Ryde driver suspended for allegedly telling woman not to listen to prayers in the car

SINGAPORE: A driver with ride-sharing firm Ryde has been suspended after he allegedly advised a Muslim woman that she may not listen to prayers in his car. "We strictly do not condone any inappropriate behaviour, especially one that hurts one’s race, religion and culture, and have zero tolerance for racist remarks and other forms of harassment," Ryde stated on Friday (Dec 3) in response to CNA's queries.This comes after a publish on Wake Up, Singapore’s Instagram web page on Friday, containing a woman's account of what allegedly occurred.According to the woman, she placed on her earbuds when she stepped into the car. The driver then “made some gestures” at her and stated she "cannot listen to prayer".The driver allegedly stated the “energy” in the car will change if she listened to prayers and that he did not prefer it.In a video of the incident uploaded on the Instagram web page, a woman might be heard telling the driver to let her alight from the car. A male voice replied: “The commission, you have to pay you know.” She stated sure, including that she's going to contact Ryde.The woman additionally alleged in the publish that the driver accelerated when she advised him she needed to alight, including that she was “deeply traumatised” by the expertise.In its assertion on Friday, Ryde apologised and stated it's investigating the incident. "We would like to apologise to our rider and all others who are hurt by this incident," it stated. "We will work better on training our driver-partner community to be respectful and enact harsh penalties for those who fail to meet our community standards."Ryde stated it has refunded the passenger in full."We are fully committed to building a safer and more welcoming community for everyone, and we regret how this experience made the rider feel unsafe," it added.