Police Confiscated My Id Card!

[cneuy]

About 4 months ago I was driving home after a late night out at around 10am in the morning when I was stopped at a routine traffic stop. I didn't have my helmet with me and the police wrote me up for one of those 500baht "no helmet" tickets. He then for whatever reason pocketed my ID card.(not sure if this is policy or not). At the time I just wanted to get home so I just drove off.

Anyway...I'm interested in getting my ID card back. I assume it was taken to the same place where I'm suppose to pay this ticket at. Where would that be?

P.s. Was pulled over around Centon on Huay Kaew Road f that helps.

[Crow Boy]

About 4 months ago I was driving home after a late night out at around 10am in the morning when I was stopped at a routine traffic stop. I didn't have my helmet with me and the police wrote me up for one of those 500baht "no helmet" tickets. He then for whatever reason pocketed my ID card.(not sure if this is policy or not). At the time I just wanted to get home so I just drove off.

Anyway...I'm interested in getting my ID card back. I assume it was taken to the same place where I'm suppose to pay this ticket at. Where would that be?

P.s. Was pulled over around Centon on Huay Kaew Road f that helps.

About four months ago? And you are wondering about it now?

Not sure what type of ID card you are talking about but assume it is not a Thai Citizen ID or Resident Card.

The reason for the Police taking the card is that it is standard proceedure when they issue fines to Thais. The hand the printed notice to the offender (you) and then wait for you to turn up to the police station and hand over the money. When they get the money the police hand back the fine. Be grateful he didn't confiscate your motorbike for not being able to produce a valid document to prove who you are.

I suggest you go to the Central Police Station (Pra Sing Rd) and show them the fine. I suspect that the fine will have been transferred over there from the local station. It will help if you take a Thai with you to work through the process. You may also have to pay more now because of the delay between the offence and when you got around to doing anything about it.

CB

[Tywais]

P.s. Was pulled over around Centon on Huay Kaew Road f that helps.

If you go up Huay Kaew road past the University entrance, about 500 meters is a police station on the right side of the road. You can check with them.

[funfun]

About 4 months ago I was driving home after a late night out at around 10am in the morning when I was stopped at a routine traffic stop. I didn't have my helmet with me and the police wrote me up for one of those 500baht "no helmet" tickets. He then for whatever reason pocketed my ID card.(not sure if this is policy or not). At the time I just wanted to get home so I just drove off.

Anyway...I'm interested in getting my ID card back. I assume it was taken to the same place where I'm suppose to pay this ticket at. Where would that be?

P.s. Was pulled over around Centon on Huay Kaew Road f that helps.

Well you might ask at the office when you get round to paying your fine, normally fines are paid at police stations, now if you cant find one of those, go to google.com and type in "help can someone hold my hand"!

[chanchao]

> go to google.com and type in "help can someone hold my hand"!

Followed by: "What happens to my head when I don't wear a helmet and have a crash?"

[pufferfish]

I think normally you are expected to pay the fine and collect your license from the Traffic Police Station near Warrawot Market (kaad luang). If you come out of Chiang Mai on Changmoi road to the market, go past 7 Eleven and turn right and drive round the corner (heading south toward Thapae road) the police station is on the left just after the end of all the flower shops. Last time I think i paid just 200 Baht for not wearing a helmet (I literally was stopped 10 metres from a shop from where I was intending on buying a helmet!). Not sure what the fines are supposed to be exactly. It can get busy in the office though so maybe better to go early morning. Four months is a long time ago though...

[Crow Boy]

I think normally you are expected to pay the fine and collect your license from the Traffic Police Station near Warrawot Market (kaad luang). If you come out of Chiang Mai on Changmoi road to the market, go past 7 Eleven and turn right and drive round the corner (heading south toward Thapae road) the police station is on the left just after the end of all the flower shops. Last time I think i paid just 200 Baht for not wearing a helmet (I literally was stopped 10 metres from a shop from where I was intending on buying a helmet!). Not sure what the fines are supposed to be exactly. It can get busy in the office though so maybe better to go early morning. Four months is a long time ago though...

