Honest Thai taxi driver impresses Japanese tourist

[webfact]

Honest cabbie impresses tourist
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A taxi driver Thursday returned Japanese currency worth about Bt150,000 and documents to a Japanese passenger who accidentally left his bag in the cab on Wednesday night.

Yasuyuki Tagashi, 49, was delighted and offered Bt18,000 as a reward to the driver, Thirapong Phuphan.

Thirapong arranged the return of the cash and documents via the Traffic Radio Society.

The Japanese tourist said he was on his first trip to Thailand and was very impressed.

"I will definitely encourage my friends to visit Thailand," Tagashi said.

He added that he in fact did not even remember where he had left his bag.


-- The Nation 2014-02-13

[uty6543]

Another good story about taxi drivers and Thai people in general. And good for the Japanese guy for giving a generous reward.

[Costas2008]

Is this a TAT promotion adverb?

Well done taxi driver ( in case you start bashing me)

[TVGerry]

Not all taxi drivers here are bad. I've sat in a few where they're just rubbish but for the most part, they do their job well and get you from A to B with no problems whatsoever. It's not surprising you read a lot of stories about them returning left behind items and money to the owners.

[hands22]

Japanese are just good tippers! And polite. No wonder they are so well liked here.

Good to read this article among all the usual dreary Thai news.

[sms747]

well done the driver, most foreigners would npt have tipped him 18k

[Why ask]

Should we be impressed that there are honest people in Thailand, or is this assumed to be remarkable?

What a sorry state of judgment.

FK ME.. There are honest people.

It's about time people woke up and realised that most people in the world are honest, as are most Thais!

-m.

[uptheos]

Wow, such a long story put out by TAT The Nation.

[ratcatcher]

I left my bag in a taxi once. It took the driver until next morning to bring her home.

Good on the cabbie and thumbs up to the Japanese for recognizing the cabbie's honesty

[NomadJoe]

We tend to set the bar very low with these taxi drivers don't we. I think it's really insulting to Thai people to post these kind of stories news. To me it's not just a sad commentary on the integrity of Thai taxi drivers, but on society in general, that we make a news story out of something which we all should do intrinsically.

[negreanu]

They publish one of these stories every 6 months.

What they don't mention is the 5000 cases in between these "Honest Driver" stories that did not return the 100k THB left in the back of cabs.

Thainess......

[drand11]

I find 90% are very good and honest. Its that small group just waiting to take advantage of the tourist that can cause the problem w the unknowing tourist.

[drand11]

Honestly, i think the taxi rates are too liw, should pay more when sitting in traffic.

[Boater]

i once left my mobile in a Taxi from BKK to Pattaya, when i realized i had left the phone in the Taxi 30 mins later, i called and the driver answered, turned around and dropped it back off !

[FalangBaa]

150,000 baht... That's 4,286 short-trip taxi fares at the minimum of 35 baht per fare, or one fare every single day for 11 years and 9 months. (Puts away calculator.) He's going to have to pick up a lot of extra fares to make up for the loss of this potential "windfall", but perhaps the good karma gained will make it all worthwhile! By the way, does anyone know if they are EVER going to increase the minimum fare from 35 baht? That is ridiculously cheap considering it sometimes seems you can travel about 1 mile before it goes up to 37 baht! I think 50 baht would be very reasonable and would give taxi drivers a better income.

[Blackmirage2013]

This is rare, if true. I have never ever had a taxi driver return anything I lost. In fact, 99% of the taxi cab drivers would keep the money and throw away the wallet. it is foolish to even think that honesty and returning lost goods is the norm here in Thailand. If people think they can get away with it, or if they feel they are not being watched, they will do dishonest things!

Hell, look at the damn government for Christ's sake!!!!!

[Sayonarax]

well done the driver, most foreigners would npt have tipped him 18k

How do you know what most people would do?

[TVGerry]

This is rare, if true. I have never ever had a taxi driver return anything I lost. In fact, 99% of the taxi cab drivers would keep the money and throw away the wallet. it is foolish to even think that honesty and returning lost goods is the norm here in Thailand. If people think they can get away with it, or if they feel they are not being watched, they will do dishonest things!

Hell, look at the dam_n government for Christ's sake!!!!!

Oh really? Stupidly dropped many wallets in a taxi have you?

[PaullyW]

So easy to make up these stories. We shall never know if it really happened.

[PaullyW]

I find 90% are very good and honest. Its that small group just waiting to take advantage of the tourist that can cause the problem w the unknowing tourist.

I estimate it to be exactly the opposite.

[MMarlow]

Should we be impressed that there are honest people in Thailand, or is this assumed to be remarkable?

What a sorry state of judgment.

FK ME.. There are honest people.

It's about time people woke up and realised that most people in the world are honest, as are most Thais!

-m.

.

No-one is asking you to be impressed by anything. The report is simply about an incident that some people are happy to read about, if it isn't to your liking, hard cheese.

[MMarlow]

150,000 baht... That's 4,286 short-trip taxi fares at the minimum of 35 baht per fare, or one fare every single day for 11 years and 9 months. (Puts away calculator.) He's going to have to pick up a lot of extra fares to make up for the loss of this potential "windfall", but perhaps the good karma gained will make it all worthwhile! By the way, does anyone know if they are EVER going to increase the minimum fare from 35 baht? That is ridiculously cheap considering it sometimes seems you can travel about 1 mile before it goes up to 37 baht! I think 50 baht would be very reasonable and would give taxi drivers a better income.

There was no loss, he made 18,000 baht from that trip.

[Why ask]

Should we be impressed that there are honest people in Thailand, or is this assumed to be remarkable?

What a sorry state of judgment.

FK ME.. There are honest people.

It's about time people woke up and realised that most people in the world are honest, as are most Thais!

-m.

.

No-one is asking you to be impressed by anything. The report is simply about an incident that some people are happy to read about, if it isn't to your liking, hard cheese.

An incident you are happy to read about, which should normally be a daily occurence not needing to be reported as major news. You must live in an untrusted world of self-opinion, and If this report is to your liking then it is your cheese that is hard, and not mine.

[JohnThailandJohn]

I find 90% are very good and honest. Its that small group just waiting to take advantage of the tourist that can cause the problem w the unknowing tourist.

I estimate it to be exactly the opposite.

Psychology 101 says the way we look at ourselves plays an important role in how we see the others.

[JohnThailandJohn]

They publish one of these stories every 6 months.

What they don't mention is the 5000 cases in between these "Honest Driver" stories that did not return the 100k THB left in the back of cabs.

Thainess......

Yes, because 10,000 people a year leave approx. $5,000 in Taxis around Thailand, let alone the entire world.

[thrilled]

People are people.There are honest people everywhere.I'm A believer that if you,lose something and an honest person finds it and gets it back to you.Then you should reward the person at least 10% of whatever the contents are worth?Your rewarding the person.At the same time your punishing yourself,remembering you'll be more careful in the future.

[PaullyW]

We hear one of these stories every year. It's propaganda. Why don't we here about the negative stories, the complaints???

[Prbkk]

It's not always propaganda: I lost my passport somewhere in Sukhumvit. The person who found it took it to the police who returned it to me. They went to quite some trouble. Of course I gave them a small gift in thanks. Unfortunately the person who returned it didn't give a name...just a good person like you find every day of your life ( the bad ones get the publicity)

[tx22cb]

I find it quaint that, in Thailand, the taxi drivers prefer to hand in the items to "the Traffic Radio Society" (radio stations?) rather than to a local police station - just shows who the drivers trust more.

[espinoza]

well done the driver, most foreigners would npt have tipped him 18k

I would!!!