Greetings and sawadeekrop! I've been enjoying my life in the LOS since the eighties and have had many of my best times ever there so I hesitate to let it go - despite the dwindling good will of the Thai people I sense.

 

Here's the deal: I was riding my motorcycle on Sukhamvit at about 10 pm on a weeknight coming from a dinner at one of the local food courts (where the vendor charged me 15 baht for rice instead of the usual 10 on my second visit - another of the ceaseless petty ripoffs) when I was pulled over in a police dragnet. They were grabbing everybody, mostly Thais. Here comes along a white guy on a motorcycle - me - and - and - they smelled alcohol on my breath. PAYDAY! Yes, I had two or three drinks, wine coolers, 7% alc since about four or five pm, the last being about twenty minutes before. They said I blew a "seven" in their device and the legal limit is two. Highly doubtful. Anyway, the masked policeman running the show (about ten cops, volunteers and us unfortunates) told me that for the tidy sum of 20,000 baht I would be released otherwise they would take me to the "monkey house" where the next morning the judge would sentence me to one year in Thai prison, it was basically a done-deal. Nice. By the grace of Zeus I was able to extract the funds from the nearest ATM they helpfully drove me to and then, true to their word I was released about a half hour after having pulled me over and handed back my keys. Apparently my blood alcohol level had dropped, helped by the 20,000 to an acceptable level. This was a terrifying experience as you can well imagine and not one I care to repeat.

 

Aside from the obvious (don't drink at all when I ride my motorcycle - drastic) is there any advice available here? I have no connections there nor do I know what rights - if any I have. I am considering not going there any more - but that is another drastic decision I am eager to avoid. 

 

Anyone?

I cannot comment particularly on your experience but was with a friend in a car and he was asked for the same. They ended up taking 5000 bt.

You're 20,000 down and you will remain 20,000 down. No refunds possible here.

 

Get a police colonel as a good friend, so much of a good friend that you can phone him up next to you encounter a 'dragnet'. If you have been here since the eighties, you know this and don't need dudes on Thaivisa to tell you this.

wuss

To my mind you were lucky. Because you were drinking and driving which would have got you a suspended license in the west at least, if not prison time and/or community service if the alcohol level was high enough.

 

It would have been different if you were extorted sober. But that wasn't the case.

You are a drunk driver.

 

As far as I am concerned, you deserved a fine of 100,000 plus; stop whining.

 

You paid a bribe to the police.

 

Do you think that you are getting it back? A refund? You are going to lodge a complaint AFTER you bribed a cop?

 

Grow up. 

 

You got off far, far, far easier than you deserve.

 

Learn from it and move on.

 

Shake down was it not. Promise of jail was just an empty threat.

But you would have been locked up for a day or two then off to court, pay a fine of 5000-8000 and then the possibility of visa troubles.

 

Some claim to be able to pay 5000 and i do not believe them, 20 000 is about the going rate.

 

By law you allowed 2 beers to be under the limit, so 3 wine coolers would be put you over the limit

59 minutes ago, andy72 said:

wuss

@andy72 did u got a yellow card/ warning ?

the day they announced they would enforce against driving under influence

of alcohol was the day i started to take a taxi when ever i was going to drink beer.

theres absolutely no way i would ever get up on my feet again if i sleep

on a concrete floor for a night.

 

in revenge i stopped going out, so now the gogo bars

lose 2000 baht almost every evening of the year.

what goes around comes around

Just don't drink and drive...it is not complicated...????

Maybe you should be grateful that they stopped you from becoming yet another dead drunk driver statistic - that has to be worth 20k in my book !

17 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

Just don't drink and drive...it is not complicated...????

Exactly, especially if Pattaya, baht buses everywhere, motocy win every corner, no need whatsoever. And for a sober man can't even remember if two or three drinks begs the question it was probably more. Count yourself lucky,Soi 9 isn't a good place to stay overnight

Don't drink and drive, you can be a hazard to both other road users and pedestrians alike and a target for the Thai police. Rumour is you can haggle them down to around 15,000, particularly if you can show them that is all you have. Other advice is try to pay them off as once they get you to the police station you will be processed and it is not fun. A year in jail is BS and scaremongering. 

5 hours ago, bigrobtheactor said:

Aside from the obvious (don't drink at all when I ride my motorcycle - drastic) is there any advice available here?

My advice ....... learn to haggle.

6 hours ago, bigrobtheactor said:

the tidy sum of 20,000 baht

Did you keep the receipt? ????

So where is the shake down?

You had been drinking and they let you pay to go on your way

Stupid action and stupid post......

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So where is the shake down?

