It was reported that the lorry driver and cyclist allegedly involved in an altercation in Pasir Ris recently were charged in court on Wednesday (16 Jan).
Their altercation was captured in videos by members of public, which were later uploaded and went viral on the Net. Lorry driver Teo Seng Tiong, 57, and cyclist Eric Cheung Hoyu, 35, a British national, each faces 2 charges.
The foreign expat has been accused of committing mischief by knocking off the side mirror of Teo’s lorry with his hand as well as breaching traffic rules by riding his bicycle in the middle of the leftmost lane, instead of keeping to the far left edge of the road, thereby causing obstruction to faster-moving vehicles.
The lorry driver through his lawyer said that he was prepared to plead guilty. The lawyer acting for the British expat, however, asked for the case to be adjourned so that he can discuss the case with his client and take instructions.
The court approved the British expat’s request to leave Singapore in order to attend a “planned family reunion in Hong Kong” between Jan 17 and 22. Additional bail of $10,000 was imposed.
Their case will be heard on 30 Jan again.
British expat given work pass to work as event manager in Singapore
According to his LinkedIn information, he worked in UK as an event and marketing coordinator in 3 companies from 2005 to early 2011, before coming to Singapore.
He revealed his reason for coming to Singapore in a talk at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore last year.
He said, “In 2010, I was getting bored with my job (in Wessex Conference Centre). No satisfaction, no ladders to climb and spoke with one of my older cousins who dared me to move countries. So in 2011, I moved to a new country, starting a new life, taking that leap of faith moving to Singapore without a job and starting from scratch.”
That is to say, he came to Singapore on a tourist pass looking for a job in Singapore.
“I found my new career in the hotel industry joining the likes of St Regis Hotel for one year and Shangri-La for four years. With that, I was given an internal opportunity moving to Hong Kong with Shangri-La totalling 5 years of service with them as an Event Manager,” he added.
“However, all happy moments must end, I was not made for Hong Kong and it was a real shame, I tried really hard but it wasn’t a good fit. I was given the golden opportunity to move back to Singapore, joining an event agency called MCI as a Business Development Manager selling a story of Pre, Post and Execution phase and how MCI can make it a magical journey to engage with your audience. Since then, I have not looked back.”
It has also been revealed that he graduated from Southampton Solent University in UK, which is ranked 81st among the universities inside UK by the Guardian.
Last but not least, he is, of course, an avid cyclist:
In any case, one must ask what sort of special talent this British expat has which our locals don’t have, that warrants MOM to issue a work pass for him to work in Singapore as an event manager or business development manager?
What do you think?