Two diners were killed early yesterday when a taxi driver apparently hit the wrong pedal and reversed as they sat eating outside a Sha Tin restaurant.
Cheung Chun-yuen, 50, driver of the taxi which knocked down four men, told police he accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal.
One police investigator said he suspected the driver, who has held a driving licence for about 30 years, may not have been used to the new automatic vehicle, which runs on liquefied petroleum gas.
The men who died were fellow taxi drivers Cheung Siu-sung, 46, and Lau Chung-sang, 53. They were with three taxi drivers, including Cheung Chun-yuen, outside the restaurant in Yi Shing Square when the accident happened at about 3am.
Cheung Chun-yuen went to pick up his cab nearby after being told there was a space to park outside the restaurant, one witness told police. Officers said the accident happened when he reversed his cab into the space.
'The taxi mounted a pavement where it mowed down six-metre-long railings and overturned a table and chairs outside the restaurant,' Inspector Chan Man-tak, of New Territories South traffic unit, said.