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Cabby terrorised by teen girls
They even accused me of molest to escape paying fare, claims driver.
Joyce Lim
Wed, Sep 26, 2012
The New Paper
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]Mr Jack Tay indicates where the incident happened and the girls caught on CCTV (inset).
SINGAPORE - A cabby's fare dispute with teenage girls took a dramatic and dangerous turn when one of them tumbled out of his moving taxi.
The ComfortDelGro cabby, Mr Jack Tay, got the shock of his life when he saw the bespectacled girl jumping out from his taxi as he was making a right turn from Haig Road to Dunman Road in the direction of Joo Chiat.
He told The New Paper that the girl had done that to escape being taken to the police for not paying the fare.
"When I turned around, the rear door on the left had swung open. Before I could stop the car, she jumped out and landed on her buttocks in the middle of the traffic junction," Mr Tay, 37, said.
Rushed to help
When he stopped the taxi by the side of the road, the girl's two friends rushed out to help her.
"Before I could get to the girl, her friends had picked her up and all three dashed diagonally across the traffic junction and disappeared into Haig Road," he said.
He was driving to Joo Chiat Neighbourhood Police Post because the girls were unable to pay their cab fare.
The incident happened on Saturday at about 9.40pm.
The police confirmed that Mr Tay had made a report. Investigations are ongoing.
Mr Tay alleged that the girls had also accused him of molest in a bid to make him let them go.
He said he had picked up four girls at Lucky Plaza at about 8.55pm. They asked to be taken to 112 Katong shopping centre on East Coast Road.
They arrived there at about 9.15pm and the fare was $16.90, inclusive of surcharges.
One of the girls handed her student ez-link card to Mr Tay to pay for the ride.
He said: "One can pay for taxi rides with ez-link cards, but not a student pass.
"But I gave them the benefit of the doubt and swiped the card on my card reader. As expected, the transaction failed."
Another girl then handed over her student ez-link card, which also didn't work.
Mr Tay asked if they had cash, and one of them suggested paying by Nets and handed him her POSB ATM card.
The card reader showed an error message again because she did not key in the correct PIN.
Mr Tay's taxi is equipped with a video camera placed next to the front windscreen and it recorded their exchange.
At one point, a girl was heard saying that she had foreign currency from the Bahamas and wants to pay the fare with it.
But Mr Tay said he only accepts Singapore dollars.
"But we no money, so how?" the girl asked him.
"Then we go to the nearest police station," Mr Tay replied and drove off.
One girl then told him to drive back to Katong 112 because her parents were waiting for her there and she could get money from her mother to pay him.
Mr Tay agreed.
During the journey, the girls complained about his "faulty" card reader and called him unreasonable for wanting to take them to the police.
One of them said: "It's not our fault that your card reader got problem, you know?
"At least can negotiate, lah. We only 14 years old."
Mr Tay said: "Why should I negotiate with you?"
The girl replied: "You want your money, right? So you should negotiate with us, right?"
One of them said she would take down Mr Tay's vehicle number and call her lawyer, giving his name as Shanmugam.
When they arrived at Katong 112, the girl who said her parents were at the mall insisted on going to look for them. Mr Tay let her leave while her three friends remained in his taxi.
After five minutes, the girls told Mr Tay their friend would not return. One of them then made a call to a woman, believed to be her mother, on speaker mode so he could speak to her.
He told her that he would be taking her daughter to the police station and that she could look for her there.
As he drove away from the mall, the girls seemed to panic.
One of them shouted: "If you don't go to a money changer now and let us pay your stupid cab fare, I'll open the door."
When she swung open the left rear door, Mr Tay shouted at her to shut it. She refused.
A slap could then be heard in the recording. Mr Tay was heard saying: "You don't hit me, ah!"
The girl then yelled that Mr Tay had touched her, which he denied.
When she still refused to close the door, Mr Tay stopped his taxi at the traffic junction at East Coast Road and Haig Road, and said that he would call the police.
The girls continued to yell at him and accused him of touching their friend. Again, Mr Tay was heard denying this.
