Foreign couple on tourism fact finding mission to Thailand robbed by airport taxi driver

[webfact]

Foreign couple on tourism fact finding mission to Thailand robbed by airport taxi driver

 

Picture: Sanook

 

A Swedish man and his Thai wife in Thailand to find out what the country is like for tourists were robbed of tens of thousands of baht by an airport taxi driver who dumped them by the roadside.

 

But the story had a happy ending as within three hours the tourists were reunited with their valuables including a phone, cash and documents.

 

The wife called Pramoon, 53, works for a company in Sweden that promotes tourism in Thailand. She was with her husband on a fact finding mission to Pattaya.

 

They hired a taxi for 1,300 baht from Door 3 on the fourth floor of Suvarabhumi airport. But when they got to the area of Wat Saam in Lat Krabang the driver said he had to return the car and that a friend of his would come and pick them up.

 

The couple didn't like the sound of this and decided to unload their luggage and organize their own transport to continue to Pattaya.

 

But before they had offloaded all their bags the driver sped off - along with a bag containing many 10,000s of baht, documents and a phone.

 

They reported the matter to Lat Krabang police who advised them to go back to Suvarnabhimi as they couldn't remember the licence plate.

 

At the airport CCTV was examined and the taxi was found to be 1 มข (mor khor) 4064.

 

The rental company were contacted and the driver was found to be Theewakorn who was soon arrested with all the valuables.

 

Within three hours the tourists were reunited with all their belongings and confirmed nothing was missing.

 

Theewakorn has been charged with theft, has been detained and will appear in court.

 

Source: Sanook

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-03-05

[Genmai]

Anyone wanna start placing bets on how long they think it will be before a feel-good story about a Samaritan taxi driver is up in the news? I'm guessing no more than 24 hours.

[Get Real]

Quick work for once. Just see to that the man never drive a taxi again. After that we can take a criminal background check on all the taxi drivers in Thailand, and kick out the bad apples. That´s Thailand 4.0 and not a buddhist temple starting to accept cashless donation system.

[mommysboy]

There's a fact to report then!

[darksidedog]

Swift work by the fact finding tourists too. They found out exactly what the LOS has to offer in very quick time.

I have to add that the taxi driver must be incredibly stupid. He must have known CCTV at the airport would identify him.

[Misterwhisper]

31 minutes ago, webfact said:

Foreign couple on tourism fact finding mission to Thailand robbed by airport taxi driver

Well, I guess they've found their facts then...

[scorecard]

13 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Swift work by the fact finding tourists too. They found out exactly what the LOS has to offer in very quick time.

I have to add that the taxi driver must be incredibly stupid. He must have known CCTV at the airport would identify him.

 

Agree, and the same comment for many crimes, the majority the perpetrators never seem to give any thought to the fact there is a good / very good chance they will get caught.

 

 

[KMartinHandyman]

Why were they not on level one at the arrivals taxi stand but instead trying to circumvent the system at the fourth floor departures which required hopping through the incoming turnstiles with their baggage if I’m not mistaken. Looks like they’ve been following cheap Charlie’s advice on how to save ฿50 surcharge and 10 minutes going downstairs. I’ll bet they leave those facts out when the fact finding report comes out. I’ll also bet she left her handbag in the back while unloading suitcase and duffles and the driver assumed they were finished and left when they shut the tailgate not knowing her bag was there as he was easily found within 3 hours and nothing was missing.

[scorecard]

29 minutes ago, Get Real said:

Quick work for once. Just see to that the man never drive a taxi again. After that we can take a criminal background check on all the taxi drivers in Thailand, and kick out the bad apples. That´s Thailand 4.0 and not a buddhist temple starting to accept cashless donation system.

 

What's also urgently needed (has been for decades) is strong laws placing some responsibility on the fleet owners to actively do various checks (and keep it on record) before they rent taxis out.

 

 

 

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

5 hours ago, KMartinHandyman said:

Why were they not on level one at the arrivals taxi stand but instead trying to circumvent the system at the fourth floor departures which required hopping through the incoming turnstiles with their baggage if I’m not mistaken. Looks like they’ve been following cheap Charlie’s advice on how to save ฿50 surcharge and 10 minutes going downstairs. I’ll bet they leave those facts out when the fact finding report comes out. I’ll also bet she left her handbag in the back while unloading suitcase and duffles and the driver assumed they were finished and left when they shut the tailgate not knowing her bag was there as he was easily found within 3 hours and nothing was missing.

