SHAH ALAM: An honest taxi driver returned a pricey camera tripod left in his vehicle yesterday to its owner, who is in town for the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games.
Unfortunately, due to a communication delay, the cabbie had to contend with the police who were investigating the matter – but all was resolved in the end.
Chong Theam Kwai, 53, had picked up Thailand’s futsal manager in his gold Proton Exora from the Panasonic Sports Complex at Section 21 here yesterday, and dropped him off at the Concorde Hotel Shah Alam.
Moments after entering the hotel, the Thai national realised that he had left his camera tripod in Chong’s cab, and immediately requested the assistance of the hotel’s staff, who obliged by reviewing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the lobby entrance to identify Chong’s vehicle and determine its number plate.
Once the vehicle was identified, the Thai manager lodged a report at the district police station here at 6.10pm.
Unbeknownst to him, however, Chong had already returned the camera tripod to the manager’s friend at the Panasonic Sports Complex.
When contacted by the New Straits Times, Chong said that after dropping off the Thai manager – and without realising the camera tripod was in his car – he returned to the sports complex to pick up four Myanmar passengers he had dropped off there earlier.
“As I was waiting for them, I looked behind and was shocked to see a long bag (on the back passenger seat).
“(When the Myanmar passengers arrived), I showed them the bag and they told me it belonged to (someone from) Thailand. One of them said they remember seeing the camera tripod being carried by a member of the Thai sports delegation.
“I was trying to recall who it could belong to, as I had taken four different passengers from Thailand (yesterday) and dropped them at the same hotel, before the Thai manager,” said Chong, who has been a taxi driver for over 10 years.
“But the Myanmar group said the Thai manager stays at their hotel – the Concorde Hotel Shah Alam – and that they would be able to return the tripod to him.
Anxious over potentially missing other fares, Chong agreed to let the Myanmar group return the item to its owner on his behalf – which indeed they did.
Nevertheless, the long arm of the law came knocking at his door – literally – early this morning.
“Police came knocking at my door at around 1am today. But I explained the matter to the authorities, and learnt that the manager had indeed received his tripod in good condition.
“I should have returned the item personally to the hotel. That was my mistake.
“Next time, I will make it a point to properly check my vehicle after dropping off passengers,” said the father-of-three from Ampang.