Passenger Punched Grab Driver Due to Another ‘Cancellation War’

Think Youtube boxing matches are the in thing right now?

Well think – alright so maybe it’s pretty cool to see people who make videos for a living start punching each other’s nutsack off, but that’s not the point.

The point’s that Grab fights are in the in thing now, as the headline can concur.

Granted, there might not be consent on both parties’ parts (in this case anyway). There’s also no referee involved, unless you count Mr Mike Tyson Wannabe’s dad. And while there’s no TKO option, there’s no official way to… well win the match too.

But there’s no doubt that it’s a fight.

Even if it’s technically a criminal offence on the aggressor’s part. Like definitely.

What happened?

A Grab driver found himself on the receiving end of a fist by a passenger just last Friday (15 June), when conflicts arose over a ride cancellation debate. The incident took place at Ang Mo Kio at around 10:15 p.m.

Taking to Stomp after the incident, the driver described how the incident took place.

Apparently, the passenger had a child, alongside a few other family members when attempting to get on the car.

However, Land Transport Authority (LTA) has a rule against private hire vehicles ferrying children below the height of 1.35m without a child seat.

Just so you know, the passenger should have booked a GrabFamily: a tad more expensive but that would be legal, and also keep the child safe. Either that or GrabTaxi.

As such, the driver told the passenger that he was unable to give them a ride.

What ensued, was a flurry of fists that led to the summoning of an ambulance and treatment services at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

Breakdown

There’s actually a video that accompanies the whole story, which you may watch here.

But if you can’t because you’re using your data now, here’s a manual breakdown, accompanied by Stomp-exclusive commentary on the victim’s part.

In the video, the Grab driver can be heard asking the family if the kid’s boarding the car too. When they affirmed his suspicions, he replied “you cannot like that”, and requested for them to cancel the ride.

“I wound down my windows and informed them that I cannot ferry them,” the driver said. “The guy, who was believed to be the dad of the child then said ‘cannot then you cancel’.

“I told him ‘you made a mistake by choosing JustGrab instead of choosing GrabTaxi, so you should be the one to cancel and not me’.”

Thereafter, the passenger asked him to get down from the vehicle to ‘talk’. But the moment the driver opened his door, the passenger rushed to his side and delivered potentially two successive punches.

“Therefore, he asked me to get down the vehicle to talk so I did. But when I opened my door, he ran to my side and gave me one or two punch, which I do not recall as the first punch nearly knocked me out.”

“I thought he could not hear me that is why I alighted, then end up let him punch.”

It seems that a woman there, whom the driver believed was the passenger’s wife, then intervened.

“After that, a woman whom I believed was his wife, grabbed hold of the guy and pulled him away from me.

“I told him, it is not I refuse to ferry or I do not want to ferry them, but LTA set the rule and if drivers do not follow it, the driver has to bear the fine as well as three demerit points.”

Subsequently, the Grab driver spoke to someone he believed was the assailant’s father, who could only keep quiet while he protested.

“I told him I was just doing my job and he just kept quiet all the way.

“I then called the police and ambulance. But while I was on the phone with the police, the family just walked off, leaving me alone there, and they did not even apologised.”

“I did not follow the ambulance back because they were going to bring me to a Government hospital, which has a long waiting time. It is also time-consuming to travel all the way back to my vehicle.

“So I called my friend and she went with me to Mount Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.”

Breakdown 2

Now, if you’ve watched the video, you might also come across two things:

• The driver, while polite and correct, wasn’t exactly calm
• He also wasn’t exactly polite when he said this: “Eh, this one is your fault what, not my fault. You don’t know meh? Hari Raya you like that?
• That was also when the passenger got triggered

But still, of course, violence shouldn’t be the solution to anything (unless you’re Logan Paul or KSI lah).

Grab stands behind its man

When questioned, a Grab spokesperson confirmed the Grab driver’s beliefs, and indicated their support for him.

“Grab takes the safety of our drivers and passengers seriously and does not tolerate such behaviour in our community.

“A child under 1.35m traveling in cars without a child restraint device is illegal under Singapore law, and we remind all passengers to book the relevant GrabFamily service when traveling with a child. Alternately, passengers can book GrabTaxi.

“We are cooperating with the police investigations and will support our affected driver-partner during this difficult time.”

This isn’t the first Grab altercation

In late May, an Audi Grab driver and his passenger got into an argument over similar ride cancellation issues, and it resulted in the driver lashing out and fracturing four of his passenger’s teeth.

And in mid Feb, a construction contractor got all physical when his driver broke an appointment to return his lost phone. The former was subsequently sentenced to five months’ jail for offences including criminal intimidation and drug consumption.

Why are people so reluctant to cancel rides?

For drivers, if they cancel too many times, it would affect their incentives; they have to maintain a certain percentage to be eligible for them.

On the other hand, for a rider, if he or she has cancelled more than twice in a week, a cancellation fee of $5 will be imposed.

Now you know why there’s often a cancellation war.

Now you know what Singaporeans are talking about today; do check back tomorrow for another piece of news of the day!