Drunk passengers and vomits are common among private hire car drivers during holidays, drivers have ‘no choice but to do this’

SINGAPORE: Many people are out to drink and celebrate the festivities during the holiday season. However, many private hire car drivers complain that they often encounter drunk passengers who are unable to take care of themselves, vomit inside the private cars, or sometimes they are forced to cancel the customer’s booking order due to their drunk condition. 

In an interview, a 54-year-old private hire car driver admitted that the number of passengers who are vomiting inside the car is increasing. With this, he took the initiative and prepared vomit bags for them, but when he sees that a passenger is drunk and alone, he is forced to cancel the order, which could affect his future bookings. 

“In many cases, friends push the drunk man into the car and ask us to help look after him, but if the drunk man is sitting alone in the back of the car, he may not be able to take care of himself when he wants to vomit, even if we have vomit bags,” he shared. 

The driver also said that if the passenger vomited in the car, he would have to send the car to a cleaner, which would take up a lot of his time, and there would also be a possibility that they would refuse to pay the cleaning fee. 

Moreover, another driver, a 59-year-old who has worked in the industry for more than 10 years now, revealed that it can be hard to distinguish drunk passengers. He said that even though bookings may increase during the holidays, it is also a headache for drivers to have such encounters. 

He also stated that cancelling orders reduces the number of orders a driver receives for the day, and it is a measure given by the booking platform to ensure that drivers do not cancel orders. 

The driver also shared an experience where a passenger vomited, and it cost him S$160 to clean it up. The passenger then ran away after arriving at the destination, and it made him really angry. 

“If a passenger vomits in the car, our losses may be even greater, so I have no choice but to do this,” he claimed. 

In separate news about driving, there was recently a report where a lorry’s drive shaft fell onto the expressway while the vehicle was in motion, causing seven or eight vehicles to suffer tyre blowouts after running over it.

The accident happened at the Seletar Expressway (SLE), near Exit 13A leading to the Central Expressway (CTE).

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