British teenager, 17, killed while on holiday in Thailand

[Foexie]

13 hours ago, SammyT said:

Anyone else fondly remember the days when we all got travel insurance before we went on holidays abroad?

 

Exactly my words when i read on TV about foreigners who are stucked abroad after an accident or whatever because lack of money to pay bills and/or repatriation.

 

I pay about 78€ for my, obligated by my gouvernement, health Insurance for 1 y. But this also includes an Insurance for all over the world. Medical bills and repatriation (alive or dead) included.

 

And i think that's about the same you have to pay for a travel Insurance with a big company.

 

In all the years i come to Thailand i only did need my Insurance twice because i got sick. Last bill was 2y ago and was 3400 bht. So even more then what i needed to pay for the Insurance.

[Ks45672]

2 hours ago, JamJar said:

 

It does. How many times will this misinformation be repeated. Standard policies cover up to 125cc. Though not all policies cover it. Plus the rider has to possess a valid licence.

 

He may not have had a licence and alcohol may have been involved too

 

Insurance will probably not have paid anyway

[farcanell]

Repatriate the body?

cremate, urn return, then hold a service.... seems so much easier

[MyFriend You]

14 hours ago, SammyT said:

Anyone else fondly remember the days when we all got travel insurance before we went on holidays abroad? Wouldn't have saved the kids' life, sure, but the body repatriation clause would prevent his family from having to ask for handouts to get him back home again. 

 

Personal responsibility is a bit too much for people these days.

Hope your post was tongue in cheek..............

I don't know about you - but I have been traveling the world since I was seventeen, I'm almost 69 now, I never got travel insurance until about 10 years ago when a friend had a motorcycle accident in Thailand and racked up a 2 million baht hospital bill = 3 months in the Military Hospital in Bangkok.

[Kadilo]

Kin hell. Here we go again.....

[Tongjaw]

16 minutes ago, TunnelRat69 said:

Too many ????? about this "Boss and Employee" relationship........where does a 17 yo get the money to come to Thailand on vacation from UK, and rent a 'Big Bike' .   Something smells......................about this.

Only thing that’s smells is the amount of BS being sprouted by certain members of TV here. A young man has died for goodness sake try and behave like a grown up. 

[Scott]

A few posts have been removed.  Continued making unsubstantiated remarks is not going to be tolerated and members will get suspended.  

 

I STRONGLY suggest you conduct yourself diplomatically.   I feel for any family members or friends who might be reading the tripe that some members post.

 

You have been warned.

[kannot]

15 hours ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

With every successive tragedy in which a foreigner is killed, either by their own negligence or by the negligence of others, and a gofundme page is set up, I feel more divided. Divided, because there is often a failure of personal responsibility, and a further step is taken along the road to compassion fatigue, where more and more people are inclined to say enough is enough. 

Of course one feels for the parents, and it will forever change the course of their, and the lad's siblings' lives. But how much longer can this catalogue of sad events followed by pleas for assistance continue?

Its  simple, they all sign a disclaimer when arriving in Thailand or before  coming, if  they need  assistance  and dont insure in some way then the consequences are spelled  out for them, however barbaric that may seem, thats  where the responsibility starts.

Failure to insure or  keep  sufficient  funds available = possible death.

Once again they will introduce mandatory insurance because of the lowest denominator, in other words  all those  <deleted>  who come with no real preparation.

Its  like  all  laws , theyre  there for the retards in society which unfortunately means decent  folk end up lumbered with this crap  just like speed  limits where somchaifookwit drives at 120kph in  dense  traffic on the phone digging  bogies out of his  face whislt half asleep/drunk  but somchaisensible drives at 120kph on a  quiet road  in suitable conditions paying attention, so we end up with dumb speed  limits.

No I dont insure, yes i keep a  minimum few  million stashed for emergency purposes and have enough assets to keep me alive for quite some years, but ultimately Ill decide if  I  live or die due to my action/inaction

[metisdead]

A troll post has been removed. 

 

 

Please read the public notice above.

[Briggsy]

7 hours ago, dcnx said:

Some of you are unbelievable. The lad is dead and you post nonsense about him having a license or not.

I understand why you view this issue in this way.

 

However, you have companies in Phuket renting out motorbikes with 115hp!!!! to 17-year-olds with no licence. That strikes me as a contributing factor.

