PUBLISHED ONApril 05, 2024 3:45 AMByAshwini BalanA passenger who left his child's tricycle in a cab is now accusing the taxi driver of stealing it.
The passenger, who kept his identity anonymous, took to Complaint Singapore Facebook page on Wednesday (April 3) claiming that his child's Doona tricycle was stolen by the cab driver.
In his post, this father said that his family of three booked a ComfortDelGro taxi to Changi Airport Terminal 4 on March 2 at around 7am.
While he was loading the luggage bags into the taxi boot near his home, the father said that the driver helped them to put the trike onto his front passenger seat.
Upon reaching their destination, the father said that the driver assisted them in unloading the luggage bags from the taxi's boot.
"After the taxi drove off, we realised that our trike was missing! By the time we looked at the road, he was missing," the parent wrote.
Thinking that the driver would return, the father said that they waited for the cab at the drop-off point at Changi Airport for 20 minutes.
"My wife and I took turns to go out to look for the driver. We hoped that he would be kind enough to report it to the airport counter or the airport police," he added.
After waiting for quite some time, he decided to report the lost item via the ComfortDelGro's CDG Zig app.
"We even left feedback for the taxi and a comment stating the trike was left in his car," the father added.
The father said in his post that they also reported the incident to Changi Airport Group, but they told him that they did not receive any information of a lost tricycle.
The father said that when he returned to Singapore on Apr 2, he was finally able to speak to a customer service representative via the ComfortDelGro hotline.
He added that he was informed by ComfortDelGro that the driver said that there was no trike found in his cab.
"How can such a huge item be not found in a car?" the father said in disbelief.
A check online shows that the Doona Liki Trike S1 costs about $300.
In response to AsiaOne's queries, a spokesperson from ComfortDelGro said that they are aware of a recent social media post alleging that a passenger's item was stolen in one of their taxis.
"We take such allegations very seriously and are currently investigating the matter," said the spokesperson
The spokesperson said that investigations are ongoing and are unable to comment further at this time.
According to ComfortDelGro's terms and conditions, passengers are to take full responsibility of their belongings when travelling on board any of its taxis.
"In the event they lose their belonging during a trip, the company will try its best to locate the belonging but will not be held responsible for any loss or damage to any of the items," ComfortDelGro said on its website.
Passengers are also encouraged to pay the metered fare should they request for the taxi drivers to deliver the belonging upon recovery to their preferred address.
Although it is good practice for cabbies to check for items left behind by passengers after every trip, it is not mandatory.
The legal requirement for taxi drivers to search their vehicle for any items left behind by passengers after a trip has since been removed as part of the review of the Point-to-Point Transport sector.
"Tripartite partners have agreed to remove this rule from legislation and fold it into the operator’s list of best practices to be encouraged instead," said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in response to AsiaOne's queries.
The review of LTA's Regulatory Framework for the P2P Transport Sector comes after it was introduced in October 2020.
The review focuses on the availability of P2P supply, the resilience of P2P services and the inclusivity of such transport services, LTA said in a press statement last year.
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ashwini.balan@asiaone.com