Grab suspends driver for texting while driving after passenger files complaint

SINGAPORE: After a passenger posted a video of a Grab driver who gave more attention to his mobile phone than the road, the company suspended the driver.

Grab has also apologized to the passenger.

The man posted a video of the driver on his mobile phone while driving on the Complaint Singapore Facebook group page on Dec 5.

Taken from the back seat of a car, the video at first shows a driver holding the steering wheel with his right hand and a mobile phone with his left.

However, the driver is also seen taking his right hand off the wheel and using his phone with both hands at least twice. The driver is also seen taking his eyes off the road and looking down at his phone.

“Irresponsible grab driver, continuously texting with both hands! And this is just a short part of what I was able to record,” wrote the post author.

Moreover, he appears to have sent feedback to the company but said that Grab only sent him “a copy-paste generic pacifying letter.” To make matters worse, when he pressed the matter further, the post author said Grab “just lazily sent the same letter again.”

He concluded his post by writing, “Grab doesn’t care.”

The post author, identified in an MS News report as Mr Thomas, said he had taken a GrabCar Premium ride from Tanjong Rhu to Novena on the afternoon of Nov 21.

During the 15-minute ride, Mr Thomas said that the driver texted 10 times and that he began to film him doing so when he noticed the driver messaging again and again.

Feeling that the man’s actions put him in danger caused Mr Thomas to pay extra attention to the road.

However, when he eventually told the driver to stop using his phone, the man did not appear to take the situation seriously; he only grinned and ignored him.

A spokesman for Grab Singapore also spoke to MS News, saying, “We have also reached out to the passenger to apologize for the experience and refunded the booking.”

Reminding its drivers that even just holding a phone, let alone using it for sending messages, is strictly prohibited under the Road Traffic Act in Singapore, the company added:

“Driver-partners found to have violated our code of conduct or traffic laws may be permanently banned on our platform.” /TISG

Read also: Grab apologises for driver who messaged passenger: “S$5.70 ask Grab CEO to take you”