Classic Ray

Immigration police are in the process of recruiting an additional 300 staff to assist at airports, according to an informed source.

In Bristol, UK, he would have pitched the statue into the docks whilst the police stood down, just like John Cabot’s statue.

In low income/no road salt countries like Thailand, people will hang on to their ICE vehicles as long as they can. Governments cannot afford to implement scrappage schemes and there are plenty of 30/40 year old vehicles still in use. Charging infrastructure coverage will be patchy and maintained poorly like the rest of the infrastructure. Whilst there are markets like this, car manufacturers and parts suppliers will continue to supply the demand. I cannot see significant change in the next 20 years, especially when all the Chinese EVs start falling to pieces. ICE workshop jobs are safe.

Should be theft, not robbery. The latter only when force or threat of force used. But it doesn’t sound so dramatic, does it?

Don’t give up your day job, Dave. Barmaids next week.

I buy King brand frozen from Makro in 1kg packs. Couple of flavours and not ruinously expensive. Kids love them, long thin sausages.

So the “quality Indian tourists” we were promised are actually paying for their holidays by smuggling Thai wildlife, great. Thais also putting greed over protection of their own ecology, a major reason why foreign tourists visit, what a surprise.

Construction or renovation is never a problem in Thailand, as many benefit from the allocated budget. Maintenance is a different story, as the budget is either never allocated or is small, leading to lack of interest. You only have to look at the original Airport Rail Link where half the fleet had to be robbed for parts as someone never budgeted for maintenance spares.

I would rather enforcement action be taken first against the people who block footways with advert poles and utility pipes. The vendors pay a bribe/rent daily to local officials for the space, where I lived the BMA banned sales on Mondays to clean up. I expect in some areas restaurant and shop owners complain about the competition from untaxed and unleased vendors.

I remember attending a Health and Safety briefing in Taiwan whilst outside the room, workers were washing a sloping roof over the car park with soap, no harnesses, wearing flip flops. The irony was not lost on me

Working in a bar therefore no work permit, needed second source of income.

Surprised that testing of the system backup power was allowed during passenger service hours. APM should have been taken out of service rather than allowing a single point of failure to strand passengers, it’s basic engineering.

During COVID the division of fines that supplemented the pay of Immigration Police dried up. They start on as low as 8000 baht. Whilst the pay is once again being supplemented it is nowhere near the level it was before. Most honest Imm Police officers at the lower end hardly make enough to pay their fares to work, and have to have second jobs or high earning spouses. The free family medical cover is all that makes it worthwhile.

I have consumed fried bamboo worms on several occasions and can attest to their crunchy goodness.

Stop calling them accidents, they are collisions or at a pinch, incidents. Accidents implies a lack of cause or blame, which is never the case.

Why not restrict alcohol purchase outside current permitted hours/days to foreigners? ID could be proved by passport/driving licence. it works for pork/alcohol purchases in Muslim countries like UAE.

These are not just street level cops, they are fairly senior officers. The fish rots from the head.

Crossy, I can confirm that my wife, her parents, our children and I qualify for free healthcare as she is an Immigration Police Officer. Each time I visit our local Government hospital it costs me 50 baht for my 3 month’s supply of medication, which retails over 24000 baht. This at least compensates for the near zero salary she receives, which has never recovered from the reduction imposed due to Covid reducing the number of tourists to contribute to the fines pot.

Anything is possible here. I know someone who bought the stamped in metal from a written off Mini and welded it into the car he had bought without papers to allow it to be registered. Be very careful what you buy here.

Why is there no mention of the company hiring the bus, or the operators of the bus? Reporting of these facts surely cannot be defamatory?

Salaries for police and military, especially at lower ranks are pitifully low, which encourages corruption and the need for other income. It costs me money to send my wife to work in transport and uniform expenses. They don’t even reimburse official travel costs. Without the family wide health care (same as Thai citizens at Govt hospitals) the pension and job security, it would not be worth her working.

Hooking the fish with greed as the bait. What sensible person would think that this high end hospital would need to raise money with adverts on Facebook or LINE?

What do Thais think when they visit the South of France and see people sunbathing and even supermarket shopping in the nude? As a tourist destination, maybe it’s time for Thailand to make allowances for people from other cultures who after all are helping to support the incomes of so many locals. I’m not saying their trunks are appropriate for temple visits, but beaches and airports are not holy places.

This would be a wonderful activity to expand for tourists. There could be national and international championships of what is a sustainable and non-polluting competition, and might even attract some of the youth away from their motorcycles, especially if the prizes and fame were increased.

If more Immigration Police were deployed on enforcement of overstay rather than concentrating (and fining) long term legal residents or tourists, problems like this could be reduced. But of course the income stream would be reduced.