SINGAPORE, May 27 — A Singapore bus driver is being showered with praise after returning a diamond ring worth around S$35,000 (RM110,000) to its distraught owner.
According to Singapore’s The Straits Times (ST), 54-year-old SBS Transit bus captain Teo Lai Huat found the sparkling solitaire ring at the end of his shift after a passenger accidentally left it behind on bus service 10 earlier this month.
The ring’s owner, Clarissa Tan, had been travelling from Siglap to East Coast Road with friends on the night of May 11 when the precious piece of jewellery slipped from her possession unnoticed.
Panic set in the next morning when she realised it was missing.
But in a stroke of luck, Teo had already found the ring near the rear door of the bus while carrying out a routine inspection at Kent Ridge Terminal.
Knowing instantly how devastated the owner must have been, the veteran driver quickly handed the ring over to his supervisor for safekeeping.
“When I contacted SBS Transit the next morning, I was told, to my relief and gratitude, that Mr Teo had found the ring,” Tan wrote in a letter to ST.
The emotional reunion left her in tears.
“The ring is precious to me because of its monetary worth and sentimental value,” she said.
“Mr Teo’s actions turned what could have been a heartbreaking loss into a reminder that there are still many good and honourable people among us.”
Teo, who has spent nearly three decades driving buses, said the ring was one of the most unusual lost items he had ever come across.
“The moment I saw the ring, I knew the owner must have been very worried,” he said.
“If someone loses something valuable, they would naturally hope for it to be returned. I simply did what I felt was right.”
SBS Transit said the company would recognise Teo for his honesty and professionalism.
