Phuket Tuk-tuk Driver Attacks French Family

[sbk]

Well, I've just deleted more than a few posts in this thread.

While it is certainly acceptable to discuss the despicable behavior of this taxi driver and of other taxi drivers racist rants against Thai people as a whole will not be allowed and the next one to do so will not only find their post deleted but posting rights suspended. Keep your racist comments to yourself, thanks

[markokang]

Similar thing happened to me there!

Too many bad stories from Patong/Kata area, simple: Keep away!!!

Too many scum there both Thai and farang, you go there you deserve what you get! You have been warned simple! Just the same as you have been warned about travelling in Harlem or the back streets of South Africa etc etc.

[moetownblues]

The Thai Police allowed their main international airport to be overrun and occupied by a gang of protesters

Their Prime Ministers motorcade to be attacked.

And also an international ASEAN Summit to be invaded.

A gang of rip off Tuk Tuk drivers should not even raise an eyelid.

Seriously.

agreed.

we need to vent, we live here

the reason this thread had 1400 ACTIVE viewers few hours ago is because we know we can be beaten or worse at any given moment..

by 'we' I mean farangs living in a major tourist area.

Simple fact is that nothing will ever change here. We learn to live here, we know never to argue with a local, we learn not to make eye contact, we get used to keep our eyes focused on a ground.

Because we have made our homes here we are slowly turning into something less than humans.. maybe that is the price we need to pay.. a permission to live in a foreign land.. never to be equal to locals. This makes me sad. It used to make me angry, it now just makes me sad. Slowly I get used to being a dog.

We're not even above Dogs in this country, sorry to say. And yes I already know that if I dont like it I can leave, but I can't at the moment for reasons I won't get into at this time.

Walking with my young daughter down a soi, one of the nice healthy looking soi dogs had a go at me. Scared the bejeezus outta me to be honest, especially with my 6 month old daughter. I put her on the bonnet of a near by car, and grabbed my keys out of my pocket as that was the closest thing to a "weapon" I had. Turned to face the dog, which had stopped still barking menacingly. He lunged once but I caught his lip with a punch and possibly the keys too..not sure. He yelped a bit but didnt back off. I picked up my daughter, and began backing down the street carefully. Two thai guys from the nearby taxi rank came out and started shouting at me of course. At first I thought maybe I had crossed into someones property or something else the dog might have been protecting but for the life of me didn't see anything like that..I was in the middle of a soi for christ sakes. The thai's passed the dog and kept shouting at me while I slowly walked backwards down the soi to the main street. Sad really. I'm sure the guys had seen the whole thing and knew I was simply walking down the street after leaving a 7-11 and carrying a young child was protective of her, but for some reason they were angry at me for striking (and only glancing really) the dog, in clear self defense. Oh well, TiT.

I have had the same experience. I was pushing my 1 yr old son on his tricycle (you know the type with the long handle on the back) in our village as I do every evening around our local park. On this occassion we had up ten small dogs come bolting out of a house and yapping at our heals one biting my son on the leg and breaking the skin drawing blood. I was biten three times myself. I picked my son up and starting swinging the tric wildly at the dogs and also saw 4 or 5 male thais in the house from where the dogs came just standing there watching and laughing. I managed to strike a couple of these dogs quite hard I think as they took off yelping well this stopped the thais laughing and they came out aggresively towards as we backed down the street towards my home approximately 100 metres away still swinging the bike. My wife heard our son screaming and came running the males slowly backed off my nieghbour and good friend a Senior Sergeant Major with the Thai police also came out. The thai owner of the dogs apparently started demanding 10,000 baht for injuries to his dogs even tho he had not even looked at them. His reason was that his dogs were just playing and having fun and I attacked them. Well my nieghbour soon sorted that out and we never heard any more of it.

The house they were in is actually own by a british guy and his thai wife who had gone to England for 6 months and these thai males were her extended family who had moved in with the dogs. They have gone now which is great but it does seem that some and I say some thais will grasp any oppertunity to make a quick dollar from a farang if they have the chance.

[stevenl]

As long as there are some big heads or uniformed people behind this tuk tuk and taxi scam NOTHING will change, NEVER. Corruption is the reason why Phuket doesnt have a proper transport system, I am sure the governor will find some words of excuse, but change NOTHING

Until they sort out the corrupted Police, Mayors and others, nothing will ever change.

