richard_smith237

‘Says cabbie’..... its not in his interest to suggest anything else !!... I’ve seen foreigners involved in accidents and Taxi drivers (and other Thai’s) tell out right lies to protect another Thai or their interests. Because a taxi drivers statement has made it into print does not provide any authenticity to the taxi drivers statement. That said: I very much believe the group did argue with the police When the police stop you, tell you to get out of a taxi for no reason, plenty of people would argue, I would. When the Police stop you, tell you t get out of a taxi and try you search you, plenty of people would argue, I would. When the Police take your passport and tell your arrival stamp is fake, plenty of people would argue, I would. When (if) the police found an item you see people using all day up and down all the streets of Thailand and tell you its illegal, you’d argue. When the the police want to extort you for money and pay and excessive fine for said item, you’d of course argue. Of course the people argued with the Police - they were being extorted... Who wouldn’t argue in this situation ????????

One who has no reason whatsoever to make up a story that she was extorted by Thai place of 27,000 baht ????..... You really believe the police over her story ?.... You really believe they have the ‘actual’ taxi driver ?... you really believe the taxi drive would tell anything other than what the police have told him to tell ???? Hmm...... I know you like to live in the black and white world of facts and what can be proven or disproven or printed in an article, but even you are pushing the boundaries of absurdity if you believe the police were acting in an honest, respectful and legal manner....... why weren’t the tourists permitted to film?

Do you really believe a Thai Taxi driver any more than the Thai Policeman ???? Firstly, we’d have to believe this is the actual taxi driver in the first place !!!!! Anyone would be extremely naive at this stage to expect the taxi driver to tell anything other than the story the police tell him to tell.... IF the facts support the Taiwanese tourist its of no advantage whatsoever for the Taxi driver to impart this information, quite the contrary, it could be dangerous for him to do so... And no, I can’t back that up with ‘link’, a ‘scientific study’ or ‘factual report / another news article’.... you’ll just have to rely on common sense to work that one out !!!

The two couldn’t be more interconnected... The laws and the very people (theoretically tasked) with enforcing them and protecting the general public. In separating the two issues you dumb down and simplify the issue into ‘black and white’ territory when in reality the issue is multifaceted and intertwined between all aspects of authority from policing through to politics and also influential business. The standards of policing that exists in a country is a direct result of governments (past and present) and the laws they put in place, after all, who enforces the enforcers ???

Not really... IF the Police were squeaky clean, so would the country be and we’d be in a society where a conglomerate does not impact the law for their own profits and thus items such as e-cigs would be as legal as they are in developed nations. Additionally, the end ‘fine’ for such criminal behavor has having an e-cig in possession is fine ‘up to’ xx,xxx baht and / or 1 year in prison (I think its 30,000 baht)... Again, a country with a ’squeakily clean’ police force also wouldn’t have such extreme penalties for such innocuous and insignificant ‘(non)crimes’. Then there is the actually reality that a ‘crime’ such as this would attract an extremely minimal penalty if pushed through the Thai courts.... ... Thus the ’threat’ of the penalty at its harshest ends is utilised by the Police as fruitfully as possible in their extortion.

The HUD is exactly that... its the display which is ‘reflected off the inside of the wind-screen’... it displays sat-nav info, speed, cruise control settings, lane departure warning, blindspot warning etc... so you don’t need to take your eyes off the road. The difference between the OEM and third-party windscreen was noticeable... The third-party windscreen is clearly a slightly different shape, slightly different degree of ‘curvature’ perhaps by as little as 1 or 2mm in depth difference and hence the HUD was distorted, slightly out of focus.... The windscreen itself was fine, the slight shape difference was only noticeable because of the HUD.

Perhaps the Police could have doubled-down given her a second fine for bribing a police officer !!!!

If their lips are moving.... So the BiB are not denying that that they stopped a taxi full of tourists... They are just denying they took 27,000 baht off a tourist... They then claim the tourist had illegal e-Cig... But there is no evidence of that, no charge, no fine receipt, no confiscation of illegal e-cig... hmmmmm.... Of course, we all have a very good idea of who to believe here... The BiB are not even explain why they searched the tourists.... Thats the first thing that is wrong about all of this... searching without any legal reason (other than the illegal reason of trying to find anything they could use to extort the tourists).

Hyperbolic exaggeration much ??? Where has anyone said its ok to throw stones an at ambulance ???.... All we have here is someone suggesting the Ambulance should turn off their siren at 4am when going home.... You then chose to falsify an exaggeration so you have an excuse to virtue signal with faux outrage !!!... Throwing anything at any vehicle is clearly wrong !!... What caused the men to do this ?.... ... Ambulance had noisy siren on at 4am unnecessarily ? ... Attack on a ‘competitor’ ? ... Ambulance had been driving dangerously and motorcyclist responded ? ... The motorcyclists were just thugs and attacked randomly ?

