Nearly all professions require virtue and honesty. It’s these qualities which set the standard within all lines of work – but some worthy professions are tainted by unscrupulous people.

Take tyre repairers, for example. In a city of hundreds of thousands of moto users, roadside tyre repairers are invaluable when you’re caught out with a flat.

However, some have gained a reputation for less than honest service, especially at night.

Recently I ran into one of these scams. I was on my way home from a friend’s party at around midnight, when the tyre on my moto suddenly ran flat.

Feeling the heavy, deflated sensation on my bike, I got off and pushed it until I saw a repair vendor on Preah Monivong Blvd.

I was hoping a simple patch would be enough to do the job, but the repairman insisted the problem was worse than that.

Digging out the inner tube to inspect it, he found a surprisingly large tear – one that was far too big to patch up. Strange, I thought: I didn’t understand how I could have rode anywhere with a gaping hole that size.

The only solution, he told me, was to buy a new inner tube from him for 20,000 riel (US$5).