Not all taxi drivers deserve bad press
It is not often that letters in newspapers praise Hong Kong taxi drivers. Unfortunately, it's usually only the horror stories that make it into the press.
But I have had some positive experiences.
I had returned from an overseas trip with a few pieces of luggage and took a taxi from the airport in-town check-in at Hong Kong station to return home. After getting out of the taxi, I only realised when I was in my house that I had left my hand luggage on the seat.
I called the taxi station in the hope that the driver would hear the announcement.
A couple of hours later I received a call from the city check-in telling me that a taxi driver had returned my hand luggage to their office and left.
I was told that I could pick up my luggage from the in-town check-in. I managed to get the name and telephone number of th driver with the intention of thanking him and giving him a much-deserved reward. However, he declined to accept any reward.
On a second occasion recently I left my laptop in the taxi but I hadn't taken down the driver's name or his licence number. A call to the taxi station produced no result. However, after a few hours, the driver called and arranged to return the laptop. Again he declined a reward.
After these experiences I sought advice from someone in the taxi trade, asking what is the most effective way to retrieve items left in taxis.
The advice was first of all to ask for a receipt. Secondly, report your loss to commercial radio, and ask them to connect you to the appropriate channel.
Taxi drivers are more likely to listen to commercial radio than announcements from taxi stations.
