Man overpays taxi 253,000 baht, driver returns it

Rushing to transfer payment to a taxi driver, a Thai passenger hit a few extra buttons and didn’t notice he overpaid his cab fare. One thousand times more than the fare. After accidentally transferring 253,303 baht for a 253 baht taxi ride, the driver has been commended for returning the gargantuan erroneous tip.

The Thai passenger hailed the taxi on Thursday night for a trip to Pahonyothin Soi 64 in Bangkok and was picked up by driver Thanasorn Thongdee for the journey. When he arrived at his destination, he paid by bank transfer on his mobile phone. Meaning to type in 253, he accidentally paid 253,303 baht without noticing.

He quickly showed his screen to the driver who might have only noticed that a transfer had been made and confirmed without noticing the exorbitant price. The man exited the vehicle and the taxi drove off.

But the next morning when he logged in to his bank account, the passenger was stunned to see a quarter of a million baht missing from his balance. Checking his transaction history, he realised the mistake he had made in overpaying the taxi driver.

The distressed man called 1644, the traffic hotline for emergency information that also handles lost items on the roads. He also contacted a local radio station known for helping with lost items like that. Reports from ASEAN Now did not confirm if it was JS 100 Radio, whose 1137 hotline number also assists in lost items and traffic.

Fortunately, the radio station was able to trace the details of the accidental 250,000 baht overpayment and tracked down taxi driver Thanasorn. Also luckily, Thanasorn has a history of returning lost items and working to track down passengers who left something behind in his taxi. He has previously gotten lost money returned to a passenger who left Thai, Cambodian and US currency in the taxi.

The taxi driver handed the 253,000 baht that was overpaid back to the passenger who was too quick with keying in his payment. The thankful man had said that the money returned was desperately needed to pay to care for his sick mother.