Depending on where you are caught the normal process is to go back to where the issuing officer is stationed. Because the OP was busted near CMU I would have advised him to go to that police station but because the fine has not been paid in four months the fine has probably been shifted to the Central Police Station near Wat Pra Sing. The idea being that if he got another fine or was arrested the initial fine would come up as being unpaid.

At Central they will be able to tell him where it is and who is the officer now dealing with it. It could be at one of the regional section stations.

CB

[colino]

I was stopped last year for the same thing cop gave me a 400 baht ticket and kept my DL, went to the local cop shop payed the fine and took the recipet back to the road cop when he saw the fine was paid he gave me back my DL, so i presume he thought you would be back in a short while , so go to the police station with your ticket and ask them to contact the officer

[realthaideal]

SOme people are coming down on you pretty harsh here, but maybe there's a point to that. Imagine if you were at home and you buggered off with an unpaid ticket for four months. You'd come out of a shopping center and find your vehicle with a boot on it, and no way to move it. Or maybe have the fine increased 3x. We're in CM, but you still have to take care of business. And whether you like to think it or not, given the political climate, you always want to have your business in order in case there's a need to be on the move in a hurry - and having valid id is part of what you'd need to do that.

[cneuy]

SOme people are coming down on you pretty harsh here, but maybe there's a point to that. Imagine if you were at home and you buggered off with an unpaid ticket for four months. You'd come out of a shopping center and find your vehicle with a boot on it, and no way to move it. Or maybe have the fine increased 3x. We're in CM, but you still have to take care of business. And whether you like to think it or not, given the political climate, you always want to have your business in order in case there's a need to be on the move in a hurry - and having valid id is part of what you'd need to do that.

Ok. Well to CrowBoy..... Is my Driver's License not a valid enough form of identification? This is the "ID card" I was referring too in my OP. Confiscating my bike is a little harsh don't you think?

Since then I've been carrying passport on me but I went home for a month and didn't have a need for my motorbike hence part of the reason for my delay to pay the ticket off. As far as the people complaining about the four months. It just didn't seem like an urgent matter to me. Similar to a parking ticket in my country. The officer wrote my name down as "Organ Donor" for crying out loud. Anway...I'm a procrastinator by nature. Don't hate me. Thanks all that tried to help.

[chanchao]

> The officer wrote my name down as "Organ Donor" for crying out loud.

So I take it this was your home-driver's license that was taken, not a Thai one? Anyway, chances are that somewhere on the ticket it will indicate either the police station or the officer's ID so first ask the nearest Thai reading person about where to go to pay the fine. When there, just do a typical innocent 'boohoo I didn't know where to go that's why it's 4 months-whine' which I'm sure will come natural. Bringing a Thai speaking person might help there, too.

Your biggest worry is if they can actually find it back... Especially if they filed it under the D of Donor, or under the A of your blood group or some such.

Edited May 24, 2007 by chanchao

[Crow Boy]

> The officer wrote my name down as "Organ Donor" for crying out loud.

So I take it this was your home-driver's license that was taken, not a Thai one? Anyway, chances are that somewhere on the ticket it will indicate either the police station or the officer's ID so first ask the nearest Thai reading person about where to go to pay the fine. When there, just do a typical innocent 'boohoo I didn't know where to go that's why it's 4 months-whine' which I'm sure will come natural. Bringing a Thai speaking person might help there, too.

Your biggest worry is if they can actually find it back... Especially if they filed it under the D of Donor, or under the A of your blood group or some such.

of F for Farung

[Crow Boy]

Ok. Well to CrowBoy..... Is my Driver's License not a valid enough form of identification? This is the "ID card" I was referring too in my OP. Confiscating my bike is a little harsh don't you think?

My question was what sort of ID you handed over, I didn't dis you that was from posters after me. In reality a drivers license from another country is NOT valid. You should be using an International Drivers licence. If you have an accident and do not have a valid Thai drivers licence or an International DL you are driving without a licence. You would be charged with that and have to pay full costs of repairs without recourse to Insurance. This can be pretty severe if for example a Thai national was badly injured and you have to pay their costs.