About 1500 to 20,000 baht... Depends which film you go for, where you get it done, if its only the windscreen or the whole car etc...

IF this is the same equipment I’ve seen..... then the BiB have the ‘wand’ (colloquially termed)... which someone blows into and it recognises the ‘presence’ of alcohol on the breath, but not the amount. (I’m not sure, but it could be calibrated to read over a xx amount, but is not perfectly accurate). The follow up is to then go to the station and take an official test and see what the real breathalyser result is and if over, then get processed, if below, then you are free to go. BUT... the BiB use this ‘wand’ result to extort drivers... they’ll make them wait for hours before going to the station to get breathalysed... (which works in a drunks favour) but not someone who had one or two drinks... The BiB don’t care about the ‘official result’... they only want to make it as awkward as possible for the driver who’ll give in and just hand over some money.... IF the BiB did care, they wouldn’t allow anyone to continue driving after handing over money for being DUI... But what happens ? Pay the on the spot bribe, then you are free to continue on driving / riding... ... this alone proves its ONLY about money.

He’ll be back driving school van’s within a week.... ... nothing will have been learned... it was not his fault, he wasn’t speeding... the van just fell over !... Neither will any of the decision makers have learned anything... The Van company will not have learned, they’ll want him back at the wheel as soon as possible.... it wasn’t his fault and they need to keep the business going. The school will keep using the same company, they need to keep using the van’s.... !!! -------- My Son was going on a School trip (from an Int’l school in Bkk) - he was 4 years old. I had questions: particularly about transport safety. The school’s response... they ‘outsource’ transport... not a good enough response, I followed up, they pushed the questions on to the van company. - No child seats, if we want to provide our own, they would use them. We did (something called a Mi-Fold) which the teacher installed and sent us photos... on the photo we saw other 4 year olds with the lap-belt (better than nothing). - They’d go with Police escort... better safety of other drivers around the vans I guess. - Drivers breathalyzed - IF found to be over the limit they’d be suspended for a day !!! This one shocked me for the obvious reasons... ’drink and they’d get a holiday’... no further punishment, there was no strong deterrent... I questioned if they really were breathalyzed every day of if that was just on paper and in reality nothing was happening (I never got a reply). The reality is in Thailand... we just have to put our trust in others and then hope. We can’t get too neurotic, but we have to ask sufficient questions to make sure others think and hope that makes a difference - the alternative is avoiding everything which is not a great option for living either.

Guilty !!!.... The repose of the lady at the British Embassy.... ‘oh, why is it always boys who do this ?’ !!!! But yes, I carry mine when travelling out of the province... but it stays locked in my bag (or safe). ... I never carry it out and about.

For frequent, but not excessive successive visits !!! My Wife has a 10 year visa... we usually visit the UK twice per year.... its very convenient... But, we know she can’t stay there longer than 6 months per visit and if she were to, then depart and return 2 weeks later it may raise eyebrows upon re-entry at immigration. That said - Immigration do not ‘check visitors out’ from the UK... So when my Wife arrives for a two week visit I’m not sure IF immigration can tell she left two weeks later or 6 months later... Thus, when she returns can they only see her ‘entry details’ ????

It used to entertain me... I’d joke about it with other Thai’s and they’d laugh about it it too.... 5 Baht in the ear, Pack of Cigarettes under their t-shirt on their shoulder, ya-dom up a nostril, woman’s hair-band holding the hair back, t-shirt hitched up exposing the belly to cool down !!!

That depends on your insurance... but 1st Class insurance - generally yes. We replaced our windscreen twice last year (on insurance). Driving for over 20 years here, only had a cracked windscreen once before, then it happens twice in a year.... First time: Mazda had no stock and we were going away, so we got it done quickly at a place up by Lad Prao (4800 baht - insurance direct settled) - it was not as good as the Mazda (original windscreen) and the heads-up-display was distorted Second time: about 6 months later, a stone from a lorry... this time a Mazda OEM windscreen (about 10,000 baht - insurance direct settled again). We just renewed our insurance and the renewal premium was about 10,000 baht higher, so we switched insurance !!! Seems they want to try and claw some of that back, or they consider us expensive customers... That could be blamed on losing a no-claims bonus, bot the ’new’ (other) insurance company quotes did not include any no-claims bonus etc... but were still much cheaper.

Come on... just call it what it is... a Fanny Pack.... ... But... they could be on your tail at any time, you never know when you have to escape and evade...

