2 hours ago, TBKK said:

Wow.

The police, even tho they are armed with a gun, are so intimidated and petrified by your presence that the will back down and not require you to give them your license.

Anyone that believes such nonsense, I have some swampland in Florida that I would like to sell you!

It is a fact. Have done this many times. When is the last time you heard of a Thai cop shooting a foreigner? This is not America. I would never attempt this there. But here, as a foreigner I find the police easily intimidated, if you are bold enough. I think they are told not to escalate things to far with us, for fear of bad press.

Edited July 15Jul 15 by spidermike007

The real problem is, they will not go after these guys. Not the top bankers, not the high ranking guys, not the provincial authorities, and certainly not the army, or the police. They are all corrupt beyond imagination. And the level of corruption simply escalates, the further up the food chain you go. They police and army are not expected to be honest, and they are not expected to engage in law enforcement, traffic or public safety, on any level. It is an irrevocably broken and dysfunctional system. Any hyperbole to the contrary, is just a smoke screen, intended to deceive the most naive amongst us.

These guys are above the law. Any and all laws. The only time they are arrested is when it becomes big news, or it is reported internationally, and Thailand gets a ton of egg on it's face. And even then, it normally does not result in a conviction. Very, very few current (not former) police, immigration, customs, cabinet officials, army officials, or administration officials are arrested here, tried, convicted and imprisoned.

Many years ago, my sister in law, was involved with a rather dodgy Brit, while living on Samui. When she finally ditched him, he was livid, and just could not handle it. He ended up coming one night, at 3:30am, and burning down her bungalow, which was made of wood and thatch. It went up like a bomb. Fortunately, neither she, nor her four roommates were there at the time, or they would have either died, or ended up with major 3rd degree burns all over their bodies, which I believe was his intention. In most countries, this would be treated as attempted murder, correct? The police were able to find a video of him racing away from the scene, at around 3:35am, as there was a CCTV camera in front of the police station, only a few hundred meters away from her bungalow. They took him in, and told him he would have to leave Thailand, and could never return. Not sure what exchanged hands, for him to not have been arrested. He was also told he would have to pay my sister in law 120,000 baht for the destruction of her gold, cash, and possessions. Same for her four friends. He did pay. It was likely 600,000 baht exchanged hands. We know that for a fact, as we were friendly with a couple of his friends, who said he paid, and he also left the country.

When she went to the police station to collect, she was told that he never paid, and he was already back in the UK. But, that they had advocated for her, and made sure he could never come back to Thailand! When she pushed, and told them that she knew for a fact that he had paid them, she was told that her life would be in danger, if she pushed this, and that she needed to back down, and go away, or her safety could not be guaranteed. How does a young woman react to a policeman saying something like that to her?

The real problem is, you cannot report these guys. Not to the higher ups, not to the provincial authorities, and certainly not to the army. They are all corrupt beyond imagination. And the level of corruption simply escalates, the further up the food chain you go. They are not expected to be honest, and they are not expected to engage in law enforcement, traffic or public safety, on any level. It is an irrevocably broken and dysfunctional system. It is all a franchise. Like a pyramid scheme.

16 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

So secluded was it, that there just happened to be an ATM there. 🙂

Ahh The RTP love being posted near an ATM.

All those who are familiar of the corruption in Thailand are perfectly aware how all those wearing an uniform with golden wings will target et try to racket a foreigner on the slightest opportunity.

On 7/15/2026 at 2:23 AM, Gsxrnz said:

Actually, on a basis of 500 baht per offence, it could be considered to be an exceptionally good deal.

And the BIB demanding an additional 500 baht for issuing a receipt is nothing short of a brilliant piece of upselling - I take my hat off.

500 in the standard bribe for falangs to be allowed to continue in Hua Hin, when caught driving drunk at night.

1 hour ago, cynic1 said:

Ahh The RTP love being posted near an ATM.

They love escorting traffic offenders to ATM's as well. 🙂