Just a month after a woman was given three weeks jail sentence and a fine worth $1000 for attacking a taxi driver, news of another heckled public transport provider surfaced today (5 February) in Singapore.
According to reports, police are investigating the case that took place in Tanjong Pagar in the early morning hours. If convicted, the miscreants may face up to two years' jail, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.
The taxi driver Lance Ng, after enduring harassment in the hands of his passengers, took to Facebook to describe his ordeal. He mentioned that his passengers were Caucasians whom he picked up at Raffles City Shopping Centre in North Bridge Road at around 2.15 am on Sunday.
He further described in his post that one of the men suddenly fell sick during the trip and started vomiting. When the driver wanted to take the car to the petrol kiosk for a quick clean up, they refused and used some wet tissue to clean. However, the car reeked and remained exceptionally dirty.
When the trip ended, the passengers refused to pay the fare, which was less than $10. He immediately called the police and started trailing the duo.
Ng posted several photos and videos of the two men on Facebook. A video even showed that he was shoved to the ground by one of them during an argument. Not only this, the passengers repeatedly denied evading fare and all these were captured in the video.
According to Straits Times, police said that they will not tolerate any form of abuse against public transport providers and action will be taken against those who disobey the law.
However, recently two other such cases made headlines in the Lion City. In the first case, a taxi driver named Mohamed Said Salim was jailed for six months after he severely hit a motorcyclist. The victim received a permanent eye injury following a road rage incident in Singapore. The driver pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt in the State Courts on January 24, 2017.
In the second incident, a taxi driver in Singapore was jailed for two weeks after he kissed an American woman who was his passenger. He was found guilty of outrage of modesty and has also lost his job.