There is no legal requirement to be able to provide our immigration status unless asked to by an Immigration officer - Thus at a standard Police Stop the request for a Passport is an ID request nothing more - hence the ‘government issued photo ID’ will suffice. When the BiB ask for a passport, this is just because ‘Passport’ is the term / language they use when they really mean identification.... Thus: The ‘immigration status’ point is somewhat of a distraction to the discussion. As far as carrying the Pink iD and / or Driving Licence... thats carried in a wallet anyway (for those who hold it)... Carrying a passport incurs the risk of loss, hence the Pink ID / Driving Licence is invaluable in lieu of risking carrying your passport. Another good alternative is a laminated copy of the passport. Honest police officers will accept the Driving Licence, Pink ID or Photos on your Phone... IF they don’t then that is those who are going to try and extort you... You can stand up the those charlatans if you want, I have in the past, they generally give in once they know they are not getting anywhere.

Thats ‘should you’ not ‘do you’..... There is a subtle difference even with the significant overlap... This is also a poll so we can see what the majority does...

The normal official check points (usually about 1 per month), its usually a DUI check-point... The BiB are not interested, see a foreigner and wave us through. Once at one of these check-points I was asked what was in my bag.... Reasonable question at the time, it was about 2am and I had a sports back (I’d been playing football, then showered at the sports ground and went straight out).... they were not interested after I told them it was a dirty football kit... BUT... the occasions I was stopped by two pillion BiB on a bike seemed very dodgy, I suspected they were fake police... The problem here is, even though I was firm and just said no.. they then started talking to the Taxi driver - iF they were fake BiB it could then turn into a direct robbery. Fortunately it did not, but I was ready to say... OK, drive to the Police station and then you can ask me questions. The Asoke one was a typical ‘Tourist trap’ where the BiB in a group of about 6-10 try and overwhelm you... There was no reason for them to tell me to get out of the taxi whatsoever. It was 7pm, I was on my way out. They just saw a westerner in the taxi and thought they had a chance to get some money - its that simple and that obvious.

Yet millions of people don’t wear a helmet. How did they know she had an e-cigarette ??? They searched her. Why did the search her ? This is the issue... why would the police stop a taxi and start searching people ?.... Answer: Obvious shakedown - they were looking for anything they could use to extort money out of the tourists. So is speeding, not wearing a helmet, not wearing a seatbelt etc... yet the police do nothing. So, why is vaping such an issue ? The legality of vaping etc is a complete distraction from the reality of what happened at this stop. On what grounds did the police carry out a search ?... Isn’t it illegal to carry out a search without grounds or reason to believe someone was carrying something illegal ??? The police had no grounds for suspicion, they were acting illegally themselves and hoping they’d find anything they could use to charge the tourists. The police used to do this at Ekammai bus station, search guys baggage (heading to Pattaya on the bus) and hope they’d find Viagra, they extort the tourist out of $$ for a fine. NONE of this is about policing - its about getting cash, nothing else at all no matter how some may try and dress this up.

Your second question is debatable... As I understand it, it is not required to carry a passport by Law... 'It is required to carry government issued photo ID or be able to present such within a reasonable time frame’ (and no, I don’t have a link to that before someone asks). There have also been numerous flip-flop announcements telling us (foreigners) that we don’t need to, do need to, don’t need to carry our passports !!! ------ The reality is the risk of loss and inconvenience of replacement is such that it is simply not worth carrying the passport... But... I do carry Photos on my Phone (of arrival Stamp / Visa / ID Page) and also carry a Pink ID and Thai Driving licence. The Police have stopped my taxi a few times and asked for my Passport. Twice I said no... they seemed to lose interest and waved the taxi on (these were just two policemen on a motorcycle in the back-streets - it looked very dodgy). Another was at Asoke, they wanted me to get out of the taxi for a search etc... I said no, they were insistent, I got annoyed and called a mate (in the RTP) who spoke with them and I was waved along. I figured all three were ‘shake down attempts’... try and spot weakness, do a search, try and find anything (nothing illegal on me anyway), try and push an on the spot fine for no passport etc.. or making something up... Try and get me to pee in a cup (Asoke stop) etc, I wanted no part in any of their games, faux seriousness, bravado etc... I saw them for what they are, low powered corrupt opportunists who are trying it on wherever they can to extort some money from unsuspecting tourists.

Why should interrogations be filmed? Nonsense. Recorded for the protection of both the Police and the interviewee. Most (if not all) developed nations record their interviews for this purpose and the purposes of transparency and collection of evidence. It seems you have been in Thailand way too long Neeranam... your logic has seen a complete reversal. The question most would ask is ‘why wouldn’t any interrogation be filmed ?’ !!!!

Bob Smith.... Your camera work ???

Is he going to be locked up and have the key thrown away along with the tourist who caught a few Parrot Fish and another who took a Jar of sand home from the beach ?