Three people involved in a brawl between multiple xe om (motorbike taxi) drivers and their GrabBike rivals in Ho Chi Minh City last week have been fined for causing public disorder, police said on Monday.

A flying police squad on patrol was forced to fire their handguns into the air to stop the conflict between the drivers in front of the Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station in Binh Tan District after it escalated on the night of June 15.

Two GrabBike drivers and a xe om have been collectively handed a VND1.5 million (US$65) administrative fine, according to Binh Tan police.

GrabBike is one of the services provided by the ride-hailing app Grab, which also allows people to book taxis or private cars via a few touches on their smartphones.

On top of their fines, the app-based drivers, Nguyen Hoang Vu and Truong Thai Phong, both had their contracts with Grab terminated shortly after the incident, with a company representative saying they do not tolerate violence from their drivers.

The xe om driver is 49-year-old Le Van Hai, who punched Vu in the face, igniting a ‘war’ between the traditional and modern motorbike taxi forces.

Binh Tan police have also given the media a detailed account of what happened at the bus station that night.

A combined photo from still images taken from a Facebook video of the fight

Revenge after xe om attack

According to the police file, at 9:00 pm on June 15, Vu arrived at Mien Tay Bus Station to pick up a passenger who had contacted him via the app.

Upon reaching the ticket counter of the Phuong Trang Bus Line, Vu was stopped by a security guard, who told him he was not allowed to pick up passengers inside the bus station.

As the GrabBike driver quarreled with the security guard, xe om driver Hai appeared from nowhere and hit him in the face.

The incident took place in front of the GrabBike’s passenger and was recorded by CCTV.

Vu did not fight back and went on to complete the trip for his customer.

He later recalled the incident on Facebook, warning his fellow GrabBike drivers that they could be attacked when picking up passengers at the Mien Tay Bus Station.

Vu also took to the Zalo texting app to brief his GrabBike team leader of his assault, while “calling for support” from other drivers.

At 10:00 pm the same night, Vu and around ten other GrabBike drivers walked toward the bus station, looking for Hai to claim their revenge.

However, they were all barred from entry by the venue’s security guards.

Around 30 minutes later, Vu and around 40 other young men, all wearing GrabBike uniforms, arrived on 20 motorbikes at the bus station again.

As Vu still could not find Hai, he pointed to another xe om and asked his GrabBike colleague, Phong, to beat him.

Phong grabbed a steel chain and rushed to attack the xe om.

However, with Phong quickly besieged by a group of security guards and other xe om, the posse of GrabBike drivers all jumped in to ‘rescue’ their colleague, leading to a scuffle.

The fight was only stopped, with GrabBike drivers hurriedly fleeing the scene, after police shot into the air.

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