Then he continued the journey on Haig Road towards the police post.
He told TNP: "It was not about the cab fare. The girls did not at any point apologise that they could not pay me.
"Instead, they were threatening to wreck my car door and accused me of molesting them."
After the girls fled, he called the police, who went to the scene and found a foreign currency note in his taxi and handed it to him.
Mr Tay said he still had an ez-link card and a POSB ATM card belonging to two different girls. He handed these and the foreign currency note to the ComfortDelGro office.
He gave TNP a picture of the ez-link card and from the name on it, TNP managed to trace the all-girls school that she goes to.
When contacted, the school's principal said that she is investigating the matter and the girl's mother had told her that she would be meeting her.
Get The New Paper for more stories.
Stage 1.
On arrival at Katong 112, the girls try to pay the $16.90 fare using their student ez-link cards, POSB ATM card and foreign currency. After several failed attempts, cabby Jack Tay decides to take the girls to the police, but one of them asks him to turn back so she can get money from her mother at the mall.
Stage 2.
The girl who leaves the cab does not return after five minutes and Mr Tay again heads to the Joo Chiat police post. One girl opens the left rear door and threatens to damage his taxi. The girls also accuse him of molest.
Stage 3.
As Mr Tay makes a right turn from Haig Road to Dunman Road, one of the girls jumps out of his taxi and lands on the road.
Stage 4.
When Mr Tay stops his taxi by the side of Dunman Road, her friends dash out to help her. They then flee and Mr Tay calls the police.
Here are where the 4 stages of the incident took place.
Mr Jack Tay pointing to the spot where one of the girls had jumped out of his taxi, when he was making a right turn into Dunman Road from Haig Road.
Screenshot from a video camera in ComfortDelGro cabby driver Jack Tay's cab which captured three of four teenage girls who took his cab from Lucky Plaza.
At Lucky Plaza taxi stand, the four teenagers did not get into the cab in front of Mr Jack Tay, but boarded his taxi instead.
A student Ez Link card left behind by one of the girls who had earlier tried to use it to pay for her cab fare.
They even accused me of molest to escape paying fare, claims driver.
Joyce Lim
Wed, Sep 26, 2012
The New Paper
[/FONT]Mr Jack Tay indicates where the incident happened and the girls caught on CCTV (inset).
SINGAPORE - A cabby's fare dispute with teenage girls took a dramatic and dangerous turn when one of them tumbled out of his moving taxi.
The ComfortDelGro cabby, Mr Jack Tay, got the shock of his life when he saw the bespectacled girl jumping out from his taxi as he was making a right turn from Haig Road to Dunman Road in the direction of Joo Chiat.
He told The New Paper that the girl had done that to escape being taken to the police for not paying the fare.
"When I turned around, the rear door on the left had swung open. Before I could stop the car, she jumped out and landed on her buttocks in the middle of the traffic junction," Mr Tay, 37, said.
Rushed to help
When he stopped the taxi by the side of the road, the girl's two friends rushed out to help her.
"Before I could get to the girl, her friends had picked her up and all three dashed diagonally across the traffic junction and disappeared into Haig Road," he said.
He was driving to Joo Chiat Neighbourhood Police Post because the girls were unable to pay their cab fare.
The incident happened on Saturday at about 9.40pm.
The police confirmed that Mr Tay had made a report. Investigations are ongoing.
Mr Tay alleged that the girls had also accused him of molest in a bid to make him let them go.
He said he had picked up four girls at Lucky Plaza at about 8.55pm. They asked to be taken to 112 Katong shopping centre on East Coast Road.
They arrived there at about 9.15pm and the fare was $16.90, inclusive of surcharges.
One of the girls handed her student ez-link card to Mr Tay to pay for the ride.
He said: "One can pay for taxi rides with ez-link cards, but not a student pass.
"But I gave them the benefit of the doubt and swiped the card on my card reader. As expected, the transaction failed."
Another girl then handed over her student ez-link card, which also didn't work.
Mr Tay asked if they had cash, and one of them suggested paying by Nets and handed him her POSB ATM card.
