Man files police report over passport returned to wrong person at bus interchange; SMRT apologises

A short trip across the Causeway turned out to be a nightmare for one man, who had his passport claimed by someone else. 

Huang Xunxing (transliteration), 45, told Shin Min Daily News he took a bus and arrived at Woodlands Checkpoint at about 9.15am on July 20. He was travelling to Johor Bahru to run some errands. 

He discovered that his passport was missing after alighting from the bus.

As the bus had already left the checkpoint, Huang had to take another bus back to Woodlands bus interchange in the hopes of finding his passport. 

An SMRT staff member asked him to give them his contact details and said they would contact him if they found his passport. 

"In the meantime, I went home to check if I had dropped my passport at the bus stop. I returned to the bus interchange 15 minutes later and learnt that someone had claimed my passport. 

"The person who collected my passport had a Malay name, and he didn't respond when I tried to contact him using the phone number he wrote on the form." 

Huang said he confronted the staff member and asked if they conducted any identity checks before handing over his passport, but the staff member was unable to answer any of his questions. 

"I also spoke to the bus driver, who handed [my passport] over to the interchange staff after finding it." 

Worried that his passport would be used for illegal activities, Huang filed a police report. 

He also went to the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore to request for a new passport, and had to pay more than $100. 

"I visited the embassy twice — to submit the application and to verify the accuracy of the information. I have to wait more than a month before I can get a new passport." 

He added that he had to take two days off work to deal with the matter.

SMRT apologises for inconvenience 

In response to AsiaOne's queries, SMRT said that the staff involved did not follow established procedure to perform the necessary verification, which resulted in the passport being returned to the wrong passenger. 

"We have taken disciplinary action against the staff and are committed to preventing such incidents in the future," said Vincent Gay, Deputy Managing Director of SMRT Buses. 

The public transport company also apologised to the passenger for the distress caused and said it will continue to assist wherever possible. 

READ ALSO: Singaporean man gets stranded in JB after losing passport, warns others to be careful

claudiatan@asiaone.com