Why would they want to fix something that brings them in millions.

Here in Phuket, anyone who owns a business in a tourist area has to pay protection money. The MiB have a huge book with who has paid who and when.

Will it ever change, not bloody likely...

The thing that will change, is they will try and show they are stopping this by "catching" 1 person out of every 100 complaints, to show they are doing something. Just like when they do a hunt in Patong for "counterfeit goods" that are available everyday. But once every 3 months they have a crack down, which looks good....but good to whom? I have no idea, as well all know its a showcase.

Maybe the Thai's actually believe what they see on the TV.

TB

i have a business in kata on phuket, and a lot of my friends have businesses. I do not pay protection money, neither do any of my friends afaik.

Not a bar then ??

No, not a bar, but I do know some people with a bar who are not paying any protection money.

What I really don't like about these kind of threads is that this is for some people an excuse to crawl out of their holes and sprout all kinds of nonsense and their perceived ideas about places, in this case Phuket, which are completely and utter <deleted>.

[moetownblues]

Similar thing happened to me there!

Too many bad stories from Patong/Kata area, simple: Keep away!!!

Too many scum there both Thai and farang, you go there you deserve what you get! You have been warned simple! Just the same as you have been warned about travelling in Harlem or the back streets of South Africa etc etc.

Yes very true a lot of farangs are preying on farangs as well and some are far worse than the thais especially the bar owners.

[daboyz1]

CNN is singing the praises. Wonder how much research they did.

http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/none/insiders...r-phuket-752463

[moetownblues]

CNN is singing the praises. Wonder how much research they did.

http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/none/insiders...r-phuket-752463

that link looks like an advertisement paid for by the sponsors

[Phil Conners]

Hey, I have an idea for a great new FPS video game!

It's called "Get The Tuk-Tuk".

You basically drive around Phuket Island armed with .50 cals and rocket launchers blasting any tuk-tuk that gets in your way.

And if you see any jet-ski operators out on the beach you can dispatch them as well for bonus points!

Think it will sell?

Sorta like Donkey Kong or Super Mario Brothers, eh?

More like GTA. Yes sounds like an excellent idea, go for it!

[dman961]

Lets hope the French family do not get the the standard reply: "if you had not parked there this would never have happened"

That's the one! Or, "what you do in Thailand... "holiday " ...if you not come Thailand it not happen"

Could have been a policeman working his second (non-fruadulent) job.

[dman961]

Hey, I have an idea for a great new FPS video game!

It's called "Get The Tuk-Tuk".

You basically drive around Phuket Island armed with .50 cals and rocket launchers blasting any tuk-tuk that gets in your way.

And if you see any jet-ski operators out on the beach you can dispatch them as well for bonus points!

Think it will sell?

Sorta like Donkey Kong or Super Mario Brothers, eh?

More like GTA. Yes sounds like an excellent idea, go for it!

Tuk-tuk Phuket up! I'd buy a copy! Let me know if it ever comes out.

[robert00]

A situation that could have, and should have been avoided.

As tourists they should have taken the guy's word and found another parking spot. You don't go to someone else's country and do what's you think is right in your country.

This guy who beat them is still a piece of human excrement and should be thrown in jail but I put some blame on the tourists.

Mate, I think you missing the point, there was no NO PARKING sign and so every one, TOURIST OR NOT has the right to park there. This scum Tuk Tuk drivers have been around as long as I can remember and the Local Authorities will not do anything about it when it cuts into their pockets until there are no more tourists around to fleece and I do hope it happens soon. I am sure this French family want be back so quick and the word will spread, God willing, Thailand needs a lesson on how to treat visitors that leave Millions of Bath here every year, and I do hope this will come to a closure sooner then later.

[kerryk]

CNN is singing the praises. Wonder how much research they did.

http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/none/insiders...r-phuket-752463

I don't think you have any idea of the power of the WWW. Post a couple of hundred comments on CNN and Phuket Wan and watch the changes start to happen. Talk about the gangs, Jet skis, Tuk tuks. After a couple of hundred comments CNN might realize a real insiders view of Phuket. Both CNN and Phuket Wan invite comments.