[LazySlipper]

21 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Travel insurance does not cover motorbike accidents, to my knowledge. RIP and condolences to the family.

Not having insurance doesn't cover anything these days either...

[Basil B]

A number of issues come to mind here:

• At the age of 17 he would need to be in full time education or have an apprenticeship (or traineeship).
• At age 17 he can hold a motor bike licences, but it is restricted and not valid in Thailand.
• Has to be 18 to obtain an IDP

Thailand needs to clampdown hard on people who rent bikes to people without the proper licence.

 

What happened to his boss??? The Thai jokes about drivers fleeing the scene of accidents comes to mind.

 

Also think the family is going to need a lot more than £5k to repatriate his body and that's before a service, cremation or burial in the UK, should seriously think hard about Crem,Urn,Return option. 

 

[Basil B]

22 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Travel insurance does not cover motorbike accidents, to my knowledge. RIP and condolences to the family.

I know of someone who died abroad, his wife had falsely withheld information relating to his medical history, she argued for weeks with the insurance company before they agreed to repatriate his body, but there again she did have a insurance company to argue with. 

[a977]

22 hours ago, neeray said:

Condolences to the family.

"Friend/Boss" was remiss in not seeing that his charge carried insurance.

17 ... Still wet behind the ears. Pretty young to be riding a motorcycle in Thailand.

What ya mean have you got your head buried in the sand or what, have a look at the number of Thais riding motorbikes under the age of 17.

[SammyT]

9 hours ago, TunnelRat69 said:

Hope your post was tongue in cheek..............

I don't know about you - but I have been traveling the world since I was seventeen, I'm almost 69 now, I never got travel insurance until about 10 years ago when a friend had a motorcycle accident in Thailand and racked up a 2 million baht hospital bill = 3 months in the Military Hospital in Bangkok.

I guess my comment probably not as relevant to someone who has been travelling as long as you, because I presume travel insurance wasn't a huge thing 40 years ago, but for the 15 years I've been travelling, it has been well known the horror stories about people getting smashed up and ending up with enormous bills which they can't leave the country until they pay, so for most people of my generation, the necessity for travel insurance has been well documented yet people still choose to run the risk. 

 

In NZ, we have government healthcare/insurance which covers everyone in accidents, whether a citizen or not, but it's also well known that not every country affords people the same rights.

[Just Weird]

16 hours ago, billd766 said:

I signed up aged 15 years and 7 months as Boy Entrant in the RAF for 9 years in January 1960. I enjoyed the life so much that I extended to serve 22 years. My first overseas posting was in June 1963 for a 1 year tour in Bahrain.

 

It was I wanted to do since I was 10 or 11 years old.

Oh.

 

Don't know why you addressed that bio to me.

[billd766]

4 hours ago, a977 said:

What ya mean have you got your head buried in the sand or what, have a look at the number of Thais riding motorbikes under the age of 17.

The majority of Thais under 17 don't ride big bikes but 115, 125 or 135 cc scooters or motorbikes.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Just Weird said:

Oh.

 

Don't know why you addressed that bio to me.

Probably because I replied to this post.

 

21 hours ago, Just Weird said:

"...unfortunately the link to the UK paper doesn't seem to want to work..."

It does with a VPN.

 

"...any more info as to the background is unavailable, it would appear though that he had had a troubled childhood having lived with various families". 

Where did you get that information from?

 

"FYI I left school at 15 and joined the British Army..."

You signed up aged 15?

[Just Weird]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

Probably because I replied to this post.

 

21 hours ago, Just Weird said:

"...unfortunately the link to the UK paper doesn't seem to want to work..."

It does with a VPN.

 

"...any more info as to the background is unavailable, it would appear though that he had had a troubled childhood having lived with various families". 

Where did you get that information from?

 

"FYI I left school at 15 and joined the British Army..."

You signed up aged 15?

Still don't know why you sent it to me, I didn't ask you anything about your career history, did I?  Maybe you meant to send it to the bloke who I was responding to.

[jerojero]

What seems odd to me is "traveling with boss".  In the USA a minor under 18 cannot travel abroad without a parent , or notarized consent from both Parents.  Both parents consenting to travel with a boss from a job seems odd to me as I cannot imagine the 17 year old had been employed for very long.  
 
