Female Passenger Alleges Airport Taxi Driver Tried To Drug Her

[sriracha john]

Woman says cabbie tried to drug her

Taxi services at Suvarnabhumi airport are coming under tighter scrutiny after a passenger accused a driver registered with the airport of trying to drug her. The passenger, who asked not to be named, said she caught a taxi from the stand at the airport on July 27 to take her to Phloenchit Road.

She said she did not mind paying the airport taxi surcharge of 50 baht as she believed the service was safe and reliable. The driver's name and telephone number were registered with the airport. The woman said she noticed the driver wore dark glasses and drove slowly despite the fact there was not much traffic. At one point in the journey the driver blocked the air-conditioning console with his left hand and the woman said she started to feel giddy about five minutes later and her arms and legs went numb.

She felt like she had been given an anesthetic before an operation. She had to open the window to get some air and told the driver to drop her off. The woman went to a nearby hospital and had herself checked, but no toxic substances were found. The woman complained to the airport's public transport center but she does not believe any action has been taken. A source at the Transport Ministry said other passengers had complained of similar incidents.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2191...ied-to-drug-her

-- Bangkok Post 2009-08-13

[bkkbound04]

well with no foreign substance i'd imagine this was either a panic or anxiety attack

seems like a scandal thread lol

so she expects a guy to be disciplined for touching a part of his car yet stopping when she requested lol hi-so thai or paranoid farang?

[ukrules]

This doesn't sound right to me, I smell a rat !

[sriracha john]

well with no foreign substance i'd imagine this was either a panic or anxiety attack

OR...

the testing conducted for the innumerable substances which could potentially cause this were inadequate or incorrect or both.

[khunjake]

Could be that she turned ill just from the stench of the guys cab? I too have jumped out of several BKK cabs just because of the unrelenting, nauseating smell from many of these cabs. Take an AOT taxi from Swappy. You'll cough up the extra baht but at least your be safe and not stuck with a raunchy ride.

[Scott]

It takes some very thorough testing to determine many chemicals that could be used. My first impression, however, was that I sometimes feel quite 'unsteady' after a long flight, getting my bags, going through customs and finally into a taxi. I don't know how long she was on the flight, but the best thing to do is get out of the taxi, which is what she did.

[waza]

Hmmm an airbourne gas that only effects the passangers and not the driver, thats undetectable through hospital tests. A driver whos nefarius plan is thwarted by the passenger asking him to pull over. Sounds very likely, after all TIT! Or, Maybe some exhaust fumes were getting in the car.

Edited August 13, 2009 by waza

[bkkbound04]

well with no foreign substance i'd imagine this was either a panic or anxiety attack

OR...

the testing conducted for the innumerable substances which could potentially cause this were inadequate or incorrect or both.

or it's pure scandal lol why would the driver try to drug her to have his sordid way only to stop half way through drugging her to let her go and report it to the police and then have potential evidence gathered on the drugs the driver tried to use on the passenger lol

i'd also say if the story's true then she'd have shown some trace...if the drug was strong enough to nearly knock her out then immediate testing would have shown something or at the very least a medical report to back up half of this claim i.e unco-ordinated, dilated pupils etc etc

as it is there's nowt but the story that the guy stopped as soon as she asked...hardly sinister eh?

[Farma]

How many times have you seen a taxi with the boot lid partially open and held with a bungee cord due to the size of a passenger’s suitcase?

It doesn’t take much for the exhaust fumes to be sucked into the cab. Those fumes would flow past the rear seat first.

A poorly aligned boot lid or missing seal would allow the same to happen.

She may not be familiar with the smell of LPG exhaust fumes and thought this was an attempt to drug her. Maybe this is what she experienced.

[joskydive]

bkkbound - If there's nowt to the story about this then why would other passengers have made the same complaint?

A source at the Transport Ministry said other passengers had complained of similar incidents.

[cdnvic]

bkkbound - If there's nowt to the story about this then why would other passengers have made the same complaint?

A source at the Transport Ministry said other passengers had complained of similar incidents.

There are extensive files of people reporting to have seen UFOs, leprechauns, Dracula, etc. That doesn't mean it's real.

I train people in the handling of hazardous chemicals and cannot fathom how he could have drugged her without drugging himself in the process if it was done by the aircon as she implies. Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning is possible, or as another poster suggests, just plain fatigue. Add that to a person with a penchant for hysterics and you have another Thai urban legend.

[Farma]

There are a few items in the original article that point to possible exhaust fume problems. It also suggests the driver knew there as a problem.

Dark glasses. If he’d been driving the taxi for a while his eyes wouldn’t feel the best and were possibly watering and light sensitive.

Driving slowly. Less vacuum effect so slower ingress of fumes.

Hand over Aircon outlet. Block one outlet to get a stronger flow of fresh air onto his face from another outlet.

[joskydive]

bkkbound - If there's nowt to the story about this then why would other passengers have made the same complaint?

A source at the Transport Ministry said other passengers had complained of similar incidents.

There are extensive files of people reporting to have seen UFOs, leprechauns, Dracula, etc. That doesn't mean it's real.

I train people in the handling of hazardous chemicals and cannot fathom how he could have drugged her without drugging himself in the process if it was done by the aircon as she implies. Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning is possible, or as another poster suggests, just plain fatigue. Add that to a person with a penchant for hysterics and you have another Thai urban legend.

Please don't patronise me! There is obviously a problem here that needs to be known about, reported and dealt with even if it is just a case of a problem with the vehicle.