The card reader showed an error message again because she did not key in the correct PIN.
Mr Tay's taxi is equipped with a video camera placed next to the front windscreen and it recorded their exchange.
At one point, a girl was heard saying that she had foreign currency from the Bahamas and wants to pay the fare with it.
But Mr Tay said he only accepts Singapore dollars.
"But we no money, so how?" the girl asked him.
"Then we go to the nearest police station," Mr Tay replied and drove off.
One girl then told him to drive back to Katong 112 because her parents were waiting for her there and she could get money from her mother to pay him.
Mr Tay agreed.
During the journey, the girls complained about his "faulty" card reader and called him unreasonable for wanting to take them to the police.
One of them said: "It's not our fault that your card reader got problem, you know?
"At least can negotiate, lah. We only 14 years old."
Mr Tay said: "Why should I negotiate with you?"
The girl replied: "You want your money, right? So you should negotiate with us, right?"
One of them said she would take down Mr Tay's vehicle number and call her lawyer, giving his name as Shanmugam.
When they arrived at Katong 112, the girl who said her parents were at the mall insisted on going to look for them. Mr Tay let her leave while her three friends remained in his taxi.
After five minutes, the girls told Mr Tay their friend would not return. One of them then made a call to a woman, believed to be her mother, on speaker mode so he could speak to her.
He told her that he would be taking her daughter to the police station and that she could look for her there.
As he drove away from the mall, the girls seemed to panic.
One of them shouted: "If you don't go to a money changer now and let us pay your stupid cab fare, I'll open the door."
When she swung open the left rear door, Mr Tay shouted at her to shut it. She refused.
A slap could then be heard in the recording. Mr Tay was heard saying: "You don't hit me, ah!"
The girl then yelled that Mr Tay had touched her, which he denied.
When she still refused to close the door, Mr Tay stopped his taxi at the traffic junction at East Coast Road and Haig Road, and said that he would call the police.
The girls continued to yell at him and accused him of touching their friend. Again, Mr Tay was heard denying this.
Then he continued the journey on Haig Road towards the police post.
He told TNP: "It was not about the cab fare. The girls did not at any point apologise that they could not pay me.
"Instead, they were threatening to wreck my car door and accused me of molesting them."
After the girls fled, he called the police, who went to the scene and found a foreign currency note in his taxi and handed it to him.
Mr Tay said he still had an ez-link card and a POSB ATM card belonging to two different girls. He handed these and the foreign currency note to the ComfortDelGro office.
He gave TNP a picture of the ez-link card and from the name on it, TNP managed to trace the all-girls school that she goes to.
When contacted, the school's principal said that she is investigating the matter and the girl's mother had told her that she would be meeting her.
Get The New Paper for more stories.
Stage 1.
On arrival at Katong 112, the girls try to pay the $16.90 fare using their student ez-link cards, POSB ATM card and foreign currency. After several failed attempts, cabby Jack Tay decides to take the girls to the police, but one of them asks him to turn back so she can get money from her mother at the mall.
Stage 2.
The girl who leaves the cab does not return after five minutes and Mr Tay again heads to the Joo Chiat police post. One girl opens the left rear door and threatens to damage his taxi. The girls also accuse him of molest.
Stage 3.
As Mr Tay makes a right turn from Haig Road to Dunman Road, one of the girls jumps out of his taxi and lands on the road.
Stage 4.
When Mr Tay stops his taxi by the side of Dunman Road, her friends dash out to help her. They then flee and Mr Tay calls the police.
Here are where the 4 stages of the incident took place.
Mr Jack Tay pointing to the spot where one of the girls had jumped out of his taxi, when he was making a right turn into Dunman Road from Haig Road.
Screenshot from a video camera in ComfortDelGro cabby driver Jack Tay's cab which captured three of four teenage girls who took his cab from Lucky Plaza.
At Lucky Plaza taxi stand, the four teenagers did not get into the cab in front of Mr Jack Tay, but boarded his taxi instead.
A student Ez Link card left behind by one of the girls who had earlier tried to use it to pay for her cab fare.
