Jurong car workshop fight: Garage employees were preventing director from doing audit
SINGAPORE – A fight at a Jurong car workshop has exposed the sour relationship between the shareholders of the garage, and how it culminated in a fight that went viral online.
The dispute that was thrust into the public eye started innocently as a carpark dispute on Wednesday morning (May 25), and later escalated into a shoving match involving around seven men and four women.
Caught in the crossfire is the staff from Fix It Auto Pte Ltd.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the director of neighbouring insurance company Terri Links Pte Ltd, who was also in the fight, is one of the three shareholders of Fix It Auto.
A woman, who was seen hurling vulgarities and using an umbrella as a weapon in the video, is understood to be an employee with Terri Links.
Video screengrabs
It started as a carpark dispute
Garage staff told the Chinese evening daily that they were opening the workshop at 8.51am on Wednesday when they discovered a car from Terri Links parked outside their premises, and it was obstructing a client’s car.
A Fix It Auto employee proceeded to park a van in front of Terri Links located next door, and requested that they move that car that was blocking the auto-repair shop.
Tempers flared as both sides refused to budge. Three employees from Terri Links then decided to push the van to the middle of the road (pictured below).
Workshop director wanted to do an audit
At 8.55am – four minutes after the carpark dispute started – the director of Terri Links, Mr Lai, 40, stomped from his office to the neighbouring auto-repair shop with the intention to audit its accounts.
Mr Lai (pictured), who is also a shareholder of Fix It Auto, was stopped by the garage employees. Both parties then started to jostle, and more people from both sides joined in the fight.
It was then when the lady with the umbrella rushed in and started hitting Fix It Auto employees with the brolly.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Mr Lai insisted that he did not instigate the fight, and tried to disassociate himself from the lady with the umbrella.
He denied knowing the reason behind the woman’s action.
Mr Lai also revealed that he used to be an ordinary shareholder of Fix It Auto. After discrepancies were discovered in the car workshop’s accounts, he accepted that position of a director to audit the workshop’s accounts.
“However, I was stopped by the other directors from entering the workshop. This isn’t the first time I have been prevented from entering,” Mr Lai told Shin Min Daily News.
He had previously made three police reports regarding the discrepancies in the books of Fix It Auto, and had stated his intention to relinquish his position at the workshop.
Dispute started in 2015
Miss Ang, 44, who works with Fix It Auto, told Shin Min Daily News that the dispute started in September 2015.
Then, Mr Lai’s brother had opened a competing auto-repair shop nearby without informing the other two shareholders of Fix It Auto.
Unhappy that they were not informed about the competing auto-repair shop, the other two shareholders requested that Mr Lai sell his stakes in Fix It Auto, but the talks broke down.
It was then when the situation went downhill.
In January this year, Mr Lai even advertised the services of his brother’s car workshop in front of his insurance company, which is next-door to Fix It Auto.
Miss Ang told Shin Min Daily News that Mr Lai appeared at Fix It Auto with the ‘umbrella’ lady before, although there was no altercation then.
In May, one of the shareholders served a lawyer’s letter to Mr Lai, requesting him not to enter the workshop’s premises when the other shareholders are not present.
It was because of this that led the car workshop employees from blocking Mr Lai’s path on Wednesday.
Three people were later hospitalised. Two of the injured are brothers (pictured above) working at the car workshop, while the remaining person is an employee from Terri Links.
A police spokesperson told Shin Min Daily News that they were notified at 8.53am of an affray at Soon Lee Road. Investigations are ongoing.
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