Driver punished by Didi after dispute over fare

A man who spent over 10,000 yuan ($1,460) for a taxi ride from Zhejiang Province to Guizhou Province filed a complaint to the taxi-hailing platform Didi Chuxing after he was left behind by the driver in Guizhou in May. Didi later suspended the driver’s account after discovering that the passenger and the driver had made a deal offline which violated the regulations of the company, the Shanghai Observer reported Saturday.

The 44-year-old passenger surnamed Liang from Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, had to hire a taxi for the 1,700-kilometer travel because he had defaulted on loans worth over 8 million yuan between 2012 and 2017 as recorded by the Supreme People’s Court. Due to his irresponsible behavior, he was blacklisted for both air and high-speed train travel.

Since he had to urgently reach Renhuai, Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, for his business, Liang made a deal with the Didi driver surnamed Zhen for the journey for the fee of 10,500 yuan, including 5,500 yuan paid via the Didi mobile app and 5,000 yuan paid directly.

Zhen and his mother drove in turn for 22 hours and took Liang to Renhuai on May 19. However, while Liang wanted to stay until the evening of May 20, Zhen and his mother drove back in the afternoon, leaving Liang behind in Guizhou. Liang’s stress elevated his blood pressure and he had to stay in a local hospital for 45 days.

Zhen argued that the 10,500 yuan fee was for a oneway ride, not round trip.

After Liang filed the complaint to the platform, Zhen’s operation account was suspended for 30 days and he did not receive the 5,500 yuan from the platform.