Taxi driver arrested for stealing from two abandoned British tourists

[jacko45k]

Well, that washes out yesterday's tale of the one that returned a wallet!

 

[Gillyflower]

11 hours ago, Henrik Andersen said:

I don't get it 

British with us dollar 

200 us dollar is not 6730 baht

Or maybe I just read it wrong 555

What does it matter!  Maybe they just came from the States.  In the past I have travelled with other currency.  As to whether $200 makes B6, 000 something or not, so?

[gk10002000]

11 hours ago, salavan said:

Always keep your money and valuables with you 

On my 3rd trip to the LOS back in 2005 I think.  I arrived at BKK at 1 am.  Took a taxi to Pattaya.  Some miles down the road the guy pulled into a dimly lit gas station to put some gas in.  I guess he sits on near empty until he gets a customer. Fine.  Then he went in side to pay or whatever.  I did get out and stand near the car with the door open, and was getting a bit nervous.  I mean, one expects the driver to drive, not stop!  I only had a carry on as I travel light and wasn't worried about that.  My few plastic cards and cash were on me and my little silk money belt.  A few minutes later he came out and we drove on.  Still, a bit unsettling, even though I have been in my share of scrums in my life and can take care of many situations.  But I was looking out the back of my head and all around while waiting in that dimly lit place.

[Gillyflower]

This happened on Sunday and he was caught the following day.  Presumably he still had everything or most and the police were able to return the bags to  the girls.

 

I have often taken a mini van from B'kokto Rayong and we nearly always stopped for a refill and asked to get out.  We stood only a metre or so from the van.  So I suppose the girls found it normal not to take their bags.  After all, it was their car and their chauffeur.  Perhaps they didn't have handbags, but sacks.  If I had had a handbag, I would have taken it, but not a sack.

[tryasimight]

11 hours ago, bander said:

Another nail in Thailands coffin as tourist destination.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that......... Does get boring after a while.  Surprised you didn't suggest the driver was Burmese. 

Edited January 24, 2018 by tryasimight

[tryasimight]

10 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

My passport nor large sums of money never leave my body....I have been here 18 years...

 

to have your valuables in a bag or purse on the road and then separate yourself from them is unimaginable....

 

basic travel 101....

Do you have trouble walking? 

[twig]

The only times I've been blatantly ripped off in transportation, it was by taxi drivers.

This is why whenever I am forced to take a taxi, I book it through Grab. They don't use the meter, but the price is fixed by whatever agreement they have with Grab.

 

With GrabCar, I've never had any fare related problems either. Grab drivers treat me much better than taxis in every country, even though here supposedly they are "breaking the law" unlike the taxis with "broken meter".

 

A taxi license to me though, is just a permit to cheat their own rules from a gang that routinely breaks their own laws - the police and gobment in general. And that's the same in every country.

Edited January 24, 2018 by twig
clarification

[thaibeachlovers]

12 hours ago, salavan said:

Always keep your money and valuables with you 

Precisely.

While not making excuses for the taxi driver, why did the 2 tourists not keep their valuables on them instead of in a bag? Been so many reports of people having such robbed along with bags, only a very naive person would still travel to foreign parts and think everything was going to be safe and law abiding.

I always assume a taxi driver is going to drive off with my bag in the boot, so I take it inside the car with me, and take it out when I get out. If a bag has to go in the boot, it has nothing that can't be replaced easily, and definitely no money or legal documents.

BTW, London isn't exactly a crime free zone, or, I suspect, whatever city/ town they came from.

[thaibeachlovers]

59 minutes ago, Gillyflower said:

This happened on Sunday and he was caught the following day.  Presumably he still had everything or most and the police were able to return the bags to  the girls.

 

I have often taken a mini van from B'kokto Rayong and we nearly always stopped for a refill and asked to get out.  We stood only a metre or so from the van.  So I suppose the girls found it normal not to take their bags.  After all, it was their car and their chauffeur.  Perhaps they didn't have handbags, but sacks.  If I had had a handbag, I would have taken it, but not a sack.

Any tourist with sense invests in a good quality money belt. Available from any travel store. Worn properly keeps passport and money safe from theft or loss ( people have been known to leave bags behind- I've left a bag on a baht bus by mistake, but nothing vital in it.

[tryasimight]

18 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Any tourist with sense invests in a good quality money belt. Available from any travel store. Worn properly keeps passport and money safe from theft or loss ( people have been known to leave bags behind- I've left a bag on a baht bus by mistake, but nothing vital in it.

Money belt... 555.....straight out of the 1960's

[NextStationBangkok]

Efforts not fully paid, got only $400 in total, and few stinky undies i suppose.

 

He will never take a backpackers again to rob, until and unless he like to steal stinky undies.....

[wakeupplease]

Now you see why us Brits have dropped the country from the must visit place on our lists, too many con artists, Girls it safer in Hell.

[Colabamumbai]

surely less people are coming to Thailand by reading the news.

[Sigma6]

16 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The article doesn't seem to say if the two women got some or all of their money back. No mention at all on that point. Wonder if the taxi guy had pissed it all away by the time he got caught.

 

My thoughts too, and in particular their passports. Though it says they left shortly after, so passports or emergency travel documents....who knows.? Fine reporting ?

[falangjim]

The <deleted> who drive taxis in and around Silom should be avoided. Just an FYI.

[bobthomas]

Likely this is a case of miscommunication based on the English and Thai languages.

 

Lost in translation if you will.

 

Likely these Farang birds were jabbering away in rapid fire English, causing the driver to fall into a form of psychosis. Mistakenly believing the girls' preferred destination was a NGV gas station in Nakhon Pathom, the driver wasted no time in Fleeing back to Bangkok to regain his recently lost sanity. It was at this time he realized the belongings of the passengers were left in the back of the taxi.

 

Bob

 

 

[salavan]

17 hours ago, falangjim said:

Blame the victims? Should I get my luggage out of the trunk while I take a leak? 

Not blaming the victims there is too much crime about dont leave your valuable's in the trunk assume that everyone is dishonest welcome to.the real world

[Gas666]

On 23/01/2018 at 8:37 PM, scorecard said:

 

Naah, 500Baht, all done.

Forgot the wai