A woman’s efforts to avoid paying about NT$3,000 for two Taipei-to-Kaohsiung trips on the Taiwan High Speed Rail could end up costing her and her boyfriend NT$130,000.
The woman, surnamed Liu (劉), used to work for Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSR, 台灣高鐵).
Liu and her boyfriend, surnamed Kuo (郭), were on Saturday fined NT$40,000 each in lieu of a 40-day jail term by the Ciaotou District Court in Kaohsiung.
They have already paid the company NT$25,000 each in settlement for their fare-dodging actions.
According to the court verdict, Liu bought an unreserved seat ticket from Taipei to Banciao by using a ticket vending machine on May 27 last year, which cost her NT$35.
However, she stayed on the train all the way to Kaohsiung.
While on the train, Liu called Kuo and asked him to go to the THSR Zuoying Station and buy a Zuoying-to-Tainan ticket.
Kuo bought a ticket and swiped it at one of the entrance turnstiles, but did not go through the turnstile.
After Liu arrived at the station, the couple rendezvoused in a secluded area and Kuo passed her the ticket that he had bought.
Liu then went to THSR staff and told them that something had come up and she could not make her planned trip to Tainan.
They let her out of the station’s departure-arrival enclosure and she turned in the Tainan ticket that Kuo had purchased and received a refund minus a processing fee of NT$20, which meant she paid just NT$55 for the trip from Taipei.
However, when the couple tried to repeat the trick on June 6, THSR staff did not fall for the ruse and called the police.
After considering that the couple had admitted to fare dodging and had already reached a settlement with THSRC, the district court sentenced them each to 40 days in jail for fraud or a NT$40,000 fine.
The verdict can be appealed.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS