A Singapore taxi driver has been axed after posting a video online in which he shamed a seemingly intoxicated female passenger who was unable to pay for her Mercedes Benz ride home.
“We have investigated the matter. The way the cabby handled the incident is unacceptable and we have terminated his hiring contract,” ComfortDelGro’s spokesperson Tammy Tan said in a statement to Coconuts Singapore.
“We are in contact with the passenger and have conveyed the outcome of our investigations to her.”
The woman was picked up from the Raffles Place business district, only to realize her bag was not with her when she arrived at her neighborhood estate. Video shows her even checking the trunk of the Mercedes-Benz “limo taxi” to be sure.
The driver then accused her of trying to avoid paying the taxi fare, something he recorded on a video in which he explicitly explained that he planned to shame her publicly.
“Do you want to pay the taxi fare or not?” the driver said repeatedly in the clip, which has been viewed more than 100,000 times on Facebook.
“I’ll make you famous,” he added.
The woman, who could barely open her eyes, tried to convince the driver that she truly did not mean to trick him.
“I want to pay you the fee,” she persisted.
Towards the end of the video, the driver decides to take things to the next level with a sexist rant.
“Look at her, look at her, a young lady like her,” he says. “Tried to avoid paying (the) fare. What the hell. Now, the world is very different. I thought men would do that. It’s OK. You carry on to be an innocent lady, OK?”
He added: “Young, beautiful but a brain full of water.”
In situations like this, where taxi drivers come across drunk passengers who are unable to pay for their rides, drivers are expected to report to the police and the transport operator instead of taking matters into their own hands, ComfortDelGro said.
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