Woman berates and insults female PHV driver for not answering calls: ‘Your husband must not like you’
A private-hire vehicle (PHV) driver was injured in an altercation with a passenger on the morning of March 24.
Stomper Hamico, who is the Grab driver’s daughter, said her mother suffered head injuries and a fractured finger.
Her mother had accepted a booking to drive a woman and her husband from Khatib MRT station to Yishun Street 51.
“Shortly after she accepted the job, the passenger repeatedly called my mother multiple times. At that point, my mother was still driving towards the pickup location and needed to focus on the road. Therefore, she was unable to answer the first call,” recounted Hamico.
“When the passenger called again, my mother picked up. However, the woman did not respond and seemed to be speaking to someone else on her end. My mother tried saying ‘hello’ several times, but received no reply. Hence, she ended the call and continued driving.”
When the driver picked up the couple, the woman insisted on sitting in the front passenger seat despite her husband asking her to sit in the back, said the Stomper.
“Once seated, the woman immediately began scolding my mother for not answering her calls earlier. There was a strong smell of alcohol coming from her. My mother chose to remain calm and focused on driving.”
But the woman started shouting and used vulgarities, pointing her finger at the driver, claimed the Stomper.
Hamico shared a six-minute video taken by her mother at the destination, where the Mandarin-speaking woman refused to alight and continued berating the driver in the vehicle as her husband stood outside.
The woman also took out her phone to take a video of the driver who tried to explain what happened, but the argument escalated.
The passenger said she was angry because the driver was arrogant. The driver retorted that the passenger’s anger was the passenger’s own personal problem and had nothing to with the driver.
The passenger replied in Mandarin: “I feel like you’re one with personal problems, not me. I believe when your husband look at you, he must not like you. Right?”
In response, the driver asked what right the passenger had to insult her and whether the passenger’s husband liked the passenger, who intoned: “My husband doesn’t like me.” She then seemed to freeze for a second before changing the subject to whether it was right for the driver to be taking the video.
By then, the passenger’s husband had walked away from the vehicle and sat on a railing at the roadside.
The argument continued for several more minutes until the passenger pushed away the driver’s phone, resulting in a physical altercation.
The Stomper said: “She knocked my mother’s phone onto the floor. When my mother bent down to pick it up, the woman grabbed her hair, yanked it forcefully and repeatedly hit her on the head.”
In the video, the passenger’s husband can be heard coming to stop the altercation. The passenger shouts that the driver hit her first. However, the driver claims the passenger hit her first. The passenger then says she only hit the driver’s phone. The video ends after that.
Hamico told Stomp that her mother called the police, who came and advised the driver to go to the hospital.
“As her daughter, I feel deeply upset and angry that she had to endure such abuse while simply doing her job,” said the Stomper.
“I hope by sharing this incident, it raises awareness and that appropriate action will be taken as we’ve also lodged a police report.”
In response to a Stomp query, the police confirmed that a report was lodged.
Stomp has contacted Grab for more information.
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