Confistating the bike means they take it back to the Police Station until you front up with the money. Commonly on street side police checks they will put your bike on the side of the road, issue the fine and tell you to go the relevant station and pay the fine, then return with the receipt. If they close the check point before you return they will load the bike into a Police Pickup and take it with them. you didn't have a valid DL or ID so yes you are quite lucky they didn't make you walk.

Since then I've been carrying passport on me but I went home for a month and didn't have a need for my motorbike hence part of the reason for my delay to pay the ticket off. As far as the people complaining about the four months. It just didn't seem like an urgent matter to me. Similar to a parking ticket in my country.

Word of advice carry a photocopy of the passport and visa - front page showing you photo and details, the page showing the entry date and type of visa. Keep these in you wallet and hand THEM to the street cop. Avoid handng over your actual passport because it will usually cost you much more to get them back. The law says you must be able to identify yourself and show a valid entry stamp or visa. If required to produce the original you can take the passport to the police station and hand it over there.

The problem with fines here is that the officer gets a percentage of the amount, if you don't pay within a couple of days it gets kicked up and someone else handles it, they will add their take on the ticket and then pay the issuing officer his part. Much better to pay within a couple of days and that way you can sometimes negotiate it down. Your original fine of B500 is high - typically is is B200, if you paid at the time the officer in charge would have dropped the amount if you were polite. Now the fine will probably be higher because the police will claim that it is "just over the time limit" and you have to pay court costs.

The officer wrote my name down as "Organ Donor" for crying out loud.

So how good is your written Thai? Think you can read a Thai DL and write his name correctly?

Lastly I didn't get stuck into you or dis you in any way. I did write "four months?" but that was because I was surprised you left it so long. Please reread my posting and then compare it to the ones that followed from others.

Anway...I'm a procrastinator by nature. Don't hate me. Thanks all that tried to help.

Don't hate you and did try to help - what you do with it is up to you

CB

[liketobe]

> The officer wrote my name down as "Organ Donor" for crying out loud.

So I take it this was your home-driver's license that was taken, not a Thai one? Anyway, chances are that somewhere on the ticket it will indicate either the police station or the officer's ID so first ask the nearest Thai reading person about where to go to pay the fine. When there, just do a typical innocent 'boohoo I didn't know where to go that's why it's 4 months-whine' which I'm sure will come natural. Bringing a Thai speaking person might help there, too.

Your biggest worry is if they can actually find it back... Especially if they filed it under the D of Donor, or under the A of your blood group or some such.

OH that was good...except now I woke up the whole house laughing and am getting multiple eval eyes....

[pufferfish]

How do people feel about the 'under the counter' style of paying fines? I seemed to hear stories of people discretely paying off the fine on the spot more frequently before. A friend of mine once got away with a fine by telling the policeman the bike was new and it would be bad luck for everybody to get fined! Generally being polite to the officers is the best way to go though...

[Ajarn]

How do people feel about the 'under the counter' style of paying fines? I seemed to hear stories of people discretely paying off the fine on the spot more frequently before. A friend of mine once got away with a fine by telling the policeman the bike was new and it would be bad luck for everybody to get fined! Generally being polite to the officers is the best way to go though...

In my experience, there are only two types of stops; One with an ranking officer present, in such a case lately, I only see them handing out the tickets, I doubt there is much cash under the table... The other kind is a few cops (No ranking officer) out making some money, and in such a case, under the table is the way things happen....

[qualtrough]

The correct procedure, and the one the OP should employ should he be so foolish as to ride around without a helmet, is to apologize, ask if you can pay the fine on the spot rather than go down to the station box, and discretely slip the copper 100 or 200 Baht. I am not saying that is right, but that is the way the entire system is set-up.

[Shah Jahan]

I got stopped not too long ago when coming off loy kroh road to the night bazzar road and you arent supposed to go straight - well i went straight and a lone copper stepped out and wrote me a ticket. after he handed me the ticket - he directed me to his plain clothed friend hiding behind a garbage can to collect the fine.

[Gonzo the Face]

Cneuy ... was this a California Drivers License by any chance ??