Grab Driver Harassed Female Tourist Simply Because She Asked Him To Take A Preferred Route
He also chased after her when she ran out of his car.
By Samantha Khor — 15 Dec 2017, 07:31 PM
In a Facebook post that has gone viral, a female tourist alleged that she was verbally abused and then chased after by a Grab driver simply because she asked him to take her preferred route
Shannon, a Canadian tourist who often visits Malaysia, submitted a complaint to Grab detailing the harrowing incident, which happened in Bangsar on Thursday morning, 14 December. It was later reposted on Facebook with two videos from the incident as well as a screenshot of the driver's details.
She wrote:
"I asked my driver to remain on the main road. He ignored me and turned onto the side road anyway. I then politely asked if he could turn back onto the main road and explained that the side road often gets jammed and that I would feel more comfortable taking the main road as I usually do. He then ignored the next exit off the side road and told me, 'This is my country, I live here.'"
Shannon alleged that the driver became aggressive when she reached for the phone. He started to verbally harass her by shouting profanities and even threatened to leave her at the side of the road.
"I then reached for my phone and he immediately became aggressive, assuming I had taken it out to make a complaint (which I hadn’t at the time)," Shannon wrote.
"He started cursing, calling me names, threatening me, and physically threatening me by jerking his fist in the direction of my face several times. He even threatened to kick me out of his car and leave me at the side of a road because 'I had no proof' of what he was doing. I had already started video taping him at this point."
You can watch the video of their argument in the car here:
When the driver threatened to hit her, Shannon had enough and exited his car in the middle of the ride. To her horror, the driver followed her in his car and even got out to chase after her.
"When he threatened to hit me I ran out of his car. He then tried to drive into me. Following me and then cutting me off. When I walked around the car he got out of his and I started running. He chased me both with his car and then on foot. I had to run for what felt like my life," she wrote.
Fortunately, Bangsar is a pretty populated area and Shannon ran over to a security guard so she wasn't left alone with the driver. He caught up and demanded that she pay for her ride, which she adamantly refused to.
"I ran to a security guard outside of a building so I would not be alone with this man," she wrote.
"He continued to threaten me that he would punch me. He demanded that I pay him the 1 ringgit he was owed but I would not because of his actions and the fact that he did not complete his trip."
In one of the videos accompanying the post, Shannon could be heard asking the security guard to make sure the driver stays put while she got herself out of the situation. She eventually managed to get away by running through an intersection.
Watch the video of their confrontation here:
In addition to submitting her complaint to Grab, Shannon also posted it on her Facebook page. It went viral overnight, garnering over 1,000 shares as of Friday morning, 15 December.
"This man should be fired. He is unsafe to be around. I am still shaken from this experience," she wrote.
He should not be allowed to continue working for Grab or Uber. Every other woman who gets into a car with him is at risk.”
However, Shannon informed SAYS that Facebook took down her post about an hour later for "no reason other than I had gone against the rules for what is allowed to be published on Facebook".Following the deletion of her viral post, Shannon published a short message warning the public to "stay away" from that particular driver
Meanwhile, Grab has responded to Shannon's complaint, saying that they have taken "necessary action" against the driver. However, it was not revealed what exactly was done due to it being confidential information.
SAYS has reached out to Grab for comment on the incident.
Earlier this year in July, Grab introduced several new initiatives to enhance overall passenger safety, one of them being incorporating a one-touch Emergency Button in the passenger app
According to Grab, the button connects passengers to the national emergency response service (MERS 999) in the event of an emergency.
In addition, Grab logs all out-going calls via the emergency button to follow up with passengers and the authorities.