"Refusal of Taxi Service Justified Due to Passenger's Gapjil Behavior"

Central Administrative Appeals Committee: "Protect the Rights of Taxi Drivers as Well as Passengers"

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] An administrative judgment has ruled that taxi drivers refusing rides due to passengers' 'gapjil' behavior is justified.

On the 13th, the Central Administrative Appeals Commission under the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission stated, "Taxi drivers' refusal to pick up passengers exhibiting gapjil behavior is not unjust," and canceled Seoul City's administrative sanction against taxi ride refusals.

According to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, taxi driver A received a call from a passenger and entered a narrow market alley where it became impossible to proceed. A requested the passenger to come to a nearby location, to which the passenger agreed.

Shortly after, the passenger shouted at A unilaterally and demanded in a high-handed manner to come to a different location. A, unable to find the requested place, asked the passenger to use another taxi.

The passenger reported to Seoul City that the taxi refused to pick them up.

The Central Administrative Appeals Commission stated, "The alley is a narrow and complex market alley, and to reach the location requested by the passenger, the taxi would have had to turn around, which was difficult."

They judged that A would have had difficulty responding to the passenger's sudden change of pickup location. This was the reason for canceling Seoul City's administrative sanction against the taxi ride refusal.

Kim Myungseop, Director of the Administrative Appeals Bureau at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, said, "We must also protect the rights of taxi drivers from passengers' gapjil behavior that abuses the ride refusal reporting system recently."

He added, "Seoul City needs to apply different standards for reports from gapjil passengers. However, illegal ride refusals by taxi drivers will continue to be strictly judged."

Meanwhile, among 476 administrative appeals related to ride refusals decided by the Central Administrative Appeals Commission from 2018 to the end of August this year, 73 cases were accepted. The acceptance rate is about 15%, which is higher than the average acceptance rate of about 10% during the same period.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.