On a recent trip to Johor Bahru (JB), a woman from Singapore had a disturbing encounter with a private-hire driver, who allegedly asked when she lost her virginity, among other things.
She had met the driver after a prior booking on a ride-hailing app. The latter then promoted his private services to her.
As her first experience with the driver was pleasant, she decided to give it a go. Little did she know that she would face unnerving questions and statements from the driver on their second trip.
The woman is now advising other travellers to stay vigilant and get recommendations from friends when choosing a private driver.
The woman, known only as Alayna, posted a TikTok video discussing her harrowing experience on 22 Sep.
In it, she said that the incident happened on a five-day solo trip to JB a few months back.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Alayna wanted to visit a firefly park in JB, but it was not a convenient location to get to without a private driver.
She hence contacted a driver she met through ride-hailing app Grab during a previous booking, who advertised his private services to her during their first ride.
“If there was a Grab driver who has a private-hire service, I don’t mind paying him a bit more to get to my destination,” she explained.
However, the driver’s demeanour apparently changed when Alayna boarded his vehicle the second time.
“I don’t know why but I did not feel this way previously,” she said. “He was literally checking me out from head to toe. It wasn’t just like a simple check-out, it was in a creepy manner.”
Source: Freepik, for illustration purposes only.
Despite that, she brushed it off as him being curious about the customer he would be ferrying around for the day.
But things kept getting weirder, according to Alayna.
Throughout the journey, she commented that the driver was trying to strike up random conversations.
He then asked why she chose to come to JB and whether she knew it was a dangerous place.
“And you’re with a guy alone in a car, aren’t you scared that I’ll kidnap you?” the driver supposedly asked her.
Alayna was puzzled as to what he was implying. She was wondering whether it was possible, however bizarre it was, that he was actually thinking about abducting her.
Source: @peltings on TikTok
But, even though she felt shocked, she brushed it off as the driver probably being an awkward person, and she reached the firefly park safely.
The driver then picked her up from the park when she was done and they headed back to her accommodation. According to Alayna, it was at this point that his questions got even more intrusive.
He started talking about his past relationships, she shared, and he apparently made racist comments as well.
As she no longer wanted to engage in this uneasy conversation, she started to disengage and only gave one-word answers.
Possibly sensing that she had nothing to contribute, he then started to directly ask her questions about her past relationships and her exes.
The most appalling part came when the JB private-hire driver allegedly asked when the passenger lost her virginity.
Source: @peltings on TikTok
At this point in the video, Alayna could do nothing but laugh at the unbelievable situation she found herself in.
“Come to think of it, oh my god, I don’t know how I survived that moment,” she quipped.
Although she was fearful, they were reaching her accommodation, so she decided to remain quiet.
When they reached, she paid the driver and even tipped him as she was afraid he might do something untoward to her.
Following the disturbing experience, she now wishes to warn other travellers to be careful of who they choose when selecting a private driver.
“Get recommendations from friends, look up online and go for those highly-rated ones,” she noted.
Source: Torque, for illustration purposes only.
Another takeaway from this situation, she said in her video, is to always trust your gut feelings.
Speaking to MS News, Alayna clarified that she did not report this incident to the authorities.
She also did not report this to Grab.
“Since this was a private arrangement that I willingly got myself into, all the risk was for me to bear,” she elaborated. “I did not think that Grab could do anything.”
“I had pleasant experiences with other Grab drivers doing the same thing overseas, so I did not think much when it came to Malaysia,” she added.
Thankfully, the driver did not try to contact her after the incident, and she made it back to her accommodation safe and sound.
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Featured image adapted from @peltings on TikTok.
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