[fiercesnake]

I stopped taking my family to Phuket for the simple reason you can't go anywhere without being ripped off severely or having to argue to get a decent price ( I mean 200 baht for a tuk tuk to go 100m in Patong is a joke ) - it ruins the holiday and there plenty of other beaches in Thailand where it doesn't happen

Spot on Newbie! I found the same thing. The Nation reports that this has been the norm for over 10 years now! Typical hallmarks that Thailand is still developing, with the old tourist scams still going on from long ago. If they REALLY wanted to fix the problem they could have and would have years ago but it's very obvious why nothing has been done for a long time now. If the central government would start to consider Thailand as a whole rather than just Bangkok as the place to develop then Thailand may be taken more seriously internationally as a real contender for developed world status in the future. However as long as regular scams being propped up by local BIB and politicians serve to support mafia activities, the country has no chance of progressing and this goes across the board not in just some taxi scam in one province.

Unfortunately you are right "bangkoksimon", these scum ruin good holidays and help to perpetuate the myth that Thailand can be a dangerous place to go, helping movies like "Bangkok Dangerous" to become part of the popular developed world perception that Thailand is only prostitutes, drugs, wild parties and touts for tourist scams. This type of nonsense should have been stamped out long ago but instead the local government prefer to have weekly "crackdowns" about alcohol selling times or some other pathetic law and fail to address real problems such as this one; mafia control of the public/tourist transport system in Phukhet.

[witsawakorn]

I stopped taking my family to Phuket for the simple reason you can't go anywhere without being ripped off severely or having to argue to get a decent price ( I mean 200 baht for a tuk tuk to go 100m in Patong is a joke ) - it ruins the holiday and there plenty of other beaches in Thailand where it doesn't happen

You tried to get a tuk tuk to travel 100m? You deserve to get ripped off! If it forced you to walk the guy did you a favour. People are too lazy these days it seems. It's not good for your health. Negotiating the price has always been the norm with tuk tuks. It is the reason I learned to count in Thai 20 years ago in BKK before meter taxis arrived in number and found prices dropped by half instantly.

[DegenFarang]

Did he go too far? Sure. But a savvy foreigner would have never found out how far he was willing to take it. Unless I'm trying to carry a loved one into the emergency room, if a Thai man is screaming at me to do something, I'm going to shut up and get as far away from him as I can as fast as I can. Don't mistake their small size and smiles for weakness, they will fuc_k you up if you piss them off.

And its exactly that which lets them get brave..

And its only when they have backup and others around.. Ever see them front up alone ?? No then its typical bully stuff and shrink away. Its only the fact they dogpack people and random strangers join in to lay the boot in that allows them to behave this way.

That which lets them get brave? Nice superiority complex there buddy. It is common the world-over for males, human or otherwise, to show aggression when confronted. Because it is a part of Thai culture to avoid confrontation does not mean they will not do it, they just have to be pushed further than ordinary males. That means when they finally do show aggression, it is going to be more fierce than that of other males', as they are going to be far more pissed off than most by the time they show it. It's like that old saying 'its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog'. Often times it is the more passionate, aggressive and angry person in a fight who will win, regardless of size and strength - as evidenced by this one presumably small Thai man taking on and whipping an entire Western family with multiple males in it.

If your ego is too big to digest or accept that, then try having some respect for their country and culture. Thai men do not get angry easily - if they get angry with you then you probably did something wrong. If you are sure you did not then just let it go for all the times they should have been pissed off at you and did not, letting it go themselves. That is how the Thai's are able to get along with each other so much more peacefully than we do in the West. They act deferential not out of weakness, but to avoid conflict and increase overall happiness - reserving butting heads only for when it is absolutely necessary. Don't stand your ground on principal in Thailand, it goes against the culture and is the opposite of the way Thai people treat you. Show them the respect you are shown on a daily basis when you find yourself in conflict.

[CommonIncensed]

The Thai Police allowed their main international airport to be overrun and occupied by a gang of protesters

Their Prime Ministers motorcade to be attacked.

And also an international ASEAN Summit to be invaded.

A gang of rip off Tuk Tuk drivers should not even raise an eyelid.

Seriously.

agreed.

we need to vent, we live here

the reason this thread had 1400 ACTIVE viewers few hours ago is because we know we can be beaten or worse at any given moment..

by 'we' I mean farangs living in a major tourist area.

Simple fact is that nothing will ever change here. We learn to live here, we know never to argue with a local, we learn not to make eye contact, we get used to keep our eyes focused on a ground.

Because we have made our homes here we are slowly turning into something less than humans.. maybe that is the price we need to pay.. a permission to live in a foreign land.. never to be equal to locals. This makes me sad. It used to make me angry, it now just makes me sad. Slowly I get used to being a dog.

