Five Riders, a Cigarette and an Open Door at a Red Light
01:20 outside a bar in Lan Kwai Fong. A group approaches: four adults and one child of about eight years old. Two of the adults are unsteady on their feet; one is eating from a paper bag and holding a lit cigarette. They want a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, then ask to "stop on the way" to collect a sixth friend waiting in Wan Chai, and they ask whether they can smoke in the taxi because the driver before "didn't mind". You set off. At a red light in the middle of a busy road, one of the adults leans forward, opens the front passenger door and says he needs to get out to be sick.
1. They want to collect a sixth person in Wan Chai. How many may you carry, and what do you say?
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An urban taxi is licensed to carry a maximum of five passengers - four in the rear and one in the front beside you. Four adults plus the child already make five, so the taxi is full and the sixth person cannot be carried.
Consent alone would not fix it. Even if every existing passenger agreed to the detour, consent cannot override the licensed seating capacity. Carrying a sixth person is overloading: it is an offence, it invalidates the insurance position for that passenger, and in a collision an unrestrained passenger in an overloaded car is the most likely person to be seriously hurt.
What you say: "I'm licensed for five and you're five - I can't take a sixth. I can drop you in Wan Chai on the way and your friend can take another taxi, or I can take the five of you straight to the hotel." Offer the practical solution, not just the refusal. Note that whichever they choose, the meter runs continuously for the detour; there is no second flag fall.
2. They ask to smoke in the taxi. What is the position, and what do you do if they light up anyway?
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Smoking is prohibited in a taxi. A public transport carrier is a designated no-smoking area, and the prohibition covers the passenger and the driver alike. Allowing it makes you part of the offence and exposes you to a fixed penalty.
Sequence of responses:
- Before moving off - say clearly and without lecturing that smoking is not allowed in the taxi. If they are holding a lit cigarette, ask them to put it out before boarding.
- If they light up during the journey - ask them once, plainly, to extinguish it. Pull over at the first safe and lawful stopping place if that makes the request easier to enforce.
- If they refuse - you may end the hire: stop safely, tell them the journey is terminated, and ask them to leave. Do not grab the cigarette, do not physically remove anyone, and do not drive on with a passenger smoking while you argue. If they will not leave, call the police.
- Fare - they remain liable for the metered fare up to the point where the hire ended.
3. A passenger opens the front door at a red light in a live lane. What is the risk, and how do you handle it?
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The immediate risk is a door opening into the path of a cyclist, a motorcyclist filtering past, or a pedestrian, and the passenger stepping out into moving cross-traffic. A red light for you is a green light for the traffic crossing in front of you. This is the single most dangerous thing anyone in the car has done so far.
Immediately: tell him to close the door and stay in the vehicle - firmly, once. If he is genuinely unwell, your job is to get him out of a live lane, not to let him out where he stands.
Then: as soon as the signal allows, move on and pull into the first lawful stopping place - a side street, a lay-by, a legal kerbside - and let him out there.
Fare and record: he is liable for the fare to the point where the hire ends. If he walks off without paying, note the time, location and description and report it; do not grab him or his property. Once he has left, check the door and the seat for damage or soiling before taking another hire.