Recently, a 17-year-old girl in Tampoi, Johor, jumped out of her moving Grab ride out of fear that her driver was attempting to kidnap her as she didn’t recognise the route he was taking to her destination. It was then discovered that the driver was only taking an alternative route as there was roadwork on the usual route.
However, despite the police determining that it was a misunderstanding and dropping the case, the 17-year-old girl was apparently unhappy with the outcome and wrote about her alleged ‘kidnapping’ online.
According to a report by Oriental Daily, this has led to much trouble for the e-hailing driver as he has received threatening calls, is being cyberbullied and his income has been affected.
This all started with the 17-year-old girl insisting she was being kidnapped and posted about the incident on social media while revealing the e-hailing driver’s car number plate. Her post quickly circulated, with people spotting the e-hailing driver’s vehicle while he was on the road, taking pictures and posting them online.
The negative attention he received then led to him being barred from e-hailing platforms from August 15 (Thursday) to August 18 (Sunday).
“This incident happened on August 11 (Sunday) and went viral on social media. The license plate number of the car I am driving, JUG1178, and photos (of the car) are still being shared online to remind people to look out for the car,”
“I have not driven any passengers since the day of the incident. On the advice of the police, I have also turned off my phone for a period of time to avoid being harassed,” the e-hailing driver shared.
Before turning off his phone, he was receiving threatening phone calls from strangers and the girl’s family had contacted him to meet in person. However, he chose not to go to the meeting out of fear that more trouble might arise.
Not being able to pick up passengers, the e-hailing driver is also losing out on his income.
He normally makes an average of RM200 to RM300 a day from driving passengers around, but he has not driven anyone since the incident and he still has to cover his daily RM50 car rental fee.
The e-hailing driver hopes that, with him coming forward to do a press conference with the help of MCA, people will abandon their witch hunt and allow some normalcy back into his life.
He also plans to change the rental vehicle he is using, so that he can go back to work as an e-hailing driver.
Having been a taxi driver before becoming an e-hailing driver, he said that he has never encountered an incident like this in his 30 years on the road.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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