We're not even above Dogs in this country, sorry to say. And yes I already know that if I dont like it I can leave, but I can't at the moment for reasons I won't get into at this time.

Walking with my young daughter down a soi, one of the nice healthy looking soi dogs had a go at me. Scared the bejeezus outta me to be honest, especially with my 6 month old daughter. I put her on the bonnet of a near by car, and grabbed my keys out of my pocket as that was the closest thing to a "weapon" I had. Turned to face the dog, which had stopped still barking menacingly. He lunged once but I caught his lip with a punch and possibly the keys too..not sure. He yelped a bit but didnt back off. I picked up my daughter, and began backing down the street carefully. Two thai guys from the nearby taxi rank came out and started shouting at me of course. At first I thought maybe I had crossed into someones property or something else the dog might have been protecting but for the life of me didn't see anything like that..I was in the middle of a soi for christ sakes. The thai's passed the dog and kept shouting at me while I slowly walked backwards down the soi to the main street. Sad really. I'm sure the guys had seen the whole thing and knew I was simply walking down the street after leaving a 7-11 and carrying a young child was protective of her, but for some reason they were angry at me for striking (and only glancing really) the dog, in clear self defense. Oh well, TiT.

I have had the same experience. I was pushing my 1 yr old son on his tricycle (you know the type with the long handle on the back) in our village as I do every evening around our local park. On this occassion we had up ten small dogs come bolting out of a house and yapping at our heals one biting my son on the leg and breaking the skin drawing blood. I was biten three times myself. I picked my son up and starting swinging the tric wildly at the dogs and also saw 4 or 5 male thais in the house from where the dogs came just standing there watching and laughing. I managed to strike a couple of these dogs quite hard I think as they took off yelping well this stopped the thais laughing and they came out aggresively towards as we backed down the street towards my home approximately 100 metres away still swinging the bike. My wife heard our son screaming and came running the males slowly backed off my nieghbour and good friend a Senior Sergeant Major with the Thai police also came out. The thai owner of the dogs apparently started demanding 10,000 baht for injuries to his dogs even tho he had not even looked at them. His reason was that his dogs were just playing and having fun and I attacked them. Well my nieghbour soon sorted that out and we never heard any more of it.

The house they were in is actually own by a british guy and his thai wife who had gone to England for 6 months and these thai males were her extended family who had moved in with the dogs. They have gone now which is great but it does seem that some and I say some thais will grasp any oppertunity to make a quick dollar from a farang if they have the chance.

Nothing to do with tuk tuks.

[caf]

No, not a bar, but I do know some people with a bar who are not paying any protection money.

What I really don't like about these kind of threads is that this is for some people an excuse to crawl out of their holes and sprout all kinds of nonsense and their perceived ideas about places, in this case Phuket, which are completely and utter <deleted>.

Do you think that is a constructive reply. The thread is about a tuk tuk driver assaulting a french family.

Are you saying people are making up these stories of aggression; that posters " are crawling out of their holes" " sprout all kinds of nonsense" and are "utter <deleted>"

If you are saying that, you are of course right to call them liars. You have an opinion as much as the next man.

Not sure about your language though.

[steelepulse]

Bringing in the Army so individuals and companies could not be intimidated would be the best solution by far. Give tuk tuks deadlines for installing meters and moving from public parking spots. Require all drivers and their vehicles to get some sort of certification before being allowed to work again. If these deadlines are not done, then the tanks roll over all offenders and it's som nam na for those that don't heed the deadlines warnings. If any blockades occur,they too should get run over by the tanks.

It's going to take this kind of local force along with outside governments serious complaints to the Thai gov't before anything gets done.

[DegenFarang]

Bringing in the Army so individuals and companies could not be intimidated would be the best solution by far. Give tuk tuks deadlines for installing meters and moving from public parking spots. Require all drivers and their vehicles to get some sort of certification before being allowed to work again. If these deadlines are not done, then the tanks roll over all offenders and it's som nam na for those that don't heed the deadlines warnings. If any blockades occur,they too should get run over by the tanks.

It's going to take this kind of local force along with outside governments serious complaints to the Thai gov't before anything gets done.

