Rider accuses man of delivering food illegally: 'He had been kneeling and crying, so we let him go'

A man broke down in tears at Scotts Road after he was accused of being an illegal food delivery rider.

His accuser was taking a video of him as he tried to cover his face with his arm and then squatted down with his hands clasped to plead for mercy.

The video circulated online and netizens criticised the person taking the video for being so cruel to the man.

I have no words. The cruelty this man showed to a guy who was just trying to make ends meet himself. Why can’t we just be kind to each other, seriously

— Melanie (She/Her) (@machydamia) March 9, 2023

Dang your attitude really shameful. Everyone struggle with own life. Why scolded people like that. You should lost all customers instead get customers.

— 希衿。 (@heythisxijin) March 10, 2023

u don't need to do this it's cruel , life is hard everyone Is trying to make a living. Recording a man crying and interrogating him is just simply overboard. Jus like the one who push a old man for illegally smoking in the void deck causing his death. Cmon live n let live.

— cryptohappydog (@damienchua1982) March 10, 2023

But at least one commenter considered the other side of the story.

Seems that the one who took the video is also a rider based on his hand glove. Not sided anyone but I can understand the feeling when you working damn hard, honesty, applying license, catching up the order etc.. suddenly there is a foreigner cross your work. pic.twitter.com/VG6HjcXCk1

— Mama 3Js (@Jikook97958) March 10, 2023

Stomper Teh was there on March 6 and shared what happened that afternoon.

Teh, who is a food delivery rider, told Stomp that the video was taken by another rider who had caught the man.

"The man was taking an order from Pizza Express in Scotts Square, but this rider found it strange that a Bangladeshi was taking the order," recounted the Stomper.

"So the rider confronted the man who admitted he was an illegal rider. His friend lent him the Foodpanda account so that he could make some money to pay his rent. He was fired from his job days before."

"The rider then asked me to take over as he was rushing."

The Stomper took a video of the man being made to admit using his friend's account.

"He had been kneeling and crying. So we let him go and told him not to ever, ever try his luck breaking Singapore law again. That was it.

"We just left the food on the pavement and told him to go home."

This is not the only such incident. Other local riders are also unhappy over foreigners illegally taking food delivery jobs.

Stomper Shahidah sent the video to a food delivery company with an appeal: "Our community have spotted delivery partners who have misused their accounts and let them be used by foreign work-permit holders.

"I have seen many foreigners doing this, but I'm unable to stop them as I don't have any authourity...

"You need to track down the user to ban him and make a police report on this issue."

It is illegal for foreigners to work as self-employed delivery riders for food delivery applications such as Deliveroo, Foodpanda and GrabFood. People have been arrested for it before.

In response to a Stomp query, a Foodpanda spokesperson said: "We are aware of the incident and the rider account has been suspended. Foodpanda does not condone the illegal use of rider accounts in any manner, and fraudulent accounts will be suspended or blacklisted.

"We have put in place measures to prevent such frauds. It is mandatory for delivery partners to complete a selfie verification before the start of every shift to prevent identity fraud and to protect their own accounts. Failure to do so can lead to account suspension and potential blacklist.

"We urge anyone who is aware of any illegal usage of a rider account to contact Foodpanda."

Stomp has contacted the Ministry of Manpower for more info.