Motorcycle taxi driver rewarded 20,000 baht for returning a wallet with over 359,000 baht in Swiss f

[rooster59]

Motorcycle taxi driver rewarded 20,000 baht for returning a wallet with over 359,000 baht in Swiss francs to the owner

BANGKOK: A motorcycle taxi driver was rewarded 20,000 baht by a Swiss national after the former found the latter’s wallet with over 10,000 Swiss francs (about 359,000 baht) dropped in front of the Swiss embassy and returned it to the owner through a local radio station.

The motorcycle taxi driver, Mr Yutthana Mainoi, said he has been working as a security guard for about a month after arriving in Bangkok from his native hometown in Ubon Ratchathani. After office hours, he also works as a motorcycle taxi driver to supplement his income in order to feed his two children and parents back in Ubon Ratchathani.

He disclosed that as he was riding past the Swiss embassy on Thursday he saw a wallet on the road in front of the embassy and quickly picked it up for a look. He found a lot of money inside the wallet and later consulted his brother about what to do with the wallet and the money. Eventually, he deposited it with the Sor Wor Por 91 radio station so that it could find the right owner.

Though it was a huge sum of money, Yutthana said that the money was not his and he didn’t want to keep it. He added that he understood the hardship of someone who lost a huge sum of money.

Ms Panawan Promnanas, a girlfriend of the wallet owner, Daniel Kofmel, said she heard a radio broadcast about a missing wallet found in front of the Swiss embassy and contacted the radio station to pick up the money.

She said she and the Swiss man went to the embassy to apply for a marriage registration. But because the embassy was about to close, so Mr Kofmel who was on wheel-chair was quickly moved out of the car and, in the process, the wallet which was placed on his lap dropped without his notice.

Yutthana, Kofmel and Ms Panawan showed up at the Sor Wor Por 91 radio station on Friday for the handover of the wallet with the cash. The Swissman thanked the motorcycle taxi-driver and handed him 20,000 baht in cash.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/170836-2/

-- Thai PBS 2016-07-02

[Happy Grumpy]

Haven't really checked the news, what vicious crime did a motosai taxi rider commit yesterday.

[lust]

I would have kept it.

[ezzra]

Now this is what I call Amazing Thailand in deeds, not in words only, this Swiss guy will tell this tell

to willem Tell and all his mates in praises of Thailand.....

[daveAustin]

I wish the good taxi driver kept it and put the money to good use, as odds-on the Swiss guy will have most of relieved by his girlfriend. Oh, that's cold, sorry. Seriously, nice gesture on both sides. It probably would have been kept where I come from.

[smew]

Keep it or not, hard decision to make most Swiss guys very wealthy MB taxi driver an honest person for sure, be it as it may ... but his girlfriend will clean him out and release him onto the world of new vultures

[kaneko86]

And you guys all know his girlfriend?

[sahibji]

a ray of amazing hope.

sounds impossible but it did happen.

prefer to call it a miracle. whatever the name

we must acknowledge and appreciate the good deed

of the moto taxi operator.

[pod8460]

Great story. Good job the moto taxi guy wasn't from England or the Swiss guy would never have got his money back.

[smew]

On second thought, the cheap Swiss guy should have given him more.. say like 50% .. he would have lost it all if the remaining 99.9% of us had located it !

[prestburypark]

Great story. Good job the moto taxi guy wasn't from England or the Swiss guy would never have got his money back.

Really?

Pretty terrible statement there, substitute (your choice of places or peoples) and it would insult the whole world.

I am English and I have found 2 wallets in my time and returned them intact. I have lost one unknowingly , an old lady found it, in England, returned it to my bank who contacted

me, (me still not knowing that I had dropped it).

I got her details and gave her the cash that was in the wallet as a reward, and it was £160.00.

So keep your ignorant prejudices and projections to yourself, there are many decent good people in Britain, not just England.