Might as well pray for thousand baht notes to rain down on Bangkok for all of 2010. Just as likely to occur as what you are suggesting. Thailand is for the Thai's - we are just guests here. That is how the Thai people feel and it is in turn how we are treated by the Police and Government. They would never harm Thai people, financially or physically, in the way you are suggesting, in order to make things cheaper, safer and less corrupt for Farang.

[katasyd]

If we get rid of the tuk tuk's, what will they for work?

They are lacking IQ for any other job on the island.

Train them to be life guards and we will sit on the beach and watch them drown.

[ballache]

as evidenced by this one presumably small Thai man taking on and whipping an entire Western family with multiple males in it.

one middle aged guy with his kids and a pensioner were the only 2 males in this group I believe, and its not even clear that they put up any fight. But hey, why let facts get in the way when it comes to defending Thais and explaining to us all how hard they are

[stevenl]

No, not a bar, but I do know some people with a bar who are not paying any protection money.

What I really don't like about these kind of threads is that this is for some people an excuse to crawl out of their holes and sprout all kinds of nonsense and their perceived ideas about places, in this case Phuket, which are completely and utter <deleted>.

Do you think that is a constructive reply. The thread is about a tuk tuk driver assaulting a french family.

Are you saying people are making up these stories of aggression; that posters " are crawling out of their holes" " sprout all kinds of nonsense" and are "utter <deleted>"

If you are saying that, you are of course right to call them liars. You have an opinion as much as the next man.

Not sure about your language though.

Maybe you'd better read before you post, and learn how to quote correctly.

Nowhere have I said or implied that the posters making claims about aggression by tuktuk drivers are lying, I know them, and I know some of them can sometimes be aggressive.

But people coming here and saying: 'all Phuket businesses are paying protection money' and things like that, yes, they are telling nonsense.

[steelepulse]

Bringing in the Army so individuals and companies could not be intimidated would be the best solution by far. Give tuk tuks deadlines for installing meters and moving from public parking spots. Require all drivers and their vehicles to get some sort of certification before being allowed to work again. If these deadlines are not done, then the tanks roll over all offenders and it's som nam na for those that don't heed the deadlines warnings. If any blockades occur,they too should get run over by the tanks.

It's going to take this kind of local force along with outside governments serious complaints to the Thai gov't before anything gets done.

Might as well pray for thousand baht notes to rain down on Bangkok for all of 2010. Just as likely to occur as what you are suggesting. Thailand is for the Thai's - we are just guests here. That is how the Thai people feel and it is in turn how we are treated by the Police and Government. They would never harm Thai people, financially or physically, in the way you are suggesting, in order to make things cheaper, safer and less corrupt for Farang.

I guess you have never heard about red shirts, yellow shirts or coups in the past huh where it was the gov't against citizens, not foreigners.

BTW, if tuk tuks were reasonable, Thais would use them just as they do in places where the transport is reasonable.

Any other pearls of wisdom for us?

[TAWP]

Hey, I have an idea for a great new FPS video game!

It's called "Get The Tuk-Tuk".

You basically drive around Phuket Island armed with .50 cals and rocket launchers blasting any tuk-tuk that gets in your way.

And if you see any jet-ski operators out on the beach you can dispatch them as well for bonus points!

Think it will sell?

Sorta like Donkey Kong or Super Mario Brothers, eh?

More like GTA. Yes sounds like an excellent idea, go for it!

Tuk-tuk Phuket up! I'd buy a copy! Let me know if it ever comes out.

Great idea, I will talk with some people here...

[Tokay]

I was parking my bike on beach road years back, to the side of a moto taxi group. I was not in the way of where they park, or so I thought, and I pulled up to park, and one guy told me I could not park there. Now, there were plenty of empty spaces and no sign saying I could not park. I far enough away from the taxi mob that I figured I would be ok. I was wrong I guess.

I told the guy with a small that I would only be 2 minutes, and asked if I could please park there. He then asked me how much I paid for my bike and if I thought it would still be there where I got back.

I moved the bike.

Bottom line, they make the rules. We do what they tell us to do or face problems. This is just one more reason why I'm making future plans to leave Thailand, while currently telling everyone I can to never come here.

[philliphn]

I was considering going to Phuket on vacation.

I have decided not to go to Phuket on vacation.

[britadders28]

bunch of f****** monkeys if he did it to me i''d burn down his house...

seriously

For 8000 Baht he could have been dealt with the thai way!!

[britadders28]

"broke his arm" <deleted>???

