Phuket Tuk-tuk Driver Attacks French Family

[dom samui]

So let's do something constructive : i just send this news to internationals press agencies.

Let's be 1 or 2 hundreds to make the same, wait a few hours and see what'll happen

[Jingthing]

Scum. Short and simple.

I agree, the're all scum even here in Pattaya with the baht buses and taxi motorbikes, cannot even park your small motorbike nowhere, even with no parking signs, like they own the streets (which they do by paying the police)

Pattaya isn't even close as bad as Phuket. In Pattaya you know your costs whenyou jump in to a SongTaeu (Pickup). In Phuket you will pay for about the same short distance 10 times the price of Pattaya. And on the end you still have discussions with hese nasty guys.

This makes the Pattaya forum threads complaining about the 10 baht songthaew fares seem like a joke.

I need to pipe in here on cue. There are no such threads anymore. People have stopped complaining about paying 10 baht for years now. Now we are complaining about demands for 20 when the fare is 10. Just the facts, man. This is for the set routes. For charters, there is massive overcharging, but it is true not as bad as Phuket.

Edited December 29, 2009 by Jingthing

[Zpete]

Can anyone say anything positive about any tuk-tuk anywhere in Thailand?

They are noisy, dirty (terrible pollution!) , rude, dangerous, dishonest and all around bad news.

I guess it may be part of Thailand's identity, but I feel they should make Tuk Tuks a thing of the the nostalgic past.

From LoS, Land of Snarls.

HEY, I visit Chiang Mai regularly.

Tuk tuk drivers there could not be more helpful, at least the ones I encounter, good blokes all.

Edited December 29, 2009 by Zpete

[sawadeeken]

YOU SPELL IT:TERRORISM.......... and the the TUK-TUKey is a terrorist........... and should be hunted, found and treated as such..........

[harleyclarkey]

Hope they catch the man who attacked these Tourists.

The tourists on holiday should have moved on really to avoid this, afterall, they are visitors in this Country.

.

Think about it from his and his families point of view.

He come to happy, smiling, lovely, calm, lawful, civilised, polite, respectful, etc. Thailand. He legally parks his car as he would do anywhere in the civilised world. He is confronted in daylight by a low life scum bag. He is totally in the right. He stands his ground foolishly and naively thinking he has rights and protection under the law in Thailand. He is a foreigner in happy, smiling, lovely, calm, lawful, civilised, polite, respectful, etc. Thailand.

Not for a second did he think it would escalate.

No. He made no mistake. He was the new boy on the block and wasn't to know the real Thailand.....sorry, Phuket.

[Screws]

Khun Mark -

Time to show that Thailand does have a government - if it indeed has one.

[kuffki]

Hope they catch the man who attacked these Tourists.

Having said that though, It is like Parking the Car on a Motorcycle Taxi Rank - There are no signs telling us not to, we just use our common sense really and not park there to avoid this type of trouble.

The tourists on holiday should have moved on really to avoid this, afterall, they are visitors in this Country.

That is what I think anyway.

...and you think that beating tourists is a good way to say "welcome to our country"? Tourists are visitors, that's right, and you must treat visitors with respect, not only take their money.

tourists are visitors yes invited by the government of Thailand but the hosts are the general population who deserve to be treated with just as much respect and you expect for yourself. If you came into my home and disrespected my family or me would you expect me or my family to bow down and kiss your feet? If you do then you are terribaly mistaken and misguided.

You also forget that the only reason general population has money to feed themselves and their family is only because of this tourists.

Is there anything else in Phuket for people to make a living without the tourism?- i do not think so.

do you see many Thai's use tuk tuks?- i do not think so(in Phuket that is)

No i do not expect Thai's to covert to my way of living and thinking, but i do demand the respect for my way of living and thinking especially when it comes to me giving them money!

To get respect you need to give respect! and what respect does any tuk tuk driver has ever shown to any tourist especially in Phuket?!

[DickFarang]

Compared to Phuket, even Pattaya seems a peaceful place.

