On April 13, 2006, my girlfriend and I was verbally abused and
harassed by a taxi driver driving a silvercab.
We got on the silvercab that was parked in front of 7-11 Orchard
building. We told the taxi driver to send us to two destinations.
We told him to send me to Bedok North Rd and then to send my
girlfriend to Tampines.
The cab driver, who was a male Chinese in his late 30s, was
driving recklessly at about 100 to 110 km/h throughout most of the
journey. About 5 minutes into the journey, there was a truck that
was driving slowly in front of us. The taxi driver followed very
closely behind the truck honking away at it. This forced the truck
to speed up. The taxi driver then made a sudden swerve to the right
and then sped off.
At about this time, there was a very bad stench. My girlfriend
wound down the window a little bit to let some air in for
circulation. Upon seeing this, the taxi driver shouted angrily,
Close the window, aircon on. We were surprised that he had to
shout. My girlfriend replied that there is a bad odour and that we
do not want to suffocate. With this he reacted by winding down all
the windows.
As we exited pie at bedok north road, it was about 20-25 minutes
past midnight. He shouted at us again, "Tell me where to turn". I
said, Ok. Sure. I felt it was not right for my girlfriend to
continue the journey to tampines with the very aggressive driver. I
feared for her safety and told her to drop off with me to take
another cab home. When we stopped at bedok north road, my
girlfriend told the driver that he can stop the meter as she will
not be continuing my journey to tampines. He turned around and with
a very angry look and shouted, "What did you say? She repeated and
was still very calm. He then replied, Ok. No problem.
My girlfriend gave him some money and he gave me 17 dollars change.
As we were getting out of the cab, my girlfriend asked me, How
much did I give the driver, was it 50 or 20? My girlfriend was
beside the cab and still checking how much she had left in her
wallet to check how much she had given him. The driver then wound
down his window and through the passenger side shouted "How much I
give you?" My girlfriend then asked him, How much was the fare?"
She asked so that she can calculate the difference.
He then shouted back, "I ask you how much you just say how much." I
then peered through the passenger side and told the driver "You
don't have to shout at my girlfriend, you can talk to her nicely."
My girlfriend then returned the extra 10 dollars the driver gave by
mistake. The taxi driver kept shouting at me, "Whats your problem
hah? What's your problem?" He then said, You wait. You wait. He
turned off the cab engine and got out of the cab, all the while
shouting.
As he was approaching me, he said "You think I'm scared ah? You
think I'm taxi driver I'm scared ah. So what silvercab?"
By this time he was looking very aggressive and he shouted, I
don't give a f***. I don't give a f*** who is standing here in
front. I just shouted at her what. I did not f*** her. You so angry
for what? F***!
He came very close to us about 1m away. He then hurled more verbal
abuse by shouting, Don't want to go tampines, want to f*** is it?"
He then challenged me to a fight by saying, "So what. You want to
fight me ah. You fight me I fight back"
We took his registration no. and did not look back.
At this point my girlfriend told me to walk away and make a
complain to silvercab. She was shaking and was very afraid for her
life as she didn't know what else he might do.
The taxi driver the shouted, Complain ah. Singaporeans always
complain what. You not
gentleman. You gentleman come and fight ah."
He went back into his taxi and as he drove away, he shouted out the
passenger window, "You want to f***, I send you to geylang."
My girlfriend lodged a complaint to silvercab and Lin informed her
that they will notify her of the actions taken. My girlfriend was
still shaking when she made the report and broke down when she had
to recall all the vulgarities he said.
We also lodged a report to the police for verbal abuse and
harassment.
I am very disappointed with silvercab to allow such a dangerous
person out in the streets. What if it happened to a person with a
weak heart? Something should be done to keep control of this.