This confirms my decision not to visit Phuket for the last 6 years.

Spot on, well said.

Phuket and Samui have never had and will never get a recommendation from me to my family or friends back home. If you've never been to them, avoid them like the plague. Nothing but hassle, aggravation, touts and rip-offs if you can speak Thai or not. Even my Thai friends and family won't go there.

If you like beaches, there are many other alternatives (eg. Trang, Satun)where you don't encounter low life scum like that.

"IF TOU CAN SPEND 5 MINUTES POSTING ON HERE SPEND 5 EMAILING A NEWSPAPER."

Yes, or post it on Hi5, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc. At least that way, people are guaranteed to see it in print, newspapers are at the whim of the editor.

Oh please! Don't put Samui in the same bag with Phuket. Although it's true what others indicated that all touristy areas of Thailand attract human scum and that guys living up North somewhere have a higher chance of counteracting with the nice breed of Thais ... Samui tuk-tuk drivers are definitely the best in the country! This I can also say in reply to the request for positive comments about them. Why? Because SAMUI DOSN'T HAVE ANY TUK-TUKS! They are banned from this lovely island on environmental grounds I guess.

Taxi-mafia? Well, nobody calls themselves "mafia", some taxi drivers are very nice people here but surely they are a group of men sharing common lifestyle and values. Since all Thais on the island either have their own transportation or take motor-bike taxis the taxis are only used by the tourists and hence we have set prices. But the prices are still low comparing with Western standards with the only exception being 500 THB from the airport in Chaweng to Chaweng that is maybe 4 km away. A lot of resorts provide free airport pick-up though. So, don't be shy and come to Samui instead of Phuket. This island has much more charm anyway (this is my opinion only so please don't crucify me Phuket-ers).

Coming back to the original topic, I don't believe Phuket police is serious about apprehending the culprit especially when they say that "summons have been issued".

Living in Thailand for 3 years I've never heard of "summons". The police usually know everything that is going on locally because they are very curious types and much involved with the community. The first thing they want to know is "what happened and who's done it" and it only takes them few minutes to talk on the phone with few "friends" to find out. They have surely talked with the offender by now and the rest is just a playing for time for the tourists to go back to their home country and the bulk of the incriminating evidence to disappear. The guy who's done it is one of THEM and "this is THEIR country" ;-) Although they may feel sorry for the beaten family and they understand that the scum-bag overextended himself the Farang will not be "allowed to impose" their ways onto Thailand. This case is just like many other events that happen all the time here to make me believe this a likely outcome. Beating is just an every-day bread here and not serious enough to generate international headlines to which they would have to react differently.

Now, this is an uneasy question to all the cocky Farang (the ones who tend to stand their ground) who live here: how many times have YOU been hit? Did you report to police and did you learn the lesson? This may require a separate thread, so please help moderators if there are enough responses.

no samui has metered cabs that dont work, they are worse i would say the taxi mafia on samui or the lady boy mafia, jet ski mafia etc.. etc.. etc...WAKE UP YOU MUG

[britadders28]

A situation that could have, and should have been avoided.

As tourists they should have taken the guy's word and found another parking spot. You don't go to someone else's country and do what's you think is right in your country.

This guy who beat them is still a piece of human excrement and should be thrown in jail but I put some blame on the tourists.

Okay so a Thai guy and his family go to the Costa del Sol and park up on the beach front . No "no parking" signs and they end up getting bashed up by a local taxi driver with a metal bar who says "that's my spot!" According to you the Thai family must bare part of the blame, "they were asking for it!" Are you mad? Doesn't matter what country your in or where your from that's wrong

A thai guy would not last 5 minutes on the costa del sol, come on you thais please come spain for holiday and see what happens to you!!!

[geriatrickid]

Know why the locals are oblivious to our issue with Tuk Tuks? because;

1. They do not use them.

2. The tuk tuk thugs do not threaten Thais.

I was trying explain this situation to one of my friends that is the supervisor of operations for a hospitality group with several properties here. He was clueless and couldn't understand. His comment to me was, we're running at close to 90% capacity now and it's busy, so obviously it is not an issue. This is an educated guy that should know better and yet, his attitude made me want to slap him. He wasn't being snotty either, just saying how he saw it.

So until the locals feel it in the pocketbook, nothing will happen. In addition to avoiding tuk tuks, I am avoiding the businesses that advertise on them.