For stealing 6 euros, a Japanese bus driver loses... 73,000 euros retirement bonus: “It's public money”...

Sylvie Claire / April 20, 2025

A Japanese bus driver with 29 years' service has lost his retirement bonus, worth 73,000 euros, after stealing the equivalent of 6 euros from passenger fares. The city of Kyoto fired the man, whose name has not been revealed, after he was filmed by his bus's security camera embezzling 6 euros (1,000 yen) in 2022.

The driver took the city to court after being refused severance pay of over 73,000 euros (over 12 million yen). Convicted at first instance, the man's sentence was initially overturned on appeal, the court deeming the penalty excessive.

But on Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a final ruling in favor of the city and reinstated the original penalty, ruling that its behavior could damage public confidence in the system and the proper management of the bus service. At the time of the incident, a group of five passengers boarded the bus and had to pay 1,150 yen. The driver had then asked the group to deposit 150 yen in coins in the collection box, and had accepted in hand a 1,000 yen bill (equivalent to six euros) which he did not declare.

Although filmed, the man, reprimanded several times for various incidents according to the court ruling, tried to deny the facts during an interview with his superior. “Every bus driver works alone and handles public money. We have taken this act of embezzlement very seriously,” Shinichi Hirai, an official with Kyoto's public transport bureau, told AFP on Friday.