Out this morning for a quick trip into town and came across a major police check stop. Okay, no problem. Showed them my bike's registration sticker, and pulled out my driver's licence.

Officer said it had expired and I should pay 200 baht to one of those policemen sitting at a table.

I figured it was a tea money request, and clearly explained that my licence didn't expire until the end of the month, and that I was off to my embassy this weekend to get the necessary paper to change my licence from the one year to five year.

I also asked for another officer who perhaps spoke more English. One came over, and I explained to him that I was preparing to renew it, and there shouldn't be a problem.

He waved me off.

Hey, fantastic! Until I got home and looked at my licence again - it really had expired November 4th. Not sure why I figured end of the month, but they were all correct.

Maybe he didn't have enough English to go through and explain it better to me, but I doubt that. He just looked at my open honest looking face and accepted my explanation!

Doesn't happen often but some good words for the friendliness and kindness of our local BIB.

(Should note that I've been stopped in the past and legitimately ticketed for not wearing a helmet - payed those at the station, so I wasn't trying to avoid a fine, just a misunderstood non-request for tea money. My mistake. My bad!)

I was pulled for my car tax being 3 months out of date.... I don't know why I thought it was due in Nov, but it wasn't.

I politely argued the toss until he asked me to get out of the car and look at my tax disk in the window. He was right !

I gave him B100, he wanted more, I said ok I'll pay the full fine at the Police station, he accepted B100 !!!!

He saved my time and money. However, I'm a hypocrite - while I like the fact that I paid less and saved time I hate the fact that the Police put up these check points simply to make 'tea money'

I find the police generally polite and easy going and at the same time quite useless !

It has not yet happened to me in a car, as in I've never been pulled over for something I didn't do and have only been pulled over about 3 times in the last 5 or 6 years (car).

However, I do see and hear about motorcycles getting pulled over and charged for the smallest of reasons. It seems to me as though even if everything is in perfect order once you have stopped it is a face saving measure of the BIB to at least get something monitory from the motorcycle rider.

Instead - Stop the guys on Motorcycles going the wrong way up the road, driving down the pavements, fine the drivers who block Box junctions, fine light jumpers....

Police: Be proactive - Not just at the road blocks which are easy to set up, but when out and about.

My wife told me about a huge crash(I forget where exaxtly) somewhere in Bangkok last week where a lorry took out a number of cars. It is quite an issue on the Thai websites. On an blind bend on a fly-over somewhere the police had set up a road block, cars came round the corner and screeched to a halt, the lorry couldn't stop in time. Yes, everyone was probably driving too fast, but the police were particularly dumb in setting up their road block in that location.