Taxi driver fined $2,000 for 20-minute tirade over 30-cent change

A 70-year-old taxi driver was convicted and fined HK$2,000 after hurling insults—including profanities and slurs—for nearly 20 minutes at a passenger who asked for thirty cents in change, with a magistrate ruling the outburst far outweighed the trivial sum at stake.

The incident unfolded on the evening of December 1, 2024, when a man and his wife boarded a cab in Mong Kok bound for Ho Man Tin. 

The HK$43.70 fare prompted the passenger to hand over HK$100, receiving HK$56 back. 

He then requested the missing 30 cents, citing the driver’s earlier phone use as reason to withhold any tip. 

The driver refused, insisting cents are never given in change, and unleashed a barrage of abuse while accusing him of ruining Hong Kong.

The driver eventually relented on cash, switching to Octopus payment, but continued berating the passenger for not taking the bus if he couldn’t afford a taxi. 

When the passenger tried to photograph the driver’s license for a complaint, the driver flipped it away and blocked the shot. 

The driver continued to threaten the passenger with posting a video of his “ugly” face online as well as refusing to to print a receipt until police arrived.

In Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court today, Deputy Magistrate Allison Kao Lai-ying rejected the driver Kwan Kwok-pui’s defense that the matter was too minor for court and that his recording was merely for personal records. 

She found the passenger’s account consistent with video evidence and noted he stayed in the cab only to secure complaint details, not to haggle over coins. 

The sustained verbal assault, she ruled, carried real gravity, leading to the maximum fine for discourteous and irregular conduct as a taxi driver. 

The driver, unrepresented, protested the verdict as unfair and a waste of public resources but was advised to pursue appeals through the proper legal channels.