When road accidents happen, it’s usually a rule of thumb that the driver at fault is liable for the damages incurred. However, what happens when the party who caused the damage was a passenger in a taxi? Should the cabby bear the cost?
The daughter of a taxi driver claimed that her father had to pay for part of the damages that his passenger had caused.
The passenger allegedly knocked into a passing BMW while alighting from the taxi, she said.
The cabby’s daughter, known only as Ms Lee, reached out to MS News to publicise her story, hoping to raise public awareness.
The incident happened on 27 Oct 2021, when her father was making his first trip of the day from Ang Mo Kio to 303 Alexandra Road, where the BMW showroom is located.
According to dashcam footage Ms Lee provided, her father reached the destination at 2.02pm, turning into the wide driveway to drop off his passenger.
Before he alighted, the cabby had warned the passenger to be careful when opening the door, Ms Lee said.
However, the passenger allegedly hit a passing BMW while doing so.
While the footage didn’t capture the impact, we can see the stationary taxi experiencing a jolt, after which the white BMW appears on the left.
The BMW emerges with visible damage, as the rearview mirror hangs by its side, and the front window seems broken.
Ms Lee noted that there was a wide space between her father’s taxi and the wall.
In fact, in dashcam footage of the accident aftermath, other vehicles can be seen driving comfortably past.
Thus, she questioned,
I do not know why the affected BMW will inch so near to the right to my dad’s vehicle when she can clearly see from behind that his vehicle has come to a stop.
The collision caused considerable damage to both vehicles.
The taxi’s left side door was so badly dented that a tow truck had to be called, Ms Lee said.
As for the BMW, its side window was smashed and its side mirror came almost totally off.
There was also a long streak of red paint along the side.
According to Ms Lee, the female BMW driver said the damage to her car was bad and would cost more than $10,000 to repair.
Worse still, she would have to file a report against her father’s vehicle insurance.
That’s because the passenger, being a non-driver, doesn’t have insurance.
Ms Lee said her father ended up being asked by TransCab to pay for the insurance excess, which is the basic sum to be paid before the insurer covers the rest.
Just 2 days after the accident, they already received a letter stating he had to pay $1,070 – which is actually just 50% of the actual insurance excess of $2,140, she added.
They’re waiting for the finalised statement from the taxi company on the case.
Ms Lee said that this was unfair to her father as he wasn’t at fault for the collision.
They apparently approached several parties, including TransCab, their insurer AXA, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Ministry of Transport (MOT) to no avail, she added.
On LTA and MOT, she said,
At first I thought LTA or MOT will be able to assist or advise in one way or another, but their reply was “LTA does not regulate on taxi driver’s contractual agreements and motor insurance matters with taxi operators. We are also not in a position to provide legal advice pertaining to the liability issue of the accident involving all relevant parties, including the passenger” and asked us to seek our own legal advice????
They also asked her to consult the General Association of Insurance Singapore (GIA), who in turn allegedly replied that they are not in a position to comment, she said.
Thus, she feels like there seems to be no protection for taxi drivers for their passenger’s negligence, and no proper channels to seek help.
This, despite AXA agreeing that the passenger was at fault, she claimed.
More recently, LTA has said that they’ll write to TransCab to ask them to review the case.
As for the passenger, Ms Lee said that he was initially apologetic, and kept saying sorry to her father.
He also gave him his contact info, and asked the cabby to call or text him.
However, when they tried to contact the passenger several times, he allegedly ghosted them, ignoring their WhatsApp messages and calls.
She even called his sister and his company but they didn’t help, she said.
In Dec, he texted her but allegedly said she had caused him distress, compelling him to make a police report.
However, her father has also been distressed by this incident, Ms Lee said.
He’s had a nervous breakdown and sleepless nights, and a doctor has advised him not to drive for the time being after being a cabby for more than 18 years.
Thus, he’s returned his vehicle and has no income now, she added.
On top of this, he’s worried over the insurance excess he has to pay, and still has a $1,600 deposit ($1,500 + $100 key) with TransCab.
Ms Lee told MS News that she decided to share this story as a warning to taxi and private-hire drivers.
While she said TransCab still holds her father responsible for the insurance excess, she’s still hoping that they’ll help by waiving it.
Above all, she hopes drivers will get more help from the authorities as there are currently “no laws or regulations to protect drivers” when their passengers are at fault, she added.
She pointed to a similar case in 2014 where a passenger hit another car with the door while alighting from a taxi.
In that case, the passenger ended up paying $5,000 as a 3rd party in the case, after the cabby’s insurer held her liable for contributory damage.
If what Ms Lee said is accurate, her father deserves some sympathy as his taxi was stationary and he’d warned the passenger to be careful before the door hit the BMW.
Hopefully, the relevant authorities can investigate and consider helping him in this case.
It’s difficult for taxi drivers to earn a living in Singapore, especially since the pandemic, and the last thing they should worry about is taking a hit for their passengers’ negligence.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured images courtesy of Ms Lee.
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