'Dangerous Face' SHD9115

Mr Hui informs the following on 24/09/2011:

Dear Minister Lui,

This taxi incident is a small but dangerous indication of how bad some of the taxi drivers and taxi companies have become. Please spare 5 mins of your busy schedule to read this case.

1. On the morning of 23 Sep 2011, at around 6:30 am, I was trying to call for a Comfort Cab for my younger daughter. As I was still not able to get a cab, my elder daughter (not sure why she picked this company?) called Transcab to try. We finally got our comfirmation from Comfort. My elder daughter stopped calling Transcab as there was no confirmation.

2. Meanwhile I left home to drive my elder girl to the airport.

3. At about 6.45am (based on the account provided by my younger daughter), a Transcab taxi SHD9115 appeared in front of my house. He first horned. When my daughter opened our gate, she realised this was not the Comfort Cab that I had comfirmed for her. She told the driver that this could have been a mistake. The driver insisted that she must take his taxi. He came out of the taxi and shouted at my daughter. He kept insisting. He was angry and he refused to leave, standing outside of my house. He came across in a threatening manner. My daughter had no choice but to close the gate. He is identified to be quite a young man wearing spectacles.

4. When my daughter related the incident to me via sms, I found it totally unacceptable in a civil society like Singapore. Why would this driver by so insistent, loud, angry and threatening - bullying a young girl? All he needs to do is to call back his taxi company to affirm whether there was a confirmed booking.

5. I called Transcab general line 65553333 at about 7:40am to confirm that it is their company's taxi and to request for their Customer Service Manager to call me.

6. No return call received. By 8:53am, I called the other office number 62876666 and still could not get to speak to the CS manager. Only by 10:27am when I called again, I was able to reach a MIss Cherly (?) who took down my complaint dliligently. I called back at about 11.45am to request that this is a serious matter which I would like the company's General Manager to investigate quickly and request for an acknowledgement call from the GM.

7. As there was no return call, I managed to obtain the GM number at 66031250. Nobody answered and the voice mail belongs to a MIss Jasmine (supposedly the GM). Throughout the day, I left several polite messages for her to return call but to no avail. Only at about 4:30pm, I had a missed clal from a number 66031270. I called back and realised that this is the GM's assistant. But once again I asked to speak to the GM and she did not returned call.

8. This morning I left a message on Miss Jasmine's number again and I have not received any attempt to assist me in this matter.

9. I wonder what kind of taxi drivers do we licensed on the road? And what kind of taxi companies are being permitted to operate in Singapore? We are rude, unkind, shout and threaten even to our own Singaporeans? Or do we only want to be polite to non-Singaporens?

10. The irony is, on Thur 22 Sep 2011, I was hosted lunch by the Global CEO of a US multi-national and his comment was : "Most things worked well in Singapore, EXCEPT your taxis!" I was pretty embarassed to be in that company of top management executives from different parts of the world. I have personally travelled to many global cities - New York, London, HongKong, Seoul, and I have yet to encountered rude or poor taxi service. Unfotunately this has to start in my homeground.

Dear Minister, this is a major time-bomb (based on the reported incidents on the net, blogs and actual cases experienced by many of my foreign partners who have trouble with our system) and we need a quick fix. Thank you for your time.

Dear Mr Chew - LTA, I have logged the complaint at LTA hotline yeaterday at about 10:47am Please advise what is LTA follow-up action and when can I know the outcome. And also please share with the public how taxi companies with poor service records are being handled in their renewal of license. I attached a recent case report in Shin Min Daily News of a woman being charged $700 by a Transcab Taxi ( http://forums.vr-zone.com/chit-chatting/1669269-woman-charged-s-700-taxi-ride.html).

Dear Mr Han - ST, you may want to get one of your reporters to follow up on my case if this is of public interest.

Dear Miss Jasmine - Transcab, I have tried very hard to contact you about this case, but you have chosen not to respond. If you were the General Manger of this company and if you care about customer's feedback and the lack of disciplne of your taxi drivers, you would have taken this matter more seriously. I am concerned about the safty of my daughter when a stranger behaved this manner in front of my house. Your driver of SHD9115 is a "dangerous" face of your company.

Dear Mr Teo Khiang Ang - MD of Transcab and Union Energy , I request that you - as the major owner & MD of Transcab and the public face in the media - please try and do a better job on the services. Attempts to call you yesterday was futile. So please spare us all the media publicity about Union Energy and Transcab when you are not able to provide good service or show care for your customers.

Dear Miss Teo Lee Fong, please add this story to your collection of the ugly Singapore Taxi drivers. Thanks for maintaining such a site.

Thank you all for your time.

Thank you for taking the time to pen this and do keep us posted on the outcome.