Many Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper readers voiced their criticism against a Vinasun taxi driver who vehemently responded to a foreigner’s admonishing him for littering in public places in Ho Chi Minh City this week, appealing for harsher punishment on him instead of just a one-month suspension.

Following a short video showing the situation going viral on social media on Tuesday, the cabby was suspended for one month starting from Wednesday for his bad behavior and littering in public places.

In the video, a man wearing the uniform of taxi operator Vinasun threw a plastic bottle and a styrofoam box on the ground at a local park.

Right after that, a foreigner approached and asked him to put his trash in a public trash can.

However, the driver reacted angrily to the rebuke. He also returned to his car to get something and then came back to the foreigner in an act of defiance.

His act raised Tuoi Tre readers’ hackles.

“What a terrible act!” a reader commented, adding that the taxi firm had given him a mild punishment.

The company should have terminated the labor contract with the taxi driver, the reader voiced his opinion.

Echoing the view, another reader commented that “I totally agreed. The cabby should have been fired.”

Several readers felt his behavior was a shame, noting that when breaking rules in other countries, people can be fined heavily or even jailed.

Reader Qui Pham observed that his macho reaction to the foreigner’s rebuke for his wrongdoing has affected his firm, so a one-month suspension is still a mild penalty.

“I think that the cabby must also meet the foreigner to apologize and collect garbage on the streets for one month,” Qui Pham remarked.

Some other readers left comments that the cabby should do community service for one month, apart from his moratorium.

Such a lawless act and impolite behavior have contributed to ruining the images of the country and Vietnamese people, Bui Duc Thang commented.

As such, the driver should have been sacked, Thang added.

“What a shame! What an awful act!” another reader said.

“Such a combative act should have been eliminated,” a separate reader remarked.

More severe punishment is a need to change the attitude and behavior of such a violent man as taxi drivers who provide services to customers must not be hostile to the passengers, a reader assessed.

Meanwhile, some readers voiced their concerns over the influence of such bad behavior on his children and grandchildren, calling on city authorities to penalize him for littering.

A reader proposed setting up a regular patrol team to monitor environmental protection and impose sanctions on those found littering, while another hinted at installing surveillance cameras to track violators.

Vietnam is endowed with charming landscapes, but is suffering from littering in public places, a reader left his remark.

Similarly, some readers aired their complaints about Vinasun taxi drivers’ bad behavior.

They wrote that many drivers traveled at high speed and drove in the wrong lanes.

“I will never take a ride by this taxi operator as its drivers are aggressive,” a reader commented, adding that he had an awful experience in a Vinasun cabby.

“I took a Vinasun taxi once. I’d rather walk than get in this taxi,” another reader shared his feeling.

“The firm needs to educate its drivers,” reader Hoang Nguyen wrote.

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