British woman seriously injured in Thailand taxi crash forced to pay £35,000 after wrongly believing she had travel insurance with bank

[Deli]

Traveling in a 3rd world country... where even (legal) Taxis don't need to have compulsory passenger accident insurance to a reasonable minimum

[kjun12]

The original article here and several commentators allude to the belief that this accident occurred while she was in a taxi.  Problem is that this happened in Phuket where many of the so-called taxis are just private cars posing as taxis and have little or no insurance.  Of course due to the usual corruption of Thai authorities nothing is done about this.

[RBOP]

It is a legal requirement in Thailand for cars to have Compulsory Motor Insurance (CMI or Por Ror Bor).  It only covers third parties and passengers.. Then if the taxi has 1st or 2nd class she can get morr coverage. She can also sue. 

[darhut]

15 hours ago, Humid said:

Book your ticket with a premium credit card and travel insurance is free

Never tried to use it though.

I read the terms seems legit

I was always dubious about CC insurance but have been using it for many years. Before the first time I decided to rely on it, I rang the bank and asked questions about motorbike taxis etc etc and was told I was covered. You have to keep in mind most will cover for a 3 month trip at a time, but you can have multiple trips in 1 year.

5 years ago I got to test it out, the insurance paid out a hospital bill on something that I was sure they would not cover, and did so without hesitation.

[phetpeter]

No she wouldn't be forced to pay, The taxi will have 3rd party cover, and of course the lorry too! and why and where would you need to pay 35,000 pounds.  Oh! the story is run by the Sun! She works for a travel agency too! Go fund me seems to allow such scams!

[ayupee]

I'm stunned by the reply of "expat thai lover" the reply is so pig headed .I can understand that lover in you name ,but please remember that love is blind. Thailand is great and people love to come here and they get a little blind when booking or accepting Insurance. But does not mean they are stupid just humans, if they were all as perfect as you they would be on a cross which is what happened to the last perfect man.

Only those who wrire the jargon of insurance read it or understand it, hence all insurance is accompanied by (E and OE and caveat Emptor )

[Dustdevil]

Maybe it's not so bad being over 65 from the USA. My Medicare pays 80% of foreign medical costs when I'm on vacation abroad. I can always get supplemental insurance. In the US I already have 100% coverage, no co-pays and no deductibles and I can go directly to any specialist or hospital I want, even Johns Hopkins if I so desired. (I pay a monthly premium of about $180 for that)

[Expatthailover]

14 minutes ago, kjun12 said:

The original article here and several commentators allude to the belief that this accident occurred while she was in a taxi.  Problem is that this happened in Phuket where many of the so-called taxis are just private cars posing as taxis and have little or no insurance.  Of course due to the usual corruption of Thai authorities nothing is done about this.

People still banging on about this.

Trying to blame thailand instead of the lady who didnt organise her insurance?

Golden rule for many ( not all ) on here is whenever possible and no matter how trivial, unreasonable or unmanageable the event...blame the thais. A very very tragic way to live out the rest of ones life.

Its awful isnt it?

Thailand being the only country in the world where shonky taxis operate, small businesses dont comply with the norms of 'good old back home' etc etc.

Lets all have a damn good sob, stamp our feet and lament why the world isnt the way we fogies believe it should be.

Dammit we british built an empire and those disrespectful jonny foreigners didnt do as we told them. They all deserve a damn good thrashing or at least a sneering post on a messageboard. That'll teach em.

Wow that feels better.

[Mace648]

How many times have we heard the excuse that they "thought they had insurance"? There is no such thing as thinking you have insurance, unless someone is  a complete moron they know whether or not they purchased insurance  and no one with any common sense goes traveling without making sure they are insured for this very reason.

[Dustdevil]

1 minute ago, Expatthailover said:

People still banging on about this.

Trying to blame thailand instead of the lady who didnt organise her insurance?

Golden rule for many ( not all ) on here is whenever possible and no matter how trivial, unreasonable or unmanageable the event...blame the thais. A very very tragic way to live out the rest of ones life.

Its awful isnt it?

Thailand being the only country in the world where shonky taxis operate, small businesses dont comply with the norms of 'good old back home' etc etc.

Lets all have a damn good sob, stamp our feet and lament why the world isnt the way we fogies believe it should be.

Dammit we british built an empire and those disrespectful jonny foreigners didnt do as we told them. They all deserve a damn good thrashing or at least a sneering post on a messageboard. That'll teach em.

Wow that feels better.

Ha ha, "a damn good thrashing" reminds me of the Beatles' White Album. Also of T.E. Lawrence, who had some wonky predilections. It's noted in several texts that post-Arabia he paid soldiers to give him a damn good thrashing,  most whipping on the back, I believe.

