“On 6 July 2017 around 9pm, my husband (Mr Chia) and me were in our car along CTE heading home. We were on the expressway behind vehicle SHB 1209D when the taxi driver suddenly jammed braked. My husband, who was driving the car, thankfully managed to brake in time. However, the car behind us unfortunately didn’t manage to stop in time and it hit us. Thankfully, no one was injured and there was only some minor scratches on our car, as the impact was rather small.
“My husband (Mr Chia) and the driver behind us (Mr Ang), got out of the car and started discussing on resolving the accident they had. The taxi driver got out of his taxi, approached them and told them “I am very familiar with such cases. Let’s claim on our own.”
“Feeling puzzled, we initially thought the taxi driver was trying to be helpful in dishing out advice. After all, this was none of his concern since his car was not hit at all. My husband then told the tax driver that they (he and Mr Ang) will settle among themselves. But the taxi driver continued interfering in their conversation and when my husband told him not to interfere as this was none of his business, he got angry.
“While trying to calm the taxi driver down, Mr Ang also told the taxi driver that he (Mr Ang) will settle with my husband himself. Interestingly, all throughout this time, instead of checking if there are any damages on his taxi, the taxi driver was more interested in their conversation. After some time, he finally revealed the real reason why he was trying to butt into a conversation that had nothing to do with him.
“He actually claimed that we hit his car and wanted to claim insurance against us!
“All of us were very shocked at his accusation and Mr Ang immediately defended us. The taxi driver even had the cheek to claim that his passenger in his car felt the impact too and his passenger can be his witness. When my husband and Mr Ang tried to walk over to the taxi to check with the passenger, the taxi driver stopped them and said “you are not allowed to speak to my witness”.
“Truth is, I was seated in the front passenger seat; and when my husband stepped on the brake, I was looking ahead all the time. I swear we did not even touch the taxi one bit.
“When I spoke up, the taxi driver told me I am related to my husband, so I cannot be a witness. At this point, after witnessing how this taxi driver was trying to be a bully; Mr Ang, who is a complete stranger to us, spoke up for us and said he will be our witness if the taxi driver claimed against us.
“When we tried to leave the scene after exchanging contact with Mr Ang, the taxi driver tried to stop us and demanded that we have to give him our details before we can leave. Since we did not have any accident with him, we refused to give in. He threatened to call the police and we said: “Go ahead. In fact, we are planning to make a police report as well.” In the end, he had no choice but to let us go.”