54-year-old cabbie accused of over-charging

[Tadakatsu Honda]

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By Leong Wee Keat, TODAY | Posted: 26 February 2010 0714 hrs
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SINGAPORE: Where most taxi drivers would compound the offence and readily pay a fine, a limousine cabbie accused of over-charging his customer is instead claiming trial to his charges in the Subordinate Courts.

Mr Lee Ngiap Han, 54, is charged by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) with obtaining a S$20 fare from a passenger last September, which would have otherwise cost S$9.40.

But Mr Lee, a taxi driver for more than 10 years, is contesting the charge as he claimed to have entered into an agreement with the pick-up location on the price.

MediaCorp understands that he may not be alone, as a number of drivers have also entered into an agreement with the hotel in Marine Parade.

Such private agreements are not unheard of in the industry, but the Courts will now have to rule on whether such agreements are in contravention of the Road Traffic Rules, and an offence under the Road Traffic Act.

Mr Lee, who drives a Comfort Mercedes, is said to have charged S$11.60 more during the trip from Marine Parade to Changi Airport. Besides the over-charging charge, Mr Lee also faces a charge of failing to set the meter in motion during the same trip on September 5.

Mr Lee, defence lawyer Tan Hee Joek and the LTA attended a pre-trial conference on Thursday.
The trial is scheduled to be heard next Friday. If convicted, Mr Lee could be jailed up to three months or fined S$1,000. If convicted on both charges, he could also risk losing his vocational licence.

- TODAY/sc


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[Shin Orochi]

Singapore
Mar 5, 2010

Cabby accused of overcharging

<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
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Cab driver Lee Ngiap Han, 55, allegedly overcharged his customer through private arrangement with Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel to ferry passanger. -- ST PHOTO: Kevin Lim

<!-- story content : start --> A CAB driver allegedly charged a passenger a flat $20 fare for a trip from a hotel in Marine Parade to Changi Airport and did not turn on his meter. By doing so, Lee Ngiap Han, 55, contravened road traffic rules pertaining to the conduct of taxi drivers. He had overcharged by $10.40 and failed to have a taximeter in operation when on hire. At the start of his trial on Friday, a district court heard that two officers from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) went undercover at the Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel along Marine Parade Road at 7.30am last Nov 5 for a 'taxi audit'. First to testify, Mr Derrick Chua Gim Tat said he was pulling a trolley suitcase while Mr Norman Gerard Teng Sze Kin, both 28, had a backpack. They took the lift up some floors before returning to the lobby, where the officers asked a Malay hotel staff member and then an Indian concierge for a taxi to the airport. Mr Teng said he spoke in Mandarin as the LTA officers were posing as tourists from China. Both noticed that Lee, 55, failed to turn on the meter in his Comfort Mercedes limousine taxi but did not mention it. Lee is saying that that he was in a group of 20 limousine taxi drivers that had an agreement with the hotel to ferry guests to the airport for a flat fee. The trial continues.