I refer to the letter “Wrong message for taxi owners over insurance” ( January 18 ). I must say that I do not share at all the correspondent’s praise for Uber drivers. I have always avoided using that company because of some of less savoury aspects of its reputation, but recently the first taxi in the queue being one which had the words “Uber taxi” on the side I had no alternative but to take it. Seeing I was having quite a lot of difficulty entering the car and sitting on my seat (because of a mild handicap), the driver had an annoyed expression on his face which turned very angry when I told him where I wanted to go, as it meant a 15-minute trip – that is, an unprofitable distance. He made me repeat the name of the place three times before eventually starting the car. Then, during the trip, he made several quite unpleasant statements. Later on, the person I had visited hailed a taxi (not Uber) for me and gave part of the cost of my return trip to the driver. When we arrived at Aberdeen, I wanted to top up the payment when the driver told me that as an old person it was not necessary for me to pay anything. I did pay what I owed him, while feeling really moved by his kind gesture. Last week, I was at a Mong Kok taxi stand where no taxi was willing to take me to the Hong Kong side, when a passing taxi driver, after having explained why he was not free, told me that he would take me to a place where there were taxis waiting to go back to the Hong Kong side. That was a 10-minute ride, but the driver had not started the meter and initially refused to be paid for the detour he had made for me. I also had a touching experience with a GoGoVan driver. He had told me that the trip I had to make would cost me HK$250, which was fine with me. On the way, we chatted a little bit and at the end of the trip the driver told me that, as an old person, I should only pay HK$50. However, of course, I managed to slip the right amount in his little money box. I hope Uber taxi drivers will learn to have a high-class mentality from some of their colleagues in other companies. Monique Dutard, Aberdeen