[WitawatWatawit]

[quote We're told to never intervene because there is a serious risk we could be killed.

Teachers hired by one of the biggest and wealthiest international schools in Thailand undergo orientation when they arrive to ease their way into Thai society. One of the things they are told is that they should not stop for accidents, not try to assist victims of accidents, flee the scene if involved in an accident which is not their fault if able to do so, and DO NOT take anyone other than colleagues to a hospital. There is more, but it shakes my faith in human nature.

On a personal note, in Pattaya some years ago, I was once king-hit from behind by a strutting little big man baht bus driver because I had the sheer audacity to park my m/cycle next to a hamburger stand where the baht buses line up. The arrogance of the little cr*pper as he performed his "heroic deed" was unbelievable. I was taking up very little space and would have been gone in a few minutes -- but this twerp wanted to show his scabby little mates that he could do whatever he liked to a farang and get away with it. So, knock me half-senseless and then strut away like he's king of the hill. And it was all for nothing. Shades of "Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand".

But, on and on, folks. I learned from it and now I put these pathetic weasels behind me and don't let them detract from the great Thai people who've made my 2 decade stay here so enjoyable. The scabs aside (once you've learned how to deal with them), I still love living here. There are still more positives than negatives.

Wit

[travelin1]

All the more reason to have your camera with you at all times when visiting Phuket -- especially video, of course.

These types of incidents need to be documented in this way so they can be posted to YouTube and go viral, with the chance that the big networks pick them up.

Word needs to get out in a big way or nothing will change...

[keemapoot]

I think many people on this thread may not understand the unique demographic makeup of the tuk tuk drivers in Phuket. Almost all of them come from long entrenched (mostly Muslim) families from the various small villages. These are all long time entrenched people with generations of contacts and an attitude of entitlement. Furthermore, most of these men have not been educated (except for learning enough English to deal with foreigners), and have little imagination to do anything else. On top of that, they are organized by an island-wide mafia, composed of various village heads.

On top of this, they keep adding to their numbers monthly, so that there is a virtual flood of Tuk tuks everywhere, not enough business for all of them, and a mafia policy of keeping unrealistically high monopoly pricing in effect, and keeping out mass transport. They have a strangle-hold on the police, political leaders, village leaders and everyone else as their roots go deep.

There is no solution to this absolute blight on this otherwise beautiful island. It's one of the reasons (not a major reason) I left after so many years there.

[Jingthing]

Sure there is a solution. Boycott Phuket.

[keemapoot]

The reason there is no solution is because Phuket is such a huge holiday "brand" in the world now, it simply does not matter if there is no repeat business. In other words, they can burn through any number of the hoards of new and never ending arrivals and still happily have more new pilgrims each month.

[DickFarang]

I agree, the're all scum even here in Pattaya with the baht buses and taxi motorbikes, cannot even park your small motorbike nowhere, even with no parking signs, like they own the streets (which they do by paying the police)

Pattaya isn't even close as bad as Phuket. In Pattaya you know your costs whenyou jump in to a SongTaeu (Pickup). In Phuket you will pay for about the same short distance 10 times the price of Pattaya. And on the end you still have discussions with hese nasty guys.

This makes the Pattaya forum threads complaining about the 10 baht songthaew fares seem like a joke.

I need to pipe in here on cue. There are no such threads anymore. People have stopped complaining about paying 10 baht for years now. Now we are complaining about demands for 20 when the fare is 10. Just the facts, man. This is for the set routes. For charters, there is massive overcharging, but it is true not as bad as Phuket.

In Pattaya everybody, Thais and farangs alike, pay THB 10 per trip.

For a double trip, e.g. from Pattayatai/Sukhumvit to Central Festival, I pay THB 20.

For a triple trip, e.g. from Jomtien to Dolphin Roundabout, I pay THB 30.

This seems very reasonable to me.

[Brunus]

I don't want to defend Pucket tuk-tuk drivers.

