Grab driver allegedly punched in face by passenger after both refuse to cancel ride

Stomper Grab driver was allegedly punched in the face by a passenger over a ride cancellation dispute at Ang Mo Kio last Friday (Jun 15) at 10.15pm.

Grab driver said he only knew that the passenger had a child, as well as a few other family members, with him upon arriving at the destination.

And because of Land Transport Authority's (LTA) rule against private hire vehicles ferrying children below the height of 1.35m without a child seat, Grab driver informed the passenger that he could not ferry them.

In a video Grab driver shared with Stomp, he is heard asking the family if the kid is boarding the car as well. When the family said yes, Grab driver responded with "you cannot like that", and asked them to cancel the ride on their side.

(Story continues after video)

Grab driver said: "I wound down my windows and informed them that I cannot ferry them. 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'. 

"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."

"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."

Grab driver also told Stomp that he spoke to someone whom he believed was the father of the guy who punched him.

"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."

In response to a Stomp query, a Grab spokesperson said: "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.”

A police spokesman also told Stomp that they were alerted to a case of voluntarily causing hurt at 10.20pm at the carpark of Block 641 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4.

He said: "Police investigations are ongoing."