparently failed.
The bystanders told the passenger to return the ID Tag and pay up and my dad added on saying that he can forget about the matter as soon as he pays up and return the tag. He refused. Continuing to exclaim how proud he is as an ex-convict, how rich and how capable, and how he owns a multi-million property showing how he’s above the law.
The bystanders revealed to my dad that the passenger owns a stall nearby, along Lorong Lew Lian.
Soon after, 2 policemen arrived and managed to persuade the passenger courteously to pay up or he will be charged. Chickened out, he returned the ID tag and ended up paying with NETS despite having the cash on hand.
Never mind, he purposefully keyed in the wrong PIN repeatedly and blame it on the card-reader. He then took out another card and proceeded with the payment, this time round, successfully on the first attempt. In the end, the payment went through and he smirked and told my dad, whilst in front of the police officers, saying he did that on purpose so to waste my dad’s precious working time.
The police officers then told my dad not to provoke him sternly. Without an official report or documentations, my dad was asked to leave- which was my dad’s intention. My dad was professional all the time and did not agitate the passenger at all. My dad was confused by the police officers’ attitude towards the matter, as if it was my dad’s fault to begin with, or was too intimidated by the passenger’s stature.
When I first heard the story, I am very thankful and grateful, from the bottom of my heart, to the two bystanders who stood up for my dad’s unfortunate encounter. Also, I am disappointed with the policemen’s judgment as there is an increasing trend of fare evasion and abusive passenger.
Usually the evaders will just alight and run scot-free but this time round the passenger took it to the next. I came across similar incidents on the news and always prayed that these events shall never happen to my dad.
There is little system governing Taxi drivers and people are taking advantage of it. Making a report and claim requires an arduous, grueling and tedious process such as trips to police station and also multiple trips to respective claim centers which, at the end of the day, MAY and ONLY pays out the original fare – which accounts to more time and money, wasted.
Reporting to the police was never Taxi Driver’s first choice as it brings more trouble, so the usual way of handling is to just blame it on their luck. Abusive passengers, for this case, are why Taxi drivers break their silence.
I am here writing in, to advocate and urge passengers not to abuse the Taxi drivers. Fare evasion is as good as theft. Taxi Drivers are also of someone else’s family member and could be the sole breadwinner.
Respect is mutual, and what goes around comes around.
