Singapore driver fined S$650 for soliciting passengers near taxi stand
A court in Singapore fined private-hire driver Steven Gan Teck Guan S$650 for loitering near the HarbourFront Centre taxi stand to solicit passengers. Gan contested the charge, but the court found him guilty. The driver is on bail pending an appeal, and payment of the fine has been suspended until it is heard.
Complaint and video footage
As Channel NewsAsia reports, Singapore's Land Transport Authority was informed about the incident by Ranjit Singh Manjit Singh. He said that after returning from Indonesia's Batam, he was standing in a taxi queue when Gan tried to attract people's attention and offered them a ride in his vehicle.
According to Singh, the driver offered to check the fare for a premium ride in the Grab app. The app showed an amount of about S$65. Singh took a photograph of Gan's vehicle and filed a complaint with the regulator.
Surveillance cameras recorded that on March 31, 2024, Gan remained near the taxi stand for more than half an hour, walked near the queue and left his vehicle with its boot open. An investigator confirmed that from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., the driver had no bookings on the Grab, Gojek, TADA and Ryde Technologies platforms.
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The driver's position and the court's decision
Gan claimed that he was waiting for a private booking and was walking because of diabetes, arthritis and gout. He also said that Singh was the one who first spoke to him and offered S$50 for the ride. Singh denied these claims.
The court found Singh's testimony credible despite a discrepancy in the fare he stated: he indicated S$76 in his complaint, but S$65 in court. The court also rejected Gan's claim that the regulator had conspired with the complainant, as it was not supported by evidence.
Under Singapore's rules, a first offence involving soliciting passengers or loitering for that purpose carries a fine of up to S$1,000, imprisonment of up to three months, or both. The maximum penalties are doubled for repeat offenders.