I cannot imagine a 17 year old to have been working long enough to have developed a relationship with a "boss"?  My son was still in high school at 17.  I would not have let him leave the country with anyone but a lifelong friend or relative.  
 
Very sad about his death - condolences to his parents and friends back home

And the boy was 'turning his life around'.... Suspicious and odd mention? RIP.

[Galactus]

On 1/27/2019 at 9:14 AM, SammyT said:

Anyone else fondly remember the days when we all got travel insurance before we went on holidays abroad? Wouldn't have saved the kids' life, sure, but the body repatriation clause would prevent his family from having to ask for handouts to get him back home again. 

 

Personal responsibility is a bit too much for people these days.

it is the responsibility or the bike rental place actually.

i am sure this lad has no experience on bikes and has no riding permit too but handed  a bike by a greedy rental shop to basically injure and kill himself.

and worst happened unfortunately.

so those bike rental places rent you a bike if you can basically walk and talk (not even that sometime!) and police before warned those shop for not renting a bike without seeing a riding permit. but no avail as usual and greedy rental place makes money and lives are lost.

i am sure that rental place even charged the family for the damage on the bike!!!

RIP young lad:(

[BlackJack]

On 1/27/2019 at 9:36 AM, darksidedog said:

It is every parents worst nightmare to lose a child, no matter how old they are. Having one die overseas compounds the misery. I wish her the best of luck in getting her boy home. One would like to think others will take notice and make sure they have insurance before travelling abroad, especially to dangerous places like here, but youngsters tend to think they are bullet proof and accidents only happen to other people, right?

Got to ask, if his boss took him out here, why isn't he taking responsibility for getting him home?

I think you are right

just think 100 bucks might have made all the difference

 

[smileydude]

Riding a motorcycle in an unfamiliar country with the 2nd highest rate of vehicle related deaths in the world is always going to be extremely risky.  RIP

[paulikens]

cant believe this has hardly been reported,didnt know anything about it till i read it on here

[balo]

Still I can't find any articles about this accident in the Thai media , written in Thai, yes one that was posted in English does not count. Normally they always mention foreigners involved in accidents. 

 

 

 

[Celer et Audax]

UK, 16 for bike, 17 for car...

16 yrs for a moped max 50 cc with pedals hence the phrase moped
As stated previously in this thread it would be impossible for a 17 yr old to have a full motorbike licence due to the time involved completing the different training required to obtain a licence
Unlike Thailand you can not sit your test on a twist and go one day and the next go out and ride a 1000cc bike


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[Celer et Audax]

"...unfortunately the link to the UK paper doesn't seem to want to work..."
It does with a VPN.
 
"...any more info as to the background is unavailable, it would appear though that he had had a troubled childhood having lived with various families". 
Where did you get that information from?
 
"FYI I left school at 15 and joined the British Army..."
You signed up aged 15?

Yes entirely possible to sign up for what was known as junior leaders years ago at 15 but obviously you do not actually join until on or after your 16th birthday which is the earliest you can leave school


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Celer et Audax]

I would like to make a couple of points about this whole sad situation
Unfortunately the “twist and go” appears to the uninformed to be a moped rather than a motorbike as I did when I first moved here and as such believed that my uk driving licence accompanied by an IDP meant I was licensed to ride one
I found however when stopped at a check point in hua hin that I was not licensed so I had to pay the appropriate fine
When I rented the motorbike the only document I was asked to show was my passport so I believe that whilst the rental shop are not entirely to blame they must accept some responsibility for renting a “vehicle” to a customer who clearly did not have a licence to operate said vehicle ever here or in his home country
I can not comment on other country’s but I do know that when you present yourself at a rental place in the uk you must have the correct licence for the vehicle you wish to rent be it a car, minibus , HGV or what ever failure to have the correct licence will result in the rental being denied
Unfortunately young men in particular are risk takers and as such do not always consider the possible out comes of their decisions(we have all been there) this unfortunately can combine to be a lethal cocktail here in Thailand where the roads as we know all too well are extremely dangerous and it is so easy to rent a motorbike as in this case.




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[0815]

On 1/27/2019 at 9:18 AM, Somtamnication said:

Travel insurance does not cover motorbike accidents, to my knowledge. RIP and condolences to the family.

But helmets cover heads and careful riding is not such stupid too...

[Rise]

Why would they ask for 5000£ to get the body back? Much better, cleaner and cheaper to send the ashes.