Drunk woman allegedly overcharged by 'party bus' driver after boarding wrong vehicle

She had already called a taxi.

But the woman was so inebriated that she got into the wrong vehicle to take her home and then complained she was overcharged for the ride.

Stomp contributor FF was the taxi driver who was supposed to pick her up at Marina Bay Sands. He said the woman was a "regular".

"My client booked my taxi at around 2.30am," recounted the Stomp contributor, but he could not find her when he arrived.

"She had mistakenly boarded the wrong vehicle."

That vehicle turned out to be a "party bus", which was a minibus with a heavily modified interior.

Asked why the woman took the party bus, the Stomp contributor said: "She just wanted to go home.

"She told me before moving off, the driver demanded a sum of $120 and she paid him by card. She was too drunk at the time.

"She called me at around 3am, telling me she had reached home, and she asked me why I overcharged her. I explained that she mistakenly took the wrong vehicle as mine was a ComfortDelgro taxi. She told me to help resolve the matter as she was too drunk earlier on."

The Stomp contributor went to her place in Tanglin to pick her up and headed back to MBS.

"The party bus was back there, as usual, touting and preying on the expats. I approached the driver and asked him for an explanation, but he denied what happened. I went back to my taxi and told my client that he denied driving her earlier. So she came out of the vehicle and the driver was so shocked by her presence."

The Stomp contributor said the police were called and the driver refunded the woman half her money.

"He didn't agree to a full refund as he told the police that service was rendered and he didn't want to lose anything."

After driving the woman back to her place, the Stomp contributor returned to MBS and took a video of the party bus.

In September 2020, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) impounded six party buses that offered their services at popular night spots as some of the modifications to the vehicles threatened passenger safety.

"For example, some party buses feature modified seats without proper safety restraints so passengers could be flung forward during sudden braking," said LTA.

"Besides illegal modifications, we also detected other offences such as driving without a valid bus driver's vocational licence, insurance coverage and road tax."

Stomp has contacted the police and LTA for more info.

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This article was first published in Stomp. Permission required for reproduction.