Singapore — There has been much concern about the plight of a frail, elderly cardboard collector after a photo was posted on social media on Monday (Dec 7) showing a luxury car reversing dangerously close to her.

Facebook user Vladimir Guevarra saw the woman stacking cardboard on a trolley as he was cycling along Eng Hoon Street in Tiong Bahru sometime last week. The pile of cardboard that had been collected was nearly as tall as the woman.

Just as he thought the woman was “too old and frail to be doing this”, he noticed that she was unaware that a Porsche SUV was reversing towards her.

Mr Guevarra shouted “Heeeeeyyy!! Watch it!” but the driver did not hear him. Fortunately,  a woman coming out of a nearby butcher’s shop heard his cry and signalled the driver to stop.

Sharing a photo of the car nearly backing into the woman, Mr Guevarra said: “What’s wrong with these people? What got me was this juxtaposition — an old, bent woman, and a rich man in a luxury car, oblivious of her presence. Like she’s invisible.”

He added: “I was stunned over how big her stack was, and I wondered how much — or how little — money she’d get for re-selling that, presumably, to a recycling shop.”

Using the hashtag “rich poor divide”, he wrote: “I approached her just to check she’s ok. Boy, she looked tired. I gave her the cash in my pocket and told her to have some dinner. SG friends, in case you see her, perhaps social services can help (?) She looked too old, and shouldn’t be doing this.”

Mr Guevarra’s post went viral on social media, drawing 1,500 likes and 1,000 shares on Facebook. Read his post in full here:

/TISG

Read related: “It’s a hard life” – 75-year-old cardboard collector earns a mere $3.10 after working the whole night