Tourist says sorry for paying Vietnam taxi driver with 'thank you' instead of cash

A man has posted a public apology and clarification for not paying the taxi fare while travelling in Vietnam, after dashcam footage of the incident circulated online.

The footage was uploaded on TikTok on Aug. 3 by the taxi driver who brought the tourist to his destination.

In this video, the tourist took his belongings, said "thank you", and made to leave the taxi.

When the driver made a hand gesture to ask for the fare, the tourist looked at him apologetically and said, "I don't have money. Only a 'thank you'."

The driver looked away with an expression of slight annoyance, but said nothing and gave him a restrained smile.

After thanking the driver again, the tourist got out of the car.

Many commenters, in Vietnamese, slammed the tourist's behaviour, and wondered how the driver could be so calm.

@quan2632000 Oát thấy Ấn cái đ ái m ế luôn I have no money (tôi không có tiền) #taxixanhsmdanang#moingaymotcauchuyen#x ♬ âm thanh gốc - không phải quân

Apology video

About two days after the dashcam footage was uploaded, the tourist posted his own video to explain his side of the story.

He said that there had been an "misunderstanding" over what happened.

He did not have cash in Vietnamese dong (VND) with him that day in Danang, Vietnam, he claimed. That was because he would usually hail a ride using an app and pay with his credit card.

However, as he was in a rush to collect a parcel at the time, he decided to save time by getting a ride from taxi drivers waiting outside the airport.

When the first driver he approached said he only accepted cash, the tourist declined the ride. He then met the driver from the TikTok video.

He asked the driver if he could "help" him, and the driver did not answer nor talk about money, according to the tourist.

"It was totally a mistake, a misunderstanding," the tourist said in his video. "I thought he was helping me... but he charged."

He emphasised that he had no intention to "scam" the driver, and said he considered Vietnam his second home.

Tried to pay him back

The tourist also claimed that he later offered to pay the taxi driver, but was declined.

The taxi driver had contacted him through Instagram, he explained, and told him that the incident that the ride had cost VND 33,000 (S$1.60).

He apparently offered to pay this amount and an additional VND 200,000 (S$10) as an apology.

According to him, the driver turned down his repeated offers and did not provide any details for him to make a payment transfer.

Instead, the driver allegedly told the tourist he understood his difficulties at that time and promised to delete the TikTok video.

"But later on, I came to know that he didn't delete the post yet, and everyone is trolling me for nothing," the tourist said.

He admitted that it was a "mistake" and that he should have paid, but reiterated that it was a misunderstanding.

He appealed for the public to accept his video as an apology, and hoped that they will not criticise the Indian community over this incident.