[sassienie]

The way some of these taxi drivers drive, passengers would be better off drugged to help them through the journey.

[doodee]

bkkbound - If there's nowt to the story about this then why would other passengers have made the same complaint?

A source at the Transport Ministry said other passengers had complained of similar incidents.

There are extensive files of people reporting to have seen UFOs, leprechauns, Dracula, etc. That doesn't mean it's real.

I train people in the handling of hazardous chemicals and cannot fathom how he could have drugged her without drugging himself in the process if it was done by the aircon as she implies. Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning is possible, or as another poster suggests, just plain fatigue. Add that to a person with a penchant for hysterics and you have another Thai urban legend.

Please don't patronise me! There is obviously a problem here that needs to be known about, reported and dealt with even if it is just a case of a problem with the vehicle.

I may be thick but where is he patronising you Josky,he has an opinion just the same as you.

[cdnvic]

Please don't patronise me! There is obviously a problem here that needs to be known about

Yes, gullibility is a serious problem that is often taken far too lightly.

Edited August 13, 2009 by cdnvic

[syd barrett]

Take an AOT taxi from Swappy. You'll cough up the extra baht but at least your be safe and not stuck with a raunchy ride.

Not quite true. Some of those AOT guys drive too fast.

But this woman probably had a panic attack or the taxi driver passed wind after eating a hot Thai meal of fish and pork.

[sunholidaysun1]

The Taxi driver wearing a gas mask would have been a give away

[katana]

This story (or a similar one) was being circulated amongst Thais in a chain email warning I saw a couple of days ago. Said the driver reached into his bag as he was driving and the lady thought he unscrewed the bottle cap of some volatile substance that she breathed in. So she got the taxi to stop and went into a 7-11 to escape and he drove off. Even had a scan of the taxi receipt with the driver's details. However this begs the question as to how he was unaffected as well.

[Mosha]

I have had a first person account from my wife's cousin. She speaks good English. She dropped her sister off at the old airport, and caught a taxi back into the city. As soon as he was on the highway he pulled over, and pulled out a gun. He demanded her money and gold, and literally booted her out of the taxi. So the story may have some creedence. The same week as my wife's cousin's experience, I believe a Japanese tourist went through a similar experience.

[Heng]

Yeah, I think I'll sell my cars. Sounds like lots of fun.

[hughben]

Where are the AOT taxis compared to the taxi stand outside of arrivals where you pay the extra 50 baht?

What do the AOT cabs offer that's different to the normal cabs and how much extra do they cost?

cheers

[Maverell]

I can assure people that to test for every known 'bad' substance / drug would take days or weeks. A quick trip to the hospital would not be conclusive.

[dumbnewbie]

A source at the Transport Ministry said other passengers had complained of similar incidents.

Chairat Sa-nguansue, director-general of the Land Transport Department, said he would look into the matter.

In some of the cases, complaints had turned out to be a hoax intended to destroy the reputations of taxi drivers, Mr Chairat said.

Yeah, I'm sure that's what happened here, Mr. Chairat! What a joke.

A comment below the newspaper article:

Last month at noon my daughter (aged 22)faced similar problem while catching a pink taxi from Moo Baan Nantawan to Onuch BTS station. Along the journey she saw the taxi man always moving the console of the aircondition and she felt having given anaesthetic and feeling giddy. At Onuch 52, she immediately asked the taxi man to stop and throw the money without asking back for the change and ran out of the taxi. She called me and my wife. We took her to Sukhumvit Hospital for check up. The doctor mentioned that the drug will go off by itself and give her some medication.

Back to Moo Baan Nantawan we checked with the security guard and got hold of the taxi driver's name and taxi plate number. I wanted to call the police but was stopped by my daughter who did not want to have additional problem as there was no concrete proof.

I hope the authority would look into this matter and give valuable suggestions for female passengers to safe guard them from any mishap.

The doctor mentioned that the drug will go off by itself and give her some medication.

So there seems to be a pattern here. Maybe it's not just "female hysteria"? Isn't it at least possible that something fishy is going on? I mean it's not like Thailand is famous for honest taxi drivers... is it?

[richard_smith237]

This is a widely known danger in Thailand. And rather than being an urban-myth or an Old-wives tale, this one is true because someone always knows someone it happened to.

It happed to someone I know. And she was definitely drugged. It wasn’t the fact that she was sitting on the sunny side of the car, tired and started to feel sleepy after a long afternoon. It was drugs for sure because that’s what she has heard has been happening…

Without a separate passenger compartment or breathing apparatus for the driver I’d have say ‘Busted’ there is no way this myth is even feasible.

Edited August 13, 2009 by richard_smith237

[phetaroi]

I guess the story is possible. What comes to my mind as much more likely, however, is that there are so many taxi drivers that frequently sniff those little bottles of...well, what are they? Vapex or something like that? My SO sometimes uses them, and when left open they can provide for a bit of a heady experience.

[toybits]

The taxi driver's sunglasses must have preventing him from inhaling the alledged drug that made the woman almost loose consciousness.

[alantheembalmer]

A very nice Bangkok cabbie once thought he was doing me a favour, when I sat in the front of his taxi, by turning all the vents of the a/c off except the one on my side, to keep me cool. When I got out, the left-hand side of my face was so cold that it was completely numb and I couldn't talk properly, and it felt like I had a stroke! Maybe he was just trying to do her a good turn, like mine was with me.

[hughben]

Did the Taxi driver also have cloven hooves?

[jackspratt]

Did the Taxi driver also have cloven hooves?

Was he working for King Power?