Taxi Tales: Cab Drivers versus Passengers

Drivers Dish the Dirt

Taxi drivers share their own tales of outlandish passengers with Yannie Chan.

Mr. Chan, aka “Fat Chan”
Driving for six years

Passengers having “a king’s meal” [taking off without paying] is fairly common, but mostly in earlier years. Hong Kong people are much more civilized now. Sometime last year though, a group of five teenage girls boarded my taxi in Prince Edward, asking to go to Tin Shui Wai. Three girls claimed to go upstairs to get money [when we got there], and after a while the other two acted worried and said they should go up and see if anything’s wrong. I got ripped off for around $200 there.

Mr. Au Yeung
An ex-policeman driving for 11 years

Now here’s something really amusing… the funniest story in my 11 years of driving! A girl hailed my cab in Mong Kok and opened the right passenger door, all while angrily ignoring her boyfriend behind her. Her boyfriend got in after her, but the girl then left the car through the door on the other side. The guy followed and left as well. Then she went around the back of the car and got back on through the right door. The boy got on again. The girl left again. The circular chase went on for about 10 minutes, until I’d had enough of it and told them to either get in my taxi or hail another one.

Mr. Wen
Driving for three years

I’ve been driving the night shift for three years. While it’s wiser to avoid drunkards, they are [an inevitable part of] business. A man, who had obviously had a few drinks, got in and was sober enough to ask to be taken to Sham Shui Po. So I thought, “Why not?” We got there, and he refused to pay, yelling and scolding me. He then climbed up into the front seat and snatched my driver’s license and stuck it on the windshield! I didn’t dare retaliate, and so I called the police instead. He was found unconscious several blocks away.