Elderly Dubai taxi passenger hails RTA for tracking lost wallet in 39 minutes

Dubai: An elderly man his 80s has praised Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) after its helpline tracked down his lost wallet in a taxi in 39 minutes, demonstrating the efficiency of the emirate's lost and found system.

Muhammad Arshad, a former educator and retired professional trainer, forgot his wallet in a taxi while travelling from Al Rigga to a restaurant in Oud Metha. "I had paid him in cash, but I didn’t realise I had left the wallet behind,” Arshad, a Gulf News reader, told this paper.

With only the driver's second name and pickup and drop-off locations, Arshad immediately called the RTA helpline. An agent named Hussein assured him of action despite the limited information. "He said, 'Sir, I assure you, I will get it done soon,'" Arshad recalled.

True to his word, the RTA called back in exactly 39 minutes, confirming they had located the taxi and found the wallet. Driver Khumananda Paudel from Nepal arrived 15 minutes later and delivered the wallet intact.

The wallet contained Dh500 in cash and several American bank cards. "The cards are more important," said Arshad, who had previously lost three US bank cards after he lost them in the premises of a supermarket in Dubai.

He said it had taken six weeks to get those cards replaced due to communication challenges with American banks. “I didn’t want to go through all those hassles again, he said.

"I am amazed at the efficiency of RTA's system in locating lost and found items on their transports," Arshad wrote in a letter to Gulf News. "Cheers to RTA and accolades to the drivers who honestly bring the recovered items back to their passengers,” he said thanking both the parties.

“I could not thank the driver personally when he came to return the wallet as I was severely sneezing due to allergy and sat inside the restaurant while my panicked wife collected it. Also, my call log showed they had contacted me in 39 minutes, which is super fast. That is why I decided to put it in the newspaper,” he added.

He praised the helpline's professionalism and the driver’s honesty during what he described as a stressful situation.

The elderly American expat said he had trained Saudi employees in academics and engineering at Aramco for 20 years before retiring to Dubai. Currently put up in a hotel apartment, he said he wishes to make Dubai his home for the rest of his life.