 

^^^ This. The photo clearly shows the couple in the Arrivals lanes. As for leaving her stuff in the back of the van, I think that may every well have happened. Mountain becomes molehill. So what we have here is nothing more than click bait. 

Edited March 5, 2018 by metisdead
Please do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes or wording.

[Lungstib]

For true comedy in Thailand just read the news, political suggestions and police statements. A script writer couldn't beat this.

[BobbyL]

Looks to me like the drop off point by the departures. 

[KMartinHandyman]

 
^^^ This. The photo clearly shows the couple in the Arrivals lanes. As for leaving her stuff in the back of the van, I think that may every well have happened. Mountain becomes molehill. So what we have here is nothing more than click bait. 

Yes it does look like the fourth floor where you arrive if you’re departing Thailand. They should have arrived on the first floor because they were departing the airport.

[Darcula]

Mission Accomplished.

[mtls2005]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

They hired a taxi for 1,300 baht from Door 3 on the fourth floor of Suvarabhumi airport.

 

Technically not "legal".

 

 

Official taxi queue is on level 1.

 

On level 4 it is best to agree to all terms before loading luggage: destination, price, routing, tolls, etc.

 

Many taxis are rented in 12-hour shifts, which change at 04:00/16:00, so expect the "tourists" also got caught up in this situation.

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by mtls2005

[anon789561]

21 minutes ago, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

 

^^^ This. The photo clearly shows the couple in the Arrivals lanes. As for leaving her stuff in the back of the van, I think that may every well have happened. Mountain becomes molehill. So what we have here is nothing more than click bait. 

i agree with you and the post you replied to. i think there's a good chance the taxi driver didn't even know, likely her hand bag, was still in the car and drove off. 

however, if he was returning the taxi as he said but was found with the belongings 3 hours later, then perhaps he didn't know at first but on finding the bag decided to keep it. that's theft

Edited March 5, 2018 by Happy enough

[ezzra]

Oh the irony, the irony, almost funny if it wasn't a serious matter, here's one

fact they will not have to hard to gather....

[pearciderman]

1 hour ago, Get Real said:

Quick work for once. Just see to that the man never drive a taxi again. After that we can take a criminal background check on all the taxi drivers in Thailand, and kick out the bad apples. That´s Thailand 4.0 and not a buddhist temple starting to accept cashless donation system.

 

You clearly have no idea what Thailand 4.0 is.

[Thian]

47 minutes ago, KMartinHandyman said:

Why were they not on level one at the arrivals taxi stand but instead trying to circumvent the system at the fourth floor departures which required hopping through the incoming turnstiles with their baggage if I’m not mistaken. Looks like they’ve been following cheap Charlie’s advice on how to save ฿50 surcharge and 10 minutes going downstairs. I’ll bet they leave those facts out when the fact finding report comes out. I’ll also bet she left her handbag in the back while unloading suitcase and duffles and the driver assumed they were finished and left when they shut the tailgate not knowing her bag was there as he was easily found within 3 hours and nothing was missing.

Well maybe they had never heard of that official taxistand with waiting time of an hour.

 

They came from icecold sweden into the heat and had to jump in the taxi fast...maybe the driver even told them to put the handbag in the boot? 

 

My Thai friend was in sweden and had to pay 180us$ for a 10 min. taxiride from the hotel to the airport, he got scammed by an immigrant taxidriver there.

 

Those things happen.

 

I don't understand why not ALL taxidrivers can go to the qeueu at the airport, some have to pickup customers at the departurelanes. If those drivers are not good enough to pickup passengers at the arrivallanes they should not be allowed to drive taxi at all.

[CGW]

51 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

What's also urgently needed (has been for decades) is strong laws placing some responsibility on the fleet owners to actively do various checks (and keep it on record) before they rent taxis out.

While I agree wholeheartedly with your suggestion, from what I have observed they are lucky to find "bodies' to drive taxi's, its hardly a lucrative way to earn a living with the pittance they are charging, if they increased the prices where the drivers could make a reasonable living then we may seen some legislation?

Sure many will disagree

[StayinThailand2much]

1 hour ago, Genmai said:

Anyone wanna start placing bets on how long they think it will be before a feel-good story about a Samaritan taxi driver is up in the news? I'm guessing no more than 24 hours.