[asiaexpat]

7 minutes ago, Dustdevil said:

Maybe it's not so bad being over 65 from the USA. My Medicare pays 80% of foreign medical costs when I'm on vacation abroad. I can always get supplemental insurance. In the US I already have 100% coverage, no co-pays and no deductibles and I can go directly to any specialist or hospital I want, even Johns Hopkins if I so desired. (I pay a monthly premium of about $180 for that)

According to the Social Security department Medicare does not cover any expenses when obtained outside the USA with a few exceptions. I suggest you think about travel insurance.

[cardinalblue]

Ex

 

if you the country had an effective and functioning insurance, passengers would be covered by the taxi company if his fault and by the lorry driver/company if his fault...

 

yes, thailand is at fault here b/c they lacked the necessary systems in place re insurance liability compensation civil and criminal suits...

 

and yes thailand is cheap - an excellent representative of a 3rd world country...and the women should be aware though not at fault she still will have to pay b/c those are the risks of experiencing 3rd world environment...deeper pockets rule in the absence of law and order...

[madmitch]

As usual, there's a lot of ambiguity here, and of course that leads to nothing but speculation.

 

Important facts are not included in the article. Assuming that someone has details of all the vehicles involved in an accident they should be consulting a good Thai lawyer (apparently they do exist!) to sort this out. They've been involved in an accident in a public service vehicle and have suffered injuries and are facing large bills through somebody else's negligence and are owed compensation.

 

[mlmcleod]

I am not Thai bashing when I say that accident insurance in Thailand is a scam.  Either no one has it or if they do it does not cover you!  Public conveyances should be required to have insurance or the government should provide such insurance.  If the cost of taxis have to be increased so be it!

Edited May 11, 2018 by metisdead
Bold font removed, again. Please stop posting using bold font.

[Thaimike370]

expatthailover, you state she, the girl has had an accident, you are wrong.  The taxi had an accident and caused her to be injured, therefore it is up to the taxi company to pay ALL cost involved, if it was not the taxi drivers fault it is up to the taxi company to sue whoever caused the accident.

[Knee Jerk Reaction]

The accident was caused by the driver of a truck which crossed lanes and hit the car in front of the taxi before hitting the taxi. The accident was not the fault of the taxi driver. In my experience it is the culpable party's insurance that foots the bill. IF the truck driver was actually insured the unfortunate girl might receive some compensation, although probably only a fraction of the expense she has incurred. 

[phetpeter]

2 minutes ago, mlmcleod said:

When I say that accident insurance in Thailand is a scam.

Of course its not, even if you hire a scooter for a couple of days , and are uncertain as to the cover, you can go to any insurance office and purchase for about 350 baht a full years medical cover, if you come off it will cover most government basic hospital medical costs. If you are hit by someone else and they are at fault insured or not They have to pay. Involve the police and they will make sure that happens, unless you stink of beer. Just be careful wear a bone dome, give noone a reason to find fault. The law is pretty good, if in any vehicle that is involved in an accident, it has to have basic 3rd party cover for passengers. or the owner will have to pay. It is Black and white, sure, people will try to buy you off, create paperwork etc., but, stay cool. As for hospital, go first to government hospital, they are good, even if you have to pay, its not going to cost big money.  I have first hand knowledge, A drunk employee drove his truck into us, the police came, The owner of the truck, paid my hospital bill, gave me compensation(20K) paid the repairs of scooter and the police also made driver pay me (5K), plus all bills at the government hospital when presented with receipts were again paid back to me from the scooter insurance. (still didn't help with the pain I suffered for a whole month!)

[PEE TEE]

Of course the Taxi has no insurance  not need in Thailand  . Thais have no money falang have big money so they can pay who ever is right or wrong . common knowledge  just one of the pitfalls being here . 

First you have check the taxi does he have insurance or not . most likely has no licence either . 

Also in her line of business i would have thought she had more sense to make sure she had adequate travel insurance . 

good luck to her hope she makes full recovery  

 

[Mickmouse1]

Irrespective of which driver was at fault, are those vehicles insured or not? As for the taxi ,what about the driver's insurance covering passengers? ?

[holy cow cm]

35L is a lot. The taxi owner should have insurance to cover public accidents and people. This now should be: Bad Government out, find a Good Government to get in. 

Edited May 11, 2018 by holy cow cm

[PEE TEE]

18 hours ago, Expatthailover said:

Public service vehicle..oh please

Lets all embellish and twist the words so as to turn another sad story into another a thai bashing exercise. 

I really do despair at the mindset of many ( not all ) on here.

How many of us on here have got on the back of a 'public service ' motorbike taxi?

How do we know he has insurance?

We wouldnt understand the documents in any case.

Imagine trying to sue.

There's a reason everything is so cheap.

But you expect switzerland on the cheap

Then again the tone of your post strongly suggests you could never be content.

