Taxi reverses into HDB flat, knocking down wall
Taxi hits carpark barricade, car, then reverses into first-storey flat
A taxi reversed into a block of flats in Commonwealth on Saturday, tearing down the wall of a first-storey unit.
The accident, which happened at Block 68, Commonwealth Drive, after 1am, was captured on video.
The video shows the taxi first moving forward, hitting a carpark barricade.
It then reverses into a car, before moving forward, again into the barricade.
It reverses once more into an empty lot, and accelerates backwards up a slope onto a field, travelling about 20m before crashing into the first-storey unit.
The dramatic incident, split into two videos, lasted about two minutes.
Mr Andy Yeo, 48, who works in the service industry, witnessed the incident and sent the videos to citizen journalism website Stomp.
The resident of the area told The New Paper that he has also passed the video footage to the police.
"The traffic police told me that the driver wasn't drinking," he said.
STRANGE
"I find it strange. Then why did he keep moving backwards and forward?" he asked.
A police spokesman said they were alerted to the incident at about 1.27am on Saturday.
"No injuries were reported, and police investigations are ongoing," he said.
There have been no arrests made, but the cabby has since been fired.
Ms Tammy Tan, the group corporate communications officer of ComfortDelGro, said: "ComfortDelGro does not condone careless nor dangerous driving and has since terminated the hiring agreement of the cabby.
"With regard to the damage to property, we are awaiting an update from our loss adjusters."
Other residents TNP spoke to said it caused quite a commotion in the community, though none of them could understand how it happened.
When TNP went to the area on Monday evening, the wall had not been restored.
The only residents in the three storey block, a couple who declined to be identified, said they had moved in a day after the accident.
"It is a newly done up block of three-room rental flats, it is a good thing no one has moved in yet," said the woman.
"We heard about what happened from the contractors, but it is quite weird that the taxi avoided an electrical box, trees and even the drain before crashing into the unit,'' she added."
A spokesman for the Housing and Development Board said its engineers have since checked the building and found it structurally sound.
"Repairs to the flat will be completed in a few weeks' time," said the spokesman.
Residents of the estate remain perplexed as to how such a thing could have happened.
The driver could have stopped, why was he reversing and going back and forth so many times? If the driver had been drinking, it would have been much easier to understand.
- Mr Andy Yeo, 48, a resident
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