A Winnipeg cab driver's honesty paid off after he found thousands of dollars in the backseat of his taxi.

George Klowak, 60, was driving his Unicity cab on Feb. 1 when he picked up two men from St. Boniface College that evening.

The men said they were on their way home from a hockey tournament and told Klowak they'd been gambling a bit and won a lot of money.

Klowak dropped them off and was getting gas when he found a wad of $100 bills.

George Klowak holds the Tragically Hop concert tickets he was given as part of his reward for returning the money found in his cab. (Kiran Dhillon/CBC) "I started counting the $ 100s and there wasn't just one, or two or three or four," he said. "There were 40! I mean $4,000. I was shocked." 100s

The cabbie said he knew exactly what he had to do.

"I've got to go and turn this money in, it's the right thing to do."

He returned the stash of cash to Unicity and the company notified police, in case anyone had filed a report of missing money.

A few days later, Klowak got a call from one of the two men who'd been in his cab.

"He couldn't thank me enough for returning his money. He was so grateful and happy. He told me he wanted to do something to thank me," Klowak said.

He was told to go to an office building in the Exchange District a few days later and that's where he was given an envelope.

"There was $100 in it, two tickets to the Tragically Hip [concert] and two tickets to the Monster's Ball I'm so grateful. I never returned the money for a reward, so I'm so thrilled with this," Klowak said.

He said he was told as a child by his father to treat others as he wants to be treated and that's what motivated him to return the money.

Klowak, who retired from work at Bristol Aerospace, started driving a cab in 2012 to keep busy and because he loves meeting new people.

The man whose money Klowak found did not want to comment.