A TAXI driver at Phuket's Central Festival rank was praised by a German tourist for helping to return a bag containing her wallet, passport and other ID yesterday.
Hebeca Lexamora went shopping and left her bag behind after the taxi dropped her back at her Patong resort.
Honest cabbie Somphoch Tongwattana, 50, spotted the bag in the back seat of his Toyota at Central Festival and handed it over to taxi rank supervisor Pom Sukasasam, who organised to contact Ms Lexamore at the Erawan Patong Hotel.
She was pleased to regain the bag, which contained her passport and other ID as well as 14,000 baht and a quantity of euros in cash.
Khun Pom said that the 100 taxis operating from Central Festival kept good records and it was not uncommon for left bags to be returned to anxious tourists.
Phuket, World's Best of the Best for Expat LivingHebeca Lexamora went shopping and left her bag behind after the taxi dropped her back at her Patong resort.
Honest cabbie Somphoch Tongwattana, 50, spotted the bag in the back seat of his Toyota at Central Festival and handed it over to taxi rank supervisor Pom Sukasasam, who organised to contact Ms Lexamore at the Erawan Patong Hotel.
She was pleased to regain the bag, which contained her passport and other ID as well as 14,000 baht and a quantity of euros in cash.
Khun Pom said that the 100 taxis operating from Central Festival kept good records and it was not uncommon for left bags to be returned to anxious tourists.
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Kudos to Khun Somphoch. Well done. Recognizing good deeds publicly goes a long way in increasing the likelyhood of others following in the footsteps of this honest taxi driver. I'm sure he and his family feel rightfully proud to read this story.
What is sad though is that anything positive about the taxis and tuk-tuks is newsworthy in Phuket since the public perception, justified or not, is that they are a bunch of mxxxx-style criminals.
I guess this is the impression the high-ranking police officer from BKK made on his visit to Phuket recently too, as is reported here in another story.
Posted by Chris on November 11, 2010 11:00
Editor Comment:
That's the inaccurate exaggeration of the misguided people who can't tell the difference between a notorious criminal organisation dealing in drugs and death and a Phuket transport monopoly. It's just not true, although there may be some bad apples in the tuk-tuk barrel.