Insane Harrassment 3064 Bayshore Park

Mr LC informs the following on 12/03/2012:

First of all, I would like to congratulate you for the great initiative on your site against the rudeness of the taxi drivers in Singapore nowadays.

My job requires many, many taxi journeys around Singapore in different locations. I had plenty of incidents and I witnessed countless times of indecent and rude behavior from many taxi drivers, but nothing compares with the incident I had last Thursday (8 of March 2012) @10:25 am in Bayshore Park - East Coast.

I booked a cab and I got one shortly. I went in front of the building, saw the cab and, as I wouldn't want to take other people's taxi- I decided to politely ask the driver if he was booked with my name. The following dialog took place:

Me: " Good morning sir. Can you please tell me if this taxi is booked?"

Taxi driver: " Who do you think you are to ask me that question?!" - in a very loud and rude way.

Me: " I am sorry sir, I just want to know if this taxi is booked on my name since I just booked a taxi a couple of minutes ago and I received the confirmation that it arrived".

Taxi driver: " Who do you think you are to ask me if I am booked or not?! This taxi is not for you!"

I checked the number of the taxi and I apologized (shocked by the man's behavior).

In the meantime, my taxi arrived and before taking it, (again politely) I decided to ask the angry taxi driver if I upset him with something and tell him that his behaviour is not appropriate.

Instantly he got out of his car and in front of other shocked people passing by, he started to yell that he is going to sue me (over and over again) if I will complain about this incident. I got in my taxi, but he was coming toward my car repeating "I am going to sue you! See you in court!" and (!!!) showing me obscene gestures with his hands and body repeatedly.

I nicely took his car number, 3064, but I don't have the full number - as I was in shock and frankly quite afraid by his inappropiate behavior. I remember it was a half black \ half yellow cab. It might have been a private driver - @50 years old.

Being a kind man and tending to forgive, I firstly wanted to just let it go and not let it affect my day, but the driver of the taxi I got in, also shocked, told me that this was absolutely not right and I should call LTA immediately. I did call LTA and submitted a complaint against the taxi driver. I also took the particulars of MY taxi driver (name and car number) just in case I'll need a witness.

This is not my first incident but it IS the first one I'm complaining about, as I can't tolerate this kind of behavior anymore. There are plenty of people out there willing to get a job in these taxi companies.

This has to be looked into and I am very determined now to pursue this case and follow it closely until appropriate action is taken.

I am tired of closing an eye on the fact that many of the taxi drivers in Singapore are rude, nosy, drive much too fast (sometimes the speed reaches 140 km/h! while barely able to keep their eyes open, as they are very tired after a long shift). This incident was the last drop in the bucket for me. The situation is way out of control. There must be some rules that apply to them and an authority that supervises what they do.

Please advice me on what I can do. This kind of people must be stopped from behaving like in a jungle. Common sense tells me we need to be civil to one another, regardless of race, age or social status.

This is precisely what happens to all of us. We keep quiet and tolerate these drivers time and time again because [they are old/it's a difficult life for them/we have no time to pursue the matter] - and the only thing this serves to achieve is to encourage worse behaviour from them. And only when the behaviour is outrageous or when our life is in danger do we think about pursuing the matter. Unfortunately, it is too late by then and the hooligan you've had the misfortune of dealing with in this case is probably beyond redemption. This ruffian needs to be removed from the roads now for the safety of the people but he may have been saved if a few of us had lodged a complaint at the point when he was just an obnoxious and rude driver. Thank you for appreciating this little blog and I hope the many others who drop by here take the effort to lodge a complaint with LTA through their online feedback form whenever they come across rude drivers. As a rule of thumb, I lodge a complaint when the behaviour is something that I would not tolerate from my teenage daughter or from my colleagues. We shouldn't complain for petty things but we also shouldn't tolerate callousness.

Driver Dares Passenger To Complain SHD2154K Bencoolen

SM informs the following on 12/03/2012:

Last night; 11 March 2012 Sunday at around 9.15pm, outside IBIS Hotel Bencoolen lobby, I was there to fetch my Hong Kong friend to my place at Sengkang with 2 kids (10 and 11) and elderly lady (and myself.). A total of 3 adults and 2 kids.

The hotel's concierge service staff was at the lobby organizing the taxi and queue.

At that juncture, there were no crowd (only us) and only that taxi (SHD 2154 K) parking at the pouch. The hotel staff signal the taxi and he drove out of the pouch to the pick up point and seeing us having 5 persons, he told us that he could not took us. I understand the regulation and said it is fine.

The concierge staff suggested us to book a 7-seater taxi for SGD 50 per trip and I told him that was expensive. He then suggested that we booked 2 taxi and it was a great ideas and I asked him to go ahead to arrange. He signal the first taxi ((SHD 2154 K) to come by and told him that we have intended to go by two taxis instead of one. To my horrific surprise, he told the concierge staff that he doesn't want to take us and signal to the Caucasian lady (by now, she is behind us) to come forward to him. As both him and Caucasian lady were discussing on the route to go, I walked toward the taxi and lean forward to the passenger window and asked him “Are you choosing your passenger now?".

He replied me "What do I means" and I told him who was on the line first (me or the Caucasian lady) and asked him again is he choosing who he wanted to take?

By now, the Caucasian lady hearing our conversation has walked back to the queue. I told the taxi driver I am going to feedback to his company.

I was shocked to hear what he was going to say to me next...

He told me adamantly to go ahead to complaint and said thank you to me for complaining him.

He was challenging me to complaint on him!!!

And there after he drove off.

The arrogance and ugliness behavior of this taxi driver leave a bad impression of my visiting friend from Hong Kong and even as Singaporeans, I am freak out by this kind of customer service and attitude.

I am not a trouble maker and I certainly has no time to write complaining letter but because of his unbecoming attitude of being a service provider as taxi driver and insistence to ask me to complaint, I am determined to expose him to the authority.

This is the result of too many of us giving the benefit to these drivers and practicing a 'let it go' mindset when we encounter such ruffians. When a driver behaves rudely and sees that there is no repercussion, he will simply be emboldened to be even more rude the next time. It is just a matter of time before the driver becomes a thug or hooligan in car and by then it is too late to correct the attitude. This is the problem that we are facing right now and it was my intention to help change this forgiving mindset of taxi commuters. We must tackle bad behaviour when it rears its ugly head and not after it has become rooted as a habit.