WORLDWIDE


Some dire happenings to kick off this column in the New Year, unfortunately. However, we'll start with the more positive items, both from China: firstly the driver whose dementia-stricken wife accompanies


him on every taxi journey around Beijing; and then the driver in Shenzhen whose quick manoeuvrings saved the life of his young passenger. Then we have the South Korean driver who set him- self alight in protest against their local carpooling service. Dreadful event... but what impact is a hunger strike on behalf of a handful of Moscow drivers having on either their own govern- ing body, or the app-based companies they're protesting about? Zero - they say so themselves. And finally, would any of our drivers withstand a physical attack for allegedly overcharging? That's what this Bangkok driver had to endure.


To be frank, I was afraid of that stare, but the driver helped her turn forward and told her to look ahead.” A third social media user said passengers in Shen’s cab should feel safer than ever. “I think this is a really safe taxi, because it carries the driver’s most cherished one,” the person wrote. Beifang Taxi said Shen had worked for the company since 2007 and for many years had worked split shifts around the clock with anoth- er driver. But after his wife became sick, he applied to work alone so he could be with his wife at all times.


CHINESE DRIVER HAILED ‘SUPERMAN AFTER RUSHING SICK TODDLER TO HOSPITAL


from China


CHINESE TAXI DRIVER TAKES HIS WIFE WITH ALZHEIMER’S TO WORK EVERY DAY


A Beijing taxi driver who has taken his wife who suffers from Alzheimer’s to work with him every day for the past three years has become an internet celebrity despite saying he wants to be left alone. According to the China Star, the story of 66-year-old Shen Deli became the latest hot topic on Chinese social media last month after one of his passengers decided to make it public. The businessman, named Cai Hongyan, wrote in a post widely shared on Weibo and WeChat that Shen was missing out on busi- ness because he had a poor rating on Didi – China’s largest taxi hailing platform – as a result of would-be passengers cancelling their orders after discovering his wife would be in the car. “She’s my wife. We keep each other company no matter what,” Cai quoted Shen as saying in the social media post. Guo Jia, who works for the same company as Shen – Beifang Taxi – said in an interview that Shen considered quitting his job after his wife was diagnosed with the degenerative disease, but after seeing her contentment at riding beside him the car, decided instead to take her to work with him every day. Guo said Shen’s wife, whose name he did not provide, had difficulty remembering things and often was unable to recognise even her daughters or grandchildren. Shen declined a request to be inter- viewed, but Guo said it was because he did not want to be in the public eye. “Many people have contacted us offering to help the couple, but he has refused all of them,” he said. “He just wants to live a simple life with his wife and not be under the spotlight.” After reading Cai’s social media post, many people appealed for Didi users to be sympathetic to Shen’s situation when posting their reviews. “We have the right to refuse to take his taxi, but please don’t give him bad reviews,” one person wrote. Another expressed concern at being “stared at” by Shen’s wife but said the driver had made it clear from the start she would be in the car with them. “He called me right after taking my order, asking me if I minded him taking his wife,” the person said. “I realised she had some problem after I got onto the car … she kept turning round and looking at me.


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A taxi driver who sped through rush- hour traffic to save a toddler has been dubbed ‘the real-life Superman’. The driv- er


from China


decided to drive as quickly as he could in the opposite lanes after a family rushed into his car with a sick boy, begging him to take the one-year-old to hospital fast, according to local reports. The Daily Mail reports that the cabbie, known by his surname Liu, flashed both lights at the front and the back of his car to indicate emergency while weaving through the busy streets during evening rush hours. He managed to take the child, who had a high fever, to the Chil- dren’s Hospital within eight minutes despite heavy traffic. The incident took place last month in Shenzhen, a major city in southern China’s Guangdong Province with more than 12 million residents, reported Shenzhen News, citing People’s Daily. Footage released by local news programme Spot News shows a panicking family getting into Mr Liu’s taxi just past 7pm. The boy’s parents were on the back seats while his grandmother sat next to the driver. The child’s father told the driver ‘quick, quick, to the chil- dren’s hospital”. The grandmother wailed ‘quick, quick’ while making a praying hand gesture; while the mother who was holding the child, yelled at him ‘Kai Kai, Kai Kai, don’t fall asleep’. Speaking to Spot News, Mr Liu said: “When I saw the family was in such a rush, my first reaction was: ‘I don't care any more’. So I flashed both lights and sounded the horn before driving in the opposite direction.” When the family reached the destination, Mr Liu waved his hands and told them “quick, don’t worry about money”. Mr Liu said the boy’s father later offered to pay him 500 yuan (£56) - some ten times more than necessary - to thank him for his help. Mr Liu declined. He said all he wanted to do was to save the boy. He told the boy's father to use the money to buy food for the child. Footage of the incident quickly went viral in China, gathering more than one million clicks on the first day, said Shenzhen News. Net users were touched by Mr Liu’s act. The child’s family explained the situation to the traffic police imme- diately afterwards, and Mr Liu will not be punished for breaking traffic rules in an emergency, Guangzhou Daily reported.


Chinese taxi driver Mr Liu talks on the phone while driving as the family urge him to go fast


JANUARY 2019


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