Mercs Driver Who Tossed SBS Driver’s Phone Has Been Charged & Could be Fined Up to $2,000

Have you ever gotten so mad at someone that you decided to snatch something from them and throw it on the ground?

Well, this was a common sight back in primary school. 

On the other hand, a 42-year-old man, who most likely isn’t a primary school student, did that to a bus driver because he was mad for being honked at.

The Incident Recap 

Mr Teo Kian Chin, 42, was honked at by a bus driver as his car was blocking the way as the bus was exiting the bus stop on 31 October 2022.

The incident took place along Flora Drive, near Loyang.

Following this, Mr Teo steps out of his car to have a brief verbal argument with the bus captain and moves his car away from the area.

After that, Mr Teo decides to stop the car some distance away and then proceeds to walk back to the bus.

Mr Teo reaches for the emergency door button to force his way onto the bus and argued with him.

A lady, who is supposedly a passenger in Mr Teo’s car, boarded the bus and tried to coax him to alight.

Not only did Mr Teo verbally abuse the bus captain, but he also snatches his phone and throws it on the road very aggressively.

The lady then picked up the bus captain’s phone and returned it back to him.

Response from SBS Transit’s Vice President 

This incident that was captured and posted online has garnered the attention of many netizens, with a total of 268k views on Facebook.

Mrs Grace Wu, vice president of customer experience and communications at SBS Transit, said that SBS does not “tolerate acts of harassment, intimidation and verbal abuse against our bus captains.”

The bus captain was in communication with SBS Transit’s operations control centre and contacted the police to help them at the time.

Statement Made by MP

Other than Mrs Wu, another MP has also made his statement.

If you reside in the Radin Mas area, cheer for your MP— Mr Melvin Yong.

Apart from being your neighbourhood MP, Mr Yong is also the National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general and National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) executive secretary.

He described Mr Teo’s actions as “thuggish and unreasonable”, and added that The National Transport Workers’ Union does not tolerate any abuse of their public transport workers when they are performing their duties.

Police Report Made, Driver Charged in Court 

The police report has been made on 1 November 2022 and Mr Teo was charged in court for committing a public nuisance.

If he is convicted, he can be fined up to S$2,000.

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Similar Incidents in The Past 

This is not the first case of abuse towards bus drivers in Singapore.

In 2020, a man was jailed for attacking a bus driver as he needed to use the bathroom urgently.

This incident took place back in 5 November 2020.

A 63-year-old man, Mr Isman Abdullah, had boarded the bus along Macpherson Road at about 10.15 pm, with his mask pulled down to his chin.

He only pulled it back over his nose after the bus driver, Mr Chan Ka Yang, reminded him to do so.

At one of the bus stops along the way, Mr Chan had stopped to give commuter directions, as many bus drivers do. He then asked the commuter to board the bus.

At this point, Mr Isman was annoyed with this delay, which he perceived to be unnecessary, as he needed to urinate.

He asked the driver to explain the delay, becoming verbally aggressive in the process, and demanded that he speed up.

17 minutes later, the 63-year-old pressed the bell repeatedly to alight and got off the bus from the back door.

Here, most of us would rush home or to the nearest bathroom to pee, right?

Instead, Mr Isman became irritated when he saw another commuter asking Mr Chan for directions.

So, he walked up to the front of the bus, shouted at Mr Chan (with his mask pulled down), and then went up to the driver and shoved his face.

After Isman left the bus, Mr Chan immediately closed the doors. He did not retaliate to the 63-year-old man’s attack.

The incident was captured on the surveillance cameras and Mr Isman was sentenced to five weeks in jail and fined $1,000 for voluntarily causing hurt to Mr Chan and not wearing a mask.

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Featured Image: ROADS.sg / Facebook.com