This woman clearly didnt do her homework.

She has had a tragic and costly accident. You seem hellbent on twisting this so that the thais are portrayed as bad guys.

 

can you show me a cheap taxi service charge from airport 3 k ride 500 b  good eh !  20 ride from airport 1400 thb 

 

 

[Khun Paul]

Just goes to show that in this upwardly mobile world in THAILAND, as a passenger you have to pay for your ttreatrment. If in a registered legal public transport then ALL medical costs should be payable by insurance of the carrier or of the other vehicles insurance depends on who was to blame. Unfortunately here as in many things the laws are NOT ernforced, the Police are not interested as there is no money to be made out of enforcement. So the passenger is liablkke even though they may well have got into the taxi thinking anything other than paying for a hospital bill.

 

Travel ionsurance ..okay a slip up but in reality should not matter . #

BUT THEN THIS IS AMAZING THAILAND .

[meatboy]

2 hours ago, mlmcleod said:

I am not Thai bashing when I say that accident insurance in Thailand is a scam.  Either no one has it or if they do it does not cover you!  Public conveyances should be required to have insurance or the government should provide such insurance.  If the cost of taxis have to be increased so be it!

and also remind tourists who come here,thailand has the WORST  vehicle accident rate in the WORLD.

[natway09]

Has anybody checked with the Ministry of Transport on this one on just what a licensed taxi has in the way of required insurance ?

This opens up a whole can of worms

[moutamine]

Unfortunately, she had it coming.  She's a travel agent for christ's sake, you would think she would know these things by heart...

This is an expensive lesson learned!!

 

People are Bi-polar about Thailand; They love to exploit it for it's cheap everything but then complain that it is not up to par with their home country in terms of security and justice.

They enjoy the chaotic freedom but don't expect to sacrifice any luxury... 

There's a reason things are cheap and simple here... duh!

[scorecard]

20 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Its a shame but you would think a travel agent would be up to speed on whether she was covered by her banks travel insurance or not. As they say, assumption is the mother of all cock ups. 

 

Sad case, but "...but you would think a travel agent would be up to speed on whether she was covered by her banks travel insurance or not. As they say, assumption is the mother of all cock ups. "

 

IMHO this comment says it all, further, she's a travel agent, what correct / incorrect information and advice does she give to her own customers? 

 

In earlier days my family got annoyed several times when I insisted on reading full documents etc., even to the point where M-I-L told me directly that I was rude and had no respect for manager staff when I asked for a copy of a document to read it first etc. Also annoyed when I wouldn't sign documents written only in Thai language.

 

Then several times I discovered that 'the document' was not what the family wanted at all, and asked wife / M-I-L if they would sign the document, and they both quickly backed off.

 

Cruz came when I insisted on checking the labels / medicine names on the vials for the children's inoculations and I got told quickly by my family that I was rude, but when I discovered it was the wrong serum, and the serum was in fact dangerous for toddlers then some changes in attitudes.

 

Now every document is checked and if makes the seller / agent / clerk etc., annoyed bad luck. 

 

 

 

 

 

[webfact]

Brit tourist in Phuket taxi accident rescued from B1.5mn medical bills

The Phuket News

 

British tourist Abigail Sontag suffered a broken back, three broken ribs and a ruptured spleen and bowel. Photo: via EssexLive

 

PHUKET: A campaign to raise funds for a British woman who suffered a broken back and multiple other serious internal injuries when a truck slammed into head-on into the Phuket taxi she and her partner were travelling in has rallied to provide the funds needed to pay her medical bills in just one day.

 

Abigail Sontag, a travel agent in from Essex, England, and her partner Pete Brudenell had been on holiday in Phuket only a couple of days before they were involved in a serious road accident.

 

The couple were travelling in a local taxi from Phuket to Khao Lak on May 1 when a truck struck their taxi head-on after hitting another car travelling in front of them.

 

Full story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/brit-tourist-in-phuket-taxi-accident-rescued-from-b1-5mn-medical-bills-67073.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2018-05-11

[Andrew65]

As someone else pointed out, surprised that there's no public liability insurance with the taxi company, but then again, TIT.

 

Hope this works our for her eventually.

[AsiaHand]

20 hours ago, mercman24 said:

why should she pay, she was an innocent passenger in a public service vehicle a TAXI, oh silly me of course it is her fault, she should have walked, only in Thailand.i think the only way to get to a destination safely here is to say to the driver, i drive , you sit in the back lol,, 

Because unlike in any other country,the enforcement of taxis having to properly carry insurance is almost non existence.The judge (were she to take this to court would almost certainly say that since the taxi driver cannot pay then your are the one because you are a foreigner from the UK and probably rich anyway.

[elgenon]

I was hit by a motorcycle taxi. He gave me a free ride to the hospital.