Alternatively, the driver could just assert his innocence, waiing profusely, as this, of course, was all a misunderstanding, with all Thais being so honest and 'jai dee'... 

Edited March 5, 2018 by StayinThailand2much

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

42 minutes ago, KMartinHandyman said:

Yes it does look like the fourth floor where you arrive if you’re departing Thailand. They should have arrived on the first floor because they were departing the airport.

 

Oops. Yes, I meant airline departures taxi lanes, 4th level. Arrivals is two floors below

Edited March 5, 2018 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[Apiwan2]

Well maybe they had never heard of that official taxistand with waiting time of an hour.
 
They came from icecold sweden into the heat and had to jump in the taxi fast...maybe the driver even told them to put the handbag in the boot? 
 
My Thai friend was in sweden and had to pay 180us$ for a 10 min. taxiride from the hotel to the airport, he got scammed by an immigrant taxidriver there.
 
Those things happen.
 
I don't understand why not ALL taxidrivers can go to the qeueu at the airport, some have to pickup customers at the departurelanes. If those drivers are not good enough to pickup passengers at the arrivallanes they should not be allowed to drive taxi at all.

They are on level 4 departures where I get taxis from.

There are some bad taxi drivers in Thailand and also the world having said that 90% plus are just decent hard working folks just trying to survive.

Taxi refuses me or wants a fixed price it's not a problem there's always one behind in Bangkok and never asked more than 3 in a row.

In an ideal world they would pick us up drive safely and use the meter but with changing shifts late inducing fines trying to balance down time when dropping in an area where there is no job onwards they are just business men trying to maximise profit.

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[StayinThailand2much]

17 minutes ago, CGW said:

While I agree wholeheartedly with your suggestion, from what I have observed they are lucky to find "bodies' to drive taxi's, its hardly a lucrative way to earn a living with the pittance they are charging, if they increased the prices where the drivers could make a reasonable living then we may seen some legislation?

 

Not the smartest fellows either! A few years ago I asked one of them at Morchit bus terminal to take me to the BTS, but he was just scratching his head, mumbling: "B-T-S, B-T-S..." (Mind you, the nearest BTS station is just a few blocks down the road!) Reminded me a bit of a popular TV show on AMC...  

 

Also, if you really need a taxi to go from A to (a smaller/tucked away) Soi B, and you don't know the way/can't describe the way to the driver(!), then taking a taxi is useless, as they don't know/often cannot find the way either, except, of course, you're going to the 'ae-port' or 'Ekka-mai'...

Edited March 5, 2018 by StayinThailand2much

[impulse]

9 minutes ago, Thian said:

Well maybe they had never heard of that official taxistand with waiting time of an hour.

 

They came from icecold sweden into the heat and had to jump in the taxi fast...maybe the driver even told them to put the handbag in the boot? 

 

My Thai friend was in sweden and had to pay 180us$ for a 10 min. taxiride from the hotel to the airport, he got scammed by an immigrant taxidriver there.

 

Those things happen.

 

I don't understand why not ALL taxidrivers can go to the qeueu at the airport, some have to pickup customers at the departurelanes. If those drivers are not good enough to pickup passengers at the arrivallanes they should not be allowed to drive taxi at all.

 

Since they dialed in the new ticket machines, I have not waited over 11 minutes for a taxi at Swampy on over a dozen arrivals.  More often than not, it's less than 3 minutes.

 

One time, a driver asked if he could stop on the way to Swampy to get LPG- and I agreed.  His route took us past the lot where the drivers queue to go to the legal arrival sides and my heart sank.  There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of drivers in the queue waiting.  Since that day, I have never griped about the 50 baht surcharge.  Their queue looked like it may have been hours.

 

I'd also mention that these tourists would be able to track the taxi had they used the legal queue and kept the automatic ticket from the machine.  It was sheer dumb luck they got their goodies back using the 4th floor departure taxis.

 

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, CGW said:

While I agree wholeheartedly with your suggestion, from what I have observed they are lucky to find "bodies' to drive taxi's, its hardly a lucrative way to earn a living with the pittance they are charging, if they increased the prices where the drivers could make a reasonable living then we may seen some legislation?

Sure many will disagree

 

Good points.

