A cyclo driver in Hanoi has denied having given votive money as change to two French tourists.

Talking with Dan Tri/Dtinews Newspaper on Wednesday morning, Nguyen Van Chinh, 39, said he took the two tourists on an one-hour tour around the Old Quarter in Hoan Kiem District for an agreed price of VND 600,000 (USD26) and they paid exactly the sum.

“It was about 6pm on July 16 and the two tourists were standing by Hang Da Street," Chinh said. "I approached and invited them to take a tour around the Old Quarter. They agreed with the price I proposed."

Chinh said that after touring four streets on his cyclo, the two tourists asked him to stop at Hang Gai Street to have dinner. 

"One of them gave me one VND500,000 note and one VND100,000 note which was exactly the agreed tour fee," Chinh said. "They then also gave me a VND20,000 note as bonus. There was no change I had to give them so I don't know why they were talking about votive money here.

The cyclo driver admitted that the fee of VND600,000 for this tour was higher than normal prices but he was not cheating as the two tourists had agreed with the fee.

"Now I was shocked when seeing the video clip of the two tourists accusing me of giving them votive money as change," he said. "I have also been criticised by many people. But I swear I did not do that. I’m willing to meet and talk to the two tourists and local authorities about that."

Chinh said he has been doing this work for three years and claimed he has never had problems with his customers.

The story has badly affected the cyclo drivers in the area who said they wanted local authorities to quickly announce the results of the investigation and assure visitors that this was only one particular case. 

A driver, Le Van Bien stressed the need to strictly punish the drivers who cheat customers to prevent future wrongdoings.

"Their actions are badly affecting the image of cyclo service here," Bien said. "But I believe such incidents are very rare as we all want to develop our image to have more customers and continue this work for a long time."

Bien also said that even if the cyclo driver did not give votive money to the tourists, he should also be criticised for charging too high a price for an Old Quarter tour.

"We usually take VND200,000-300,000 for an one-hour tour around the Old Quarter. But that driver had asked for too much."

Meanwhile, the Hoan Kiem District People's Committee said they were still working with the local Tourism Department on the investigation but there was so much unofficial information about this.

On July 17, a video clip about the two tourists talking about being given votive money after an one-hour tour around the Old Quarter went viral on the internet. 

According to the tourists, they called a cyclo for an hour tour around the Old Quarter in Hoan Kiem District for an agreed price of VND 600,000 (USD26). 
 

After the tour, they gave the cyclo driver VND1.5m and the driver gave them the change with one VND500,000 and two-VND200,000 notes.

On the morning of July 17, the two tourists tried to use the notes to pay for a taxi ride and were told that it was votive money.

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French tourists given votive money in Hanoi cyclo rip-off

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