But in my experience in Thailand I have seen many fights. Most of the times Thais are patient, but if you piss them off they lose control and could kill you. I saw a waiter beating the crap out of a client (a Thai guy) at a restaurant, after he made the waiter lose his face. A big farang shouting at a small Thai guy at the pier because he had been overcharged for his boat, he had to run away because this small guy started to kick him Thai boxing style. A Thai guy touching a farang girl, her boyfriend went to the guy and start insulting him. Result: 10 Thais beating the farang. A friend (I believe him) told me he stopped a Thai while he was hitting a girl. He woke up in the trash, went to the hospital, 23 stiches on his head. Last thing he remembers is about 10 Thais attacking him.

So I think this is a more general problem.

Maybe this is a particular case and the French didn't do or say anything to piss the tuk-tuk guy off.

Or maybe they did and they don't say it . Obviously in France it's normal. And they didn't know that in Thailand it is not. I am not blaming them. I lived in France for a while and the way people behave there, in this kind of situations, would piss off Thais and most of farangs too. But it's their culture and it's their normal behavior. Who knows French people knows what I am talking about.

If I drive in Thailand as I drive in Italy, I will probably be killed because in Italy it is normal shouting and insulting other drivers, but if you do it in Thailand sooner or later somebody will attack you with a knife.

I repeat I don't blame the tourists. I know about the tuk- tuk mafia. I just think it is a more general problem.

[Jingthing]

The reason there is no solution is because Phuket is such a huge holiday "brand" in the world now, it simply does not matter if there is no repeat business. In other words, they can burn through any number of the hoards of new and never ending arrivals and still happily have more new pilgrims each month.

Yeah I get your point. But sometimes the bad rep does get spread widely enough to make an impact and destinations decline in popularity.

[keemapoot]

The reason there is no solution is because Phuket is such a huge holiday "brand" in the world now, it simply does not matter if there is no repeat business. In other words, they can burn through any number of the hoards of new and never ending arrivals and still happily have more new pilgrims each month.

Yeah I get your point. But sometimes the bad rep does get spread widely enough to make an impact and destinations decline in popularity.

Sure, I'd like to believe in the romantic notion that we could lobby people so that they would "vote with their feet" and boycott Phuket. But, honestly, I just think Phuket has turned into this huge juggernaut of a beach destination now, fueled largely by cheap international flights and packages.

[ballzafire]

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?

[elcent]

the only way to get it under control is to have all the took-tuks paid by TAT and local businesses so that they can't charge any fares and when they deliver good service they will be tipped well.

[debbiev]

In a taxi from the airport to Phuket Town (not my first, as I was on the way to my Thai bf's place), I ended up having to endure the ride with closed eyes and forced slow breathing. The driver was on the tail of a motorcycle. And, I mean...on the tail. There was maybe a foot between the bike and the car. The stupid rider should have just let the car pass, but he didn't. He continued to speed up and so did the driver. It was crazy. One slip up and the bike and rider would have been under us. I was actually anticipating the bump it would cause and the explaining I'd end up doing to the police. I was not only terrified that the rider would be killed before my eyes, but that it would all somehow be blamed on me. I was afraid to say something, unsure if he would listen or just speed up or lose his concentration and kill the guy anyway. So, I closed my eyes.

As for the poster who said tourists routinely get ripped off by paying upwards of 1200 baht to Kata, half that blame needs go on the tourists for not doing even the tiniest bit of research and paying the inflated fares. I've never paid more than 600 baht total for a full taxi to Kata. Even on my first visit, I knew what the fares should be--I would not have even entertained the idea of 1200!

Edited December 29, 2009 by debbiev

[KarenBravo]

As a resident of Phuket that does no business here, I would love to see less tourists visiting.

Please all of you, just stay away. Go someplace else.

[tropo]

This makes the Pattaya forum threads complaining about the 10 baht songthaew fares seem like a joke.

I need to pipe in here on cue. There are no such threads anymore. People have stopped complaining about paying 10 baht for years now. Now we are complaining about demands for 20 when the fare is 10. Just the facts, man. This is for the set routes. For charters, there is massive overcharging, but it is true not as bad as Phuket.

