CAB'S STEERING WHEEL CLAMPED BY
MISTAKE
Mr Lim Soon Hong, aged 35, signed up as a Premier Taxi (Silvercab)
driver on October 12th (2005). As he was preparing to start his
shift, he discovered his steering wheel clamped by his
company and saw a notice on the car, saying he owed cab
rental.
It turned out to be a technical glitch. Premier
Taxis soon apologised and released the clamp after My Lim
complained a few hours later. By then, Mr Lim had missed an
appointment (booking) to drive a customer, and was too upset to
continue his shift.
This glitch happened because Mr Lim pays his cab rentals every 3
days by post-dated cheques while waiting for the GIRO application
to be approved.
Premier Taxis had sinced waived the one day rental for Mr Lim. But
the damage had since been done..
On a similar report in the article on cab rental payment
defaulters, ComfortDelgro and other operators also faced the same
problem. Reminder notices, stretching repayment schemes for cabbies
with valid rental-defaulting reasons are ComfortDelgro's
strategies.
SMART Automobiles introduced an incentive scheme in June. The
scheme is: Cabbies who owes no more than 7 days a month in
cab rental will recieve cash incentives of $205 per month.
About 80% of SMART's cabbies pays promptly with this scheme
presence.
Article taken from The Straits Times, page H10. (24th November
2005)
