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A friend of STOMPer Eric's was charged $50 by a taxi driver as a 'cleaning fee' after another passenger vomitted in the taxi. He wonders if this extra charge is even legal for drivers to charge.

In an email today (Dec 30) the STOMPer related:

"I am writing in regards to a taxi encounter on Dec 27 at about 1.30am.

"On the above date and time, my three friends boarded a Comfort Taxi and headed towards their home in Jurong West. Along the way, one of the passengers felt unwell and vomitted in the taxi.

"The passenger who had vomitted was the second to alight, followed by the last passenger who continued back to her home and paid for the taxi charge.

"Upon reaching her home, the taxi fare was around $32 and the taxi driver had demanded an additional payment of $50 for cleaning up of the taxi.

"Being unsure if this was ethical or even legal, she had asked for a receipt and was rejected as the driver had claimed that the printer was out of order. When asked for a written receipt, the driver again denied her request and brushed her off saying that he did not have a receipt book at hand. Alone in the cab in the middle of the night, she had no choice but to drop the matter to avoid any direct conflict with the driver.

"After she had alighted, she called me immediately and that was when I called Comfort Taxi 65521111 at around 1.40am that morning. I spoke to John, an operator, who claimed that their customer service staff were off-duty and promised to relate the case to his customer service team when they were back to work.

"A lady by the name of Agnes subsequently called me on Monday (Dec 29) and advised me that their Investigating Officer had spoken to the driver who claimed that he did not demand any “compensation” for the cleaning of his taxi, and had only received the taxi fare which was around $32.

"Agnes had then asked if I had any evidence to prove that the $50 was paid to the driver, which we did not have, thanks to the faulty receipt printer and concidental fact that the driver did not issue a written receipt.

"What worries me here is the integrity of our taxi drivers. Our taxi drivers function as 'ambassadors' of Singapore as they have first contact with many tourists that arrive in Singapore. They also ferry them around town and take them to various attractions.

"The Singapore Tourism Board also constantly encourages taxi drivers to take up the Taxi Tourist Guide (TTG) badge which would allow them to give commentaries and personalized tours for small groups. This had given me the impression that taxi drivers are the most reliable sources to depend upon when it comes to personalized transportation. After this incident, I beg to differ.

"I am not sure if this was the standard 'rate' that all taxi would charge passenger for the cleaning up of the mess caused. If this was the standard rate, I would urge the relevant authorities to comment on this and advise the public on how this rate is being justified. However if this is not a prefixed rate, then it could really harm the image of these ambassadors as it breaches the sense of trust with the public and tourists with such high-handed way of demanding additional payment.

"I am also curious to know if taxis have regular checks on their receipt printer and also if they have contingency plans to issue written receipts in the case of a faulty printer.

"My previous experiences with Comfort have so far all ended well and I have never once failed to get a receipt whether printed or written from drivers, as all my trips have been reimbursable and have needed receipts as proof.

"I do hope that the relevant authorities would comment on these above issues as I am sure this would make us all ponder the advice the public gets to take public transport instead of driving."
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another idiot pax in s'pore