Thanks for piping in. You are definitely the expert on such matters in Pattaya.

Any complaints about Pattaya's baht buses whether over 10 baht or 20 baht are insignificant compared to Phuket's transport woes.

[DickFarang]

The reason there is no solution is because Phuket is such a huge holiday "brand" in the world now, it simply does not matter if there is no repeat business. In other words, they can burn through any number of the hoards of new and never ending arrivals and still happily have more new pilgrims each month.

Yeah I get your point. But sometimes the bad rep does get spread widely enough to make an impact and destinations decline in popularity.

Sure, I'd like to believe in the romantic notion that we could lobby people so that they would "vote with their feet" and boycott Phuket. But, honestly, I just think Phuket has turned into this huge juggernaut of a beach destination now, fueled largely by cheap international flights and packages.

In my home country it is cheaper to book an all-in charter flight holiday to Phuket than to book only a regular flight to Bangkok (understood Pattaya).

That is what keeps people going to Phuket.

[keemapoot]

The reason there is no solution is because Phuket is such a huge holiday "brand" in the world now, it simply does not matter if there is no repeat business. In other words, they can burn through any number of the hoards of new and never ending arrivals and still happily have more new pilgrims each month.

Yeah I get your point. But sometimes the bad rep does get spread widely enough to make an impact and destinations decline in popularity.

Sure, I'd like to believe in the romantic notion that we could lobby people so that they would "vote with their feet" and boycott Phuket. But, honestly, I just think Phuket has turned into this huge juggernaut of a beach destination now, fueled largely by cheap international flights and packages.

In my home country it is cheaper to book an all-in charter flight holiday to Phuket than to book only a regular flight to Bangkok (understood Pattaya).

That is what keeps people going to Phuket.

Thank you. Exactly my point. Phuket has gotten the international airport part right.

[neiln7]

ok this has got my attention! i don't normally write here just read, but this time i will. How sad for thailand i know they " THAI'S"

don't think before they act! i have lived in BKK for 10 years and never had any trouble, but i have refused to go to koh samui, Phuket and other islands because of mafia run taxi drivers/ tuk tuk's over charging ...and the violance there willing to use!

I always recommend to friends to go other places where its not so bad ..... ok some of you blame the tourists for not moving but why should he. I have a my own car in bangkok and they way thai's park and drive is a joke!

ok if a farang park somewhere he shouldn't then same as a thai he gets a ticket or wheel clamped ...... but a broken arm? Is that what thailand has come too?

let face it tourist money put thailand on the world map! And when no tourists come it will just be a thing of the past!

Laos is getting busy theseday's

p.s. I go to the south Narathiwat / Pattani / Yala, regular and when a thai ask's me they look so scared for me because of the bomb's and killings but i feel safer in Narthiwat than in Phuket or samui .....

send the tuk tuk driver to the south and see how breave they are!

[britadders28]

Thailand is becoming a place not to visit,i will not be recomending my friends to come here,and i have been coming here a longtime,everyone is getting ripped of,if you are a Farang you pay double why? you cannot own land why ? you cannot work why?,the only thing good about Thailand now is it is warmer than the uk,and most of the Thais do not like the farang unless they are getting money from them, for doing nothing (bling) that is what they are,and it is going to get worse

Well, with your simple mind - I do not quite understand <deleted> you are still doing here.... The best for Thailand would be that people like you stay far away from this country!

Do you think Thais would have welcome people like yourself if you did not have money to spend in their beautiful country? Do you think you would get a decent looking girlfriend if you did not have money? Why don't your and all other like you return home - it will make Thailand a much better place for the locals.

and to your questions;

Why foreigners can not own land - it is the smartest and best regulation Thailand have. They are actually trying to protect their country from rich foreigners buying all their valuable land in order to help the their own people. Even their laws are not strickt enough, it for sure helps a lot.