[stewsan]

I agree with "Smew", this Swiss guy should be tarred and feathered. To give such a paltry sim of 20,000 after returning 359K, not to mention the credit cards or other valuables. It's embarrassing. I'd have given him half......

[cardinalblue]

She was my GF last night....

[pod8460]

Great story. Good job the moto taxi guy wasn't from England or the Swiss guy would never have got his money back.

Really?

Pretty terrible statement there, substitute (your choice of places or peoples) and it would insult the whole world.

I am English and I have found 2 wallets in my time and returned them intact. I have lost one unknowingly , an old lady found it, in England, returned it to my bank who contacted

me, (me still not knowing that I had dropped it).

I got her details and gave her the cash that was in the wallet as a reward, and it was £160.00.

So keep your ignorant prejudices and projections to yourself, there are many decent good people in Britain, not just England.

Yes, I deserved that last comment. I had just had a beer and thought Id be a smart ass. I liked your story to.

[tomyumchai]

"ms Panawan, a girlfriend of the wallet owner"

......did anyone else chuckle at that?

[eddie61]

Great story. Good job the moto taxi guy wasn't from England or the Swiss guy would never have got his money back.

Really?

Pretty terrible statement there, substitute (your choice of places or peoples) and it would insult the whole world.

I am English and I have found 2 wallets in my time and returned them intact. I have lost one unknowingly , an old lady found it, in England, returned it to my bank who contacted

me, (me still not knowing that I had dropped it).

I got her details and gave her the cash that was in the wallet as a reward, and it was £160.00.

So keep your ignorant prejudices and projections to yourself, there are many decent good people in Britain, not just England.

Yes, I deserved that last comment. I had just had a beer and thought Id be a smart ass. I liked your story to.

Honourable apology! You are not the only one who has pressed the fatal send button after a beer..... I speak from experience

Edited July 2, 2016 by eddie61

[thrilled]

Being the owner actually lost it he should have given the taxi driver 10-15% at least.I mean he's be out 359,000 if the taxi driver had kept it.Given him the 20,000 baht it was less ha 5%.

[callaway]

All you guys with the "give him more" are crazy. He has been given 2 months wages for doing something that any decent person would do. Namely hand in lost and found property. I think the Swiss guy di well and it is fair compensation. I think some of you are just a bit jealous because probably cannot even get your hands on 400,000 baht .

[berybert]

Taxi driver probably had no idea of how much it was worth. If it had been Thai baht would he have returned it, we will never know.

But the Swiss guy gave an average of 2 months money as a tip, and he is getting slagged off for it.

You really cant win.

[Longtooth]

Should have given him half if the wallet loser was not in a wheelchair. In a wheelchair maybe 100,000. Any more and maybe he couldn't "afford" to stay with his girlfriend. It's a difficult call, actually. Perhaps someone should reward the honesty with a promotion at work or extra points on a Police Entrance Exam or somesuch. Have to admire the honesty. Too bad acclaim does not buy food.

[berybert]

I saw a Thai woman on a bike drop her phone a few years ago, I gave her a shout and didnt even get a thank you. I found a Phone in a toilet in Basel a few years ago and didnt even get a thank you when I gave it back after I heard the guy who dropped it if anyone had handed it in. I saw a guy drop a phone in London a few years ago and ran to give it back to the guy who dropped it, and didnt even get a thank you.

I saw a guy drop a wallet not long ago and gave him a shout to let him know he had dropped it.

On no occasion did I expect to be given the phones or the contents of the wallet. Tho I must admit a simple thank you would have been nice.

There you go. You are either honest or not.

[limdrew37]

I don't think the guy is expecting more. The moment he decided to surrender the money it is a sign that he is really and a kind and honest man in every way. Great to know that swiss man gave him something.

[Thainess]

Switzerland... Dirty, laundered money. Unethical banking capital of the world. The Swiss franc is the dirtiest money in the world and I wouldn't accept a cent of it.