You had been drinking

I think the "shake down" is he disputes the amount of alcohol in his system being as high as the Police claim.

I think the "shake down" is he disputes the amount of alcohol in his system being as high as the Police claim.

Zero drinks, shakedown
Drinks, up to you

We all know the risks and not just here so why bother and then try to argue the fact

It is a non news stupid thread.....

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well, theres a million other streets in bkk, why dont you just drive down another street? just kidding...;)

 

did the alcohol meter have a digital reading they showed you. would have asked to see it. maybe take a pic if possible.

 

for this sort of shakedown i would opt to pay any fines at the station, that makes things more on the up and up then curbside fines. not into paying on the spot fines at all esp for that amount.

 

what would have happened if the cop pulled you aside and took the 20k and processed you anyway and you had to pay a second time at the police station?

 

 

5 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Just don't drink and drive...it is not complicated...????

Absolutely.  So now I don't drink at all and the bars lose the revenue.  With no public transport and drunk/drugged motorbike taxi drivers to get home I would rather drive myself after a couple of beers.  Hence, no more drinking outside the home for me. 

I don't see it as a shakedown but giving you an alternative option of avoiding court and a possible record and the price is comparable to a DUI in OZ and as Britman suggests they are often open to a bit of haggling especially if you do it in a friendly manner.

8 hours ago, BestB said:

Shake down was it not. Promise of jail was just an empty threat.

But you would have been locked up for a day or two then off to court, pay a fine of 5000-8000 and then the possibility of visa troubles.

 

Some claim to be able to pay 5000 and i do not believe them, 20 000 is about the going rate.

 

By law you allowed 2 beers to be under the limit, so 3 wine coolers would be put you over the limit

Refreshing point of view, indeed not a shakedown, the guy was over the limit and was lucky enough to pay to escape further problems. 

 

Don't drink and drive and the problem wont occur. 

2 hours ago, johng said:

 

 

I think the "shake down" is he disputes the amount of alcohol in his system being as high as the Police claim.

 

Have you ever had a drunk or someone drinking agreeing with police readouts. I used to follow Dutch reality tv and they all claimed they drank just a bit and made up excuses. Why would it be different here. 

1 hour ago, robblok said:

Have you ever had a drunk or someone drinking agreeing with police readouts. I used to follow Dutch reality tv and they all claimed they drank just a bit and made up excuses. Why would it be different here. 

the curb is not a courtroom for starters

9 hours ago, brokenbone said:

the day they announced they would enforce against driving under influence

of alcohol was the day i started to take a taxi when ever i was going to drink beer.

theres absolutely no way i would ever get up on my feet again if i sleep

on a concrete floor for a night.

 

in revenge i stopped going out, so now the gogo bars

lose 2000 baht almost every evening of the year.

what goes around comes around

I have to admire your capacity for alcohol, or was that boom-boom every time?

My advice would be don't get on or in a vehicle and drive it if you have been drinking. And work on your negotiation skills, because I reckon I could have got it down to less than 10,000 baht.

Breath testing is based on the equilibrium between alcohol in the blood, and alcohol in the lungs. One can lower the breath reading by hyperventilating. However, always hyperventilate when standing, as if it is done while sitting in the car, and then standing up, there's a chance of passing out, which would tend to prove the police point.

here since the 80's cant spell sukhumvit, sawat dee krup (kap) or negotiate down a fine?

WTH you been doing?

11 minutes ago, metempsychotic said:

here since the 80's cant spell sukhumvit, sawat dee krup (kap) or negotiate down a fine?

WTH you been doing?

drinking and driving

10 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

You are a drunk driver.

 

As far as I am concerned, you deserved a fine of 100,000 plus; stop whining.

 

You paid a bribe to the police.

 

Do you think that you are getting it back? A refund? You are going to lodge a complaint AFTER you bribed a cop?

 

Grow up. 

 

You got off far, far, far easier than you deserve.

 

Learn from it and move on.

 

Selfish loser, too bad the penalty here isn't a year in jail first offence. My only hope is when you wrap your brains around a light pole you don't take anyone with you...

Simple thing. You will not get your money back from the nice policemen that let you go on your merry way afetr paying. Can´t even understand that you ask this after so many years you say you´ve been in Thailand.

From your question it seems to me like you want advice if this would happen again. the only thing oyu can do for it not to happen again is to not drink and drive. Can´t be so hard to accomplish for a longstayer like you. Took you enough years and a new topic on Thai Visa, though. That says it all.

And by the way. How you dare to post this is a shake down? You are the one driving drunk, and was let off easy. Show some dignity and be happy as well as stop complaining.