Why foreigners can not work;

Well, I am not sure what you are thinking about here? It is actually not a big issue for forigners to work in Thailand if you have a decent qualification and proper interpersonal skills. For someone like you, who have completed max 7th grade, I undestand it can be difficult.... Why not compare with the regulations back home in the UK - are they so much differernt?? Why don't you allow all people from Africa (Nigeria, Somalia, Eritrea etc.) to come to UK if they want to work?? It is basic terms it is the same as the Thai government is doing - they want to have SKILLED labor not just anyone.

If you think the only thing good about Thailand is that it is warmer, why not consider California instead? Or maybe noone would care about you there?? Get real people!!!

It is time for loosers like Munns etc. leave the Kingdom as soon as possible!! If you can not move to a country and adapt to their culture better than picking on peple who are struggling to make a living - stay away! If you think the tuk-tuk driver live in a luxurious house with big garden, get real! He probably live on max 10.000 B per month which should feed the entire family. At least he do something for a living - not only receive governemnt fundings every month!

However, people should not do such things no matter what!! It was horrible to read about even it was probably done to an arrogant frog!

SD

The uk does let nigerians etc.. into our country, we are actually full with about 8X the unemployment rate of thailand and more children living under the poverty line than in thailand.

Many nigerians come here on student visas and get in terrorism

Labour are losing out big time due to relaxed immigration laws so maybe you should get your facts right first

If the thai government only want skilled labour then why are there so many unskilled lowpaid burmese workers here??

Yes in the uk you can get a pretty girlfriend when you are skint, this is the 21st century in england where girls actually want to pay for things!!

Yes the weather and prices is a major thing attracting brits, especially arthritic older types that live healthier in warmer climates, but with dual pricing, scamming, visa runs etc.. its not such a cheap country to live in

Protect their country - they are racist and xenophobic and most of these high flyers are actually half chinese not even thai

Maybe a farang and his thai wife would be better for thailand if they owned the land and not government or mafia types - its disgusting human rights issues are an international joke now!!

More and more people are now leaving thailand just look at other forums like bbc, hmong group on facebook, basically human beings and not people clouded by fake smiles and young brides.

Replies on a postcard please!!!

[scotty41]

Can anyone say anything positive about any tuk-tuk anywhere in Thailand?

They are noisy, dirty (terrible pollution!) , rude, dangerous, dishonest and all around bad news.

I guess it may be part of Thailand's identity, but I feel they should make Tuk Tuks a thing of the the nostalgic past.

Why would anyone want to go to Phuket in the first place. The only way I can describe it - It is scum hole.

And if you go? You desreve it. Phuket S_u_c-k-s

Mirrors my feelings. I hope many others who would have considered going to Phuket feel the same way.

I was booked up for a week in Phuket at the end of January after my visit to Pattaya.

After reading these posts “Phuket now off the holiday plan”.

Biting the hand that feed you springs to mind.

[animatic]

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?

Edited December 29, 2009 by animatic

[stolidfeline]

It is a common problem in Bangkok too. Where I live several of us have had accidents walking our kids to school by being run down on the sidewalk by motorcycle taxi drivers. The police do nothing. Two moths ago a woman was hospitalized, and last month a young mother was beaten up by four of them after complaining to the police. One of them had a go at me last week after clipping my arm by passing at high speed. If I had stepped to the left a few inches I too would be in hospital. And what about the children? Are they supposed to walk in the road?

The Governor of Bangkok, who seems to live in an alternate reality, had a plan to promote all motorcycle taxi drivers into vigilante groups to help suppress local crime! He is obviously completely unaware that these motorcycle taxi drivers are themselves responsible for the majority of the crime. Everyone is afraid of them.

When is someone in Thailand going to take on the scum in our society?

Edited December 29, 2009 by stolidfeline

[Jingthing]

I haven't been to Phuket for some years, but I remember that when I avoided paying the tuk tuk mafia in Patong to go home at night and walked, the alternative was being predictably stalked by kathoey gangs of thieves on bikes? Still happening?

Edited December 29, 2009 by Jingthing