THEIR wedding may have been a night to remember, but the next day is one they would rather forget. 

Mr Tan Kim Seng, 29, an IT engineer, and Ms Lee Pei Ying, 26, a laboratory technologist, say an estimated $5,000 in hongbao money and all their wedding gifts were taken by a cabby.

They claim he drove off after they had loaded some of their bags in the boot.

It happened after they had checked out of Hotel Royal around 8.30am on Monday, the couple said.

They had their wedding dinner at the hotel the night before and were headed home to Yew Tee after their complementary one night's stay.

With them were 11 of Mr Tang's relatives, from Malaysia.

Ms Lee told The New Paper over the phone from Taiwan, where the couple were on honeymoon: 'I had just put one big white plastic bag and my husband's black travel bag into the boot, when the cab suddenly sped off.

'The doors were open when he drove off, but the cab driver probably closed the front passenger door with the auto-close feature while the boot door slammed itself shut from the speed,' she said.

Ms Lee, who was wearing high heels, chased after the cab with a sister-in-law. 'We shouted for it to stop, and tried to run after it, but how to outrun a car?'

She could not see the taxi's licence plate number as the boot was open when it sped off. She only remembers the taxi was yellow and without advertisements.

Could the taxi driver have known her bags had contained such valuable items?

Ms Lee is not sure. She had not been carrying her gown at that time. 'There was a lot of luggage and we were planning to catch three cabs,' she said.

Ms Lee saw the cab stop about 300 m after it sped off, and it picked up a passenger.

She is appealing for that passenger and anyone who saw the taxi's licence plate number to provide more information.

Mr Tang said he had been unable to chase after the taxi as he had his hands full of luggage at that time, and was trying to gather his relatives together.

He could not remember much of the driver except that he seemed to be of medium build.

Ms Lee also lost a gold necklace from her mother. 'We needed the cash from the ang pows to help cover our wedding expenses, but I'm also devastated by the loss of the wedding gift from my mother,' she said.

'The sentimental value is immeasurable. I hadn't even opened it.'

She said she had cried over the incident.

She estimates her total wedding expenses to be about $20,000.

Mr Tang said he had used their joint savings over two years to pay for the wedding dinner.

For an hour after the taxi sped off, they had waited at the bus-stop outside the hotel, hoping the taxi would return, but it did not.

HONEYMOON

The couple made a police report on Monday.

Said Ms Lee, who left for Taiwan on Wednesday: 'After the incident, we had decided to cancel our honeymoon, but my aunt convinced us to go.'

ComfortDelGro's Group Corporate Communications officer, Ms Tammy Tan, said the company launched a search as soon as it got the news.

It had also broadcast messages to alert drivers and tried to match the trip details. However, due to a lack of crucial information like the licence plate number, they were unable to trace the taxi.

As the couple were not sure if it was a private yellow-top, a ComfortDelGro Yellow-Top or CityCab taxi, the company offered to let them look at photographs of drivers, but the couple declined as they could not remember what he looked like.

Ms Tan said the company empathises with them and is doing everything it can to help them retrieve the lost items and cash.

Police said they are investigating and anyone with information can call the police hotline at 1800-2550000.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,143273,00.html