Nala Taxi Center stated yesterday that MVR 1,000 was taken for cleaning costs as an infant vomited into a taxi after both parties agreed to the amount.
The mother of the one-year-old infant shared the story on social media, which resulted in a wave of public criticism. Nala Taxi released a statement, which reads that the customer told the driver that an infant had vomited into the taxi during the trip from Hulhumale' Phase 2 to go to Jetty No. 7 in Male'.
Nala Taxi said the customer was told about the plastic bags near the seat when they asked and the driver told the customer that cleaning services usually charge MVR 1,500 for seat cleaning.
Nala Taxi said once the customer was told this, they called someone on their phone and got them to talk to the driver. The person on the phone asked the driver to go to the cleaning service they give the name of, with the driver going there to clean the seat of the car after the customer was taken to their destination on time.
Nala Taxi went on to say the driver was told they do not offer seat cleaning services, and that the driver asked an adjacent service and was told it would cost MVR 1,600. Nala Taxi's statement reads that the driver talked to the workers there and managed to bring the price down to MVR 1,000.
MVR 1,000 was taken from the customer after the person who talked on the phone to the driver on behalf of the customer (the infant's father) and the driver came to an agreement, said Nala Taxi.
The taxi company continued by stating a picture of the car being cleaned was sent by the driver to the person they talked to on the phone, and that even though the driver received the money to clean the seat, they did not receive payment for the taxi ride.
According to Nala Taxi, even after both parties talked and came to an agreement, they are concerned about the stories that were posted on social media, which were told in a defamatory manner.
The mother of the infant named Hawwa Mohamed told Mihaaru News that once she told the taxi driver about her child vomiting in the car, the driver told her without hesitation that she would have to pay MVR 1,500.
"He did not offer any help. He did not even look and said cleaning costs would be more than MVR 1,500. I was quite shocked. He even had tissues in the car but he did not give me any, he just kept demanding the MVR 1,500," said Hawwa Mohamed.
Hawwa said that even though she was told that it would take MVR 1,500 to clean the taxi, the vomit was only on the infant and on her.
Hawwa continued, saying that the driver told her there were plastic bags in the taxi if anyone had to vomit. But she said that her child could not talk still due to being an infant and they would not know how to say they felt like vomiting.