 

It's been said from years back that the fleet operators (they always use the term taxi cooperatives, but they aren't they are ruthless business folks who own hundreds of cars and rent them to drivers by the day):

 

- Fleet owner puts the daily rental fee as high as possible (no thought to sharing say 5/50 with the renter).

 

- In many cases the driver is responsible for all maintenance costs and costs to repair damages to panels, etc.

 

- Drivers responsible to wash and clean the cars.

 

- When the government agrees to an increase in the flagfall the fleet operators immediately up the daily rental fee as much as they can get away with meaning the daily renter gets just a tiny % of the flagfall increase.

 

Overall; yes it's not all that attractive as a way to make a living, but astute drivers can make a bit better than the minimum wage, and yes the 'profession' does seem to attract a fair % of unsavoury people. 

 

Several times I've had uni students tell me they drive a taxi late night to early morning, week-ends etc., they don't paint a picture of good income and they don't paint a nice picture of mafia stuff (police and taxi driver mafia gangs).

 

 

[Hupaponics]

57 minutes ago, KMartinHandyman said:

Why were they not on level one at the arrivals taxi stand but instead trying to circumvent the system at the fourth floor departures which required hopping through the incoming turnstiles with their baggage if I’m not mistaken. Looks like they’ve been following cheap Charlie’s advice on how to save ฿50 surcharge and 10 minutes going downstairs. I’ll bet they leave those facts out when the fact finding report comes out. I’ll also bet she left her handbag in the back while unloading suitcase and duffles and the driver assumed they were finished and left when they shut the tailgate not knowing her bag was there as he was easily found within 3 hours and nothing was missing.

 

So what you are saying is that the taxi did not have any customers in those 3 hours? Surely a passenger would say that there is a bag in the backseat (or take it home).

 

Not sure how it is now as I don't do taxis anymore, but I always went b4 to departure level to grab at taxi. Not to save some 50 Baht, but to avoid the hassle and harassment at the arrival level. It was just more convenient do do so. That made me a cheep Charlie?

[moe666]

I do not know how many taxis I have taken from both airports over the last 20 years and and have never been  robbed, never anything taken. For the feel good story, the girlfriend left her purse in a taxi and the driver who took over from our driver delivered it tho the hotel we where staying at, nothing missing. 

[Thian]

8 minutes ago, Apiwan2 said:

In an ideal world they would pick us up drive safely and use the meter but with changing shifts late inducing fines trying to balance down time when dropping in an area where there is no job onwards they are just business men trying to maximise profit.

Sweden IS the ideal world. My Thai friend stayed in a hotel in Stockholm which has an airport shuttlebus from the hotel.

But that bus was broken when he was going to the airport so he took a taxi himself and got scammed badly...I told him to write the hotel about it but he couldn't believe they would help him.

 

Also ALL airports need a decent train, not like that skytrain to swampy airport, don mueang even has nothing at all yet. We arrived there last week at night and the qeueu's were very long..on the road it was raining hard and we've seen loads of accidents happening plus cars floating on the flooded roads. Very scary.

 

But also in the rain there were taxi's standing on Viphawadeeroad waiting for passengers who tried to avoid the qeueu....100 meter after those taxi's we say pickuptrucks slamming into the concrete barriers because they lost traction in the rain.

 

On our way to the airport the taxi drove 120 on the roads where 80 is the max...don't understand why he had to do that.

[Apiwan2]

Sweden IS the ideal world. My Thai friend stayed in a hotel in Stockholm which has an airport shuttlebus from the hotel.
But that bus was broken when he was going to the airport so he took a taxi himself and got scammed badly...I told him to write the hotel about it but he couldn't believe they would help him.
 
Also ALL airports need a decent train, not like that skytrain to swampy airport, don mueang even has nothing at all yet. We arrived there last week at night and the qeueu's were very long..on the road it was raining hard and we've seen loads of accidents happening plus cars floating on the flooded roads. Very scary.
 
But also in the rain there were taxi's standing on Viphawadeeroad waiting for passengers who tried to avoid the qeueu....100 meter after those taxi's we say pickuptrucks slamming into the concrete barriers because they lost traction in the rain.
 
On our way to the airport the taxi drove 120 on the roads where 80 is the max...don't understand why he had to do that.

Sweden is the ideal world !

Not from what I hear, the influx of economic immigrants have changed that.

We have the best Taxi service in the world in London with the black cabs but even there they have dodgy drivers

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