A few good apples – Taxi drivers are not all bad

Taxi drivers are not all bad. A Pattaya motorbike-taxi driver handed into police a foreigner’s wallet he found.

The wallet contained about 18,000 baht. Identification found inside the purse was Franz-Joseph (surname withheld), a German national. The wallet contained 320 euros (12,000 baht) and 6,150 baht (US$180).

The honest taxi driver, Amnuay Plungklang, contacted the media last week to publicise his find in the hope that its owner would claim the wallet he found on Soi Buakhao. The 49 year old Amnuay, who works at a taxi stand beside Big C Extra on Central Road, said he has found many wallets. He has never considered keeping the money or even asking for a reward. As always, he turned the wallet into the police.

Like most people, most taxi drivers are honest people and the actions of a few troublemakers tarnish the reputation of all.

In Bangkok recently, a Thai passenger overpaid his cab fare 1,000-fold. After accidentally transferring 253,303 baht for a 253-baht taxi ride, the driver returned the erroneous tip.

But it’s not all good.

There are stalkers…

A woman driver issued a warning to others after she was stalked by a taxi driver to her home in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok. The cab driver denied the accusation saying he was hired by an unknown person to follow her.

And con artists…

A passenger filed a complaint to the police against an allegedly dishonest taxi driver in Samut Prakarn province near Bangkok after he refused to return the 70,000 baht he found in the cab back to its owner. The taxi driver asked his friend to pretend the cash was hers and kept the money for himself.

Taxi drivers are not all bad, but some have to take the rough with the smooth…

A motorbike taxi driver from Samut Prakan province, just south of Bangkok in Thailand, won 12 million baht (US$345,000) in the lottery. Ek – who works in the King Kaew area of Bang Phli district – revealed that he chose the winning lottery number 375805 using the age of his ex-wife who sadly passed away just one week ago.