Man ‘woke up in bushes’, without his wallet and HKD68,000 watch after falling asleep in a taxi

Chan came to in the bushes outside Nam Cheong MTR. Screenshot: Apple Daily
Chan came to in the bushes outside Nam Cheong MTR. Screenshot: Apple Daily

When we hear about unscrupulous cabbies, they’re normally accused of overcharging or taking long routes. One young man, however, hit the bad cabbie jackpot over the weekend after he nodded off in the back of a taxi and woke up by the side of the road, missing HKD73,000 in valuables.

The 27-year-old man, surnamed Chan, posted a Facebook status detailing how “a friend” had been robbed while napping in a taxi, to warn other Hongkongers about the poor behaviour of some local cabbies. “He fell asleep pretty soon after getting in the cab, then woke up in some bushes by the road, opposite Nam Cheong MTR. He realised he was missing his wallet, phone, and watch. Some taxi drivers really are such bad apples.”

Chan later told Apple Daily that he was the anonymous “friend”. (No! Really? What a twist.) “I’d been drinking with friends on Saturday night, and hailed a taxi at the junction of Hanoi Road and Mody Road at around 2am [on Sunday] to go to Yuen Long,” he said. And, well, you know what happened next. After waking up, Chan says he tried to get help from a passing motorist, but “the guy drove off after he confirmed [Chan] hadn’t been hit by a car”.

About five minutes later, a friendly taxi driver stopped for Chan and helped him call the police. “He asked me if I was cold and let me wait in his cab until the cops arrived,” the 27-year-old said. Police officers later found Chan’s cracked iPhone in the underbrush, but failed to recover his other belongings (a brand new HKD68,000 Rolex and HKD5,000 in cash).

The case is being investigated by Sham Shui Po police district’s Crime Unit.



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