Knife Used In Pattaya Jetski Scam - Irish Tourist’s Life Threatened

[bdenner]

Really makes me appreciate the peaceful co existence I enjoy out here in the rice paddies of Isaan. Last week I had my car run into by a youth on a highly modified Yamaha Mio riding on the wrong side of the road. Youth OK, his sister had a lightly sprained ankle.

Bottom line after negotiation with TW, our insurance assessor and his Father:

I claim insurance for the repair of the car. (1st claim in over 8 years)

The Father gave me 3000 Baht to cover my excess.

They repair the bike and paid the medical bill, only a few Baht.

Good outcome as far as I'm concerned when one hears of the horror stories about Farang being ripped off badly in similar situations and as described in this thread. :jap:

[johna]

Just read somewhere that the TAT received a budget of many milj. THB to upgrade/update about 80 tourist related web sites. Might be an idea to annonce that jet-skies are ilegal in Thailand and urge ALL tourists NOT to rent one.

Best idea on the thread unfortunately the people that would be called upon to police any ban are the people who own the jet skis.

Maybe it's time the Thai government outsourced the police force. Get a private security contractor in.

Putting the fox in charge of the hen house,

Can you imagine what scams a private contractor would operate in order to recover his concession fee

[iono]

One day these little scumbag idiots are going to pick on the wrong tourist(s) and end up on the receiving end of the blades that they so eagerly wield.

The Irish are known for their ability to demonstrate violence when provoked (just ask the English) and they can be very tough nuts to crack so these Thai morons were lucky on this occasion. We should invite a few groups of lads from Edinburgh and Glascow over and see how the Thai mini mafia fair against them!

I love your comments ...keep up the good work .......Thai Mini Mafia......

This is what I was thinking, that day will come when a few of the tourist strike back and I don't mean a push and shoving match, but an actually ass kicking where the BIB will arrive and get a real taste of violence i.e. no compliance from the tourist when the BIB say stop please stop, this I would pay to see...

[farangpattaya]

Simple. Every western Govt should immediately advise every citizen not to rent the things. They will soon have to answer to the who ever they borrowed the scratch for the things in the first place if they can't pay the loan money back for the jetskis.

And don't rent motorbikes, cars, don't take taxis, tuk-tuk's, don't visit national parks, don't go to disco's, don't rent houses and or condo's from Thai owners and certainly don't buy souvenirs on street-side markets. If you don't know how to do deal with it..........don't come to Thailand unless you have an Asian outlook.

[petedk]

Although my story has no revelance to the jetski scam it has with the knife incident.Only this weekend I got into a fight with a group of Thai scum over a car accident in Rayong.To cut a long story short I was punched unprovoked by the one Thai that was involved at the time.After retaliating and giving the lowlife a hiding the usual scenario of Thai cowardice evolved.He'd got on the phone and a couple more lowlifes turned up.At this point the thing escalated to where I was being threatened with a machete.Luckily for me the police (I use that term lightly) arrived.I'll add that I also had my G/F and her brother and sisters young daughters with me.After making statements at the station and the police omitting the machete incident they were allowed to walk free.This is only an outline of the full story but gives an insight to what use the police are here in Thailand.What I find unbelievable is not just the fact that if the police hadn't turned up when they did I might not be here to post this reply,it's the fact no one's concerned that scumbags such has these are able to brandish machete's around when young children are about.The place is lawless.

You're lucky the police did something to help you. I saw an accident last night where a car hit a motorcycle. A group of 10 - 12 motorcycle taxi boys just attcked the driver AND passengers but the worst part of it all was the the cop who was there at the scene just turned his back and walked away until the fighting had died down.

In the case of the Jet ski scam the cops are involved as I have seen the same cop come to the scene in a space of 1 hour and take away the farang victims.

I would also say that many of the food vendors are involved because every time I have seen this going on, the argument starts between the jet ski owner and the farang toursit. As soon as the tourist protests a whole group of vendors show up, surround him and shout "farang gohok! farang gohok"

[saraburioz]

Violence and extortion at Pattaya.

Who'd have thought it?

Exactly - any sexpat going to Pattaya for their ILLEGAL activities has to accept that it is a horrible, dangerous place with the scum from every country in the world.

[craigt3365]

If you guys want to do something productive, email TAT. If they get enough emails from concerned tourists, maybe something will be done...like was done in Phuket. It can't hurt, and won't take much of your time. There is a "contact us" spot on the bottom of the web page. Get involved, send an email!

http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Or direct link to the contact us form:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/contact-us/

[23423981]

Boycott is the only word that Thai government and merchants would understand and fear. You think the tsunami hurt the Thai economy?

Wait till the wrath of the tourists wipe out the big part of Thai economy. All the expats should pick a date and stage a total boycott throught

Thailand. Look just what happened to Tijuana, Mexico. Drug war and police corruption chased away tourists for many months, downing

local economy by 90%. If Thai government does not appreciate us being there, we