Taxi Driver Online

Our Rudest Cabbie?

Herald Sun September 12, 2009

A taxi driver accused of being rude to passengers is fighting to keep his licence.

VCAT has allowed Gurinder Jeet Singh back on the road, agreeing he can keep driving taxis around Melbourne until his future is decided.

The Victorian Taxi Directorate took action against Mr Singh after he was involved in a fist-fight with a fellow cabbie over a fare.

The directorate said the fight - which happened outside the Melbourne Coroner's Court in front of grieving families involved in an inquest - combined with six previous complaints about his behaviour and driving, had led to the disciplinary action.

They banned him from driving for three months and told him he would have to reapply for a licence if he wanted to be a cabbie again.

But VCAT, which was told Mr Singh was the sole breadwinner for his young family, said he could keep his licence until his appeal is held on November 6.

The fight on July 9, captured by several media outlets, showed Mr Singh and another cabbie yelling at each other, wrestling and throwing punches as they squabbled over a fare. Shocked passengers, who were in the other driver's taxi, got out and tried to break up the fight.

In documents lodged in VCAT, the taxi directorate said it had received a number of complaints regarding Mr Singh's attitude and behaviour while driving a taxi.

"In addition, the VicRoads driver licensing system confirms you have received traffic infringement notices for disobeying traffic signals and exceeding the speed limit," directorate delegate Paul Corkill said.

"The fact that you have received traffic infringement notices and have been reminded of your duties and responsibilities as a taxi-cab driver on more than one occasion also indicated a wilful disregard for the law and raised concerns about your ability to provide a taxi-cab service in a safe manner.

"A consistent feature in the complaints that have been made against you is your behaviour and attitude towards passengers," Mr Corkill wrote to Mr Singh.

Mr Corkill said Mr Singh received a verbal warning in 2007 for being rude and abrupt to a passenger, but there had been three further complaints against him, including two which suggested he drove erratically and narrowly avoided accidents. Mr Corkill advised Mr Singh to attend an anger management course.

In documents lodged in his defence, Mr Singh provided an invoice relating to an anger management course.

He said he had been driving taxis for three years and drove six days a week, sometimes for up to 12 hours a day.

"I have always been courteous, polite and humble to my passengers and my fellow taxi colleagues," Mr Singh said.

He said he was the sole breadwinner for his family, including his wife and two children aged 9 and 3 1/2.

He apologised for the fight outside the Coroner's Court, which he said happened after the other driver picked up a fare booked for Mr Singh.

He said the other driver abused and swore at him and caused him to lose his temper.

"For this I am undergoing remedial training and advanced training from Yellow Cabs so I can learn to deal with conflict situations of this nature."

Source; HeraldSun.com.au

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Brummie Cabbie.

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I wonder if it's really him being a rude man, or the Aussie public treating him like a door mat that caused it, I'm not saying he's perfect because you just don't know but over in Aus they have this really direct way of talking to each other and I just wonder if the mix of him being Indian and his possible accent has led to ppl talking down to him regularly and he's simply decided to respond at the same level, if others are nicking his jobs when they shouldn't then again it's understandable that he's gone off on one, sometimes you need to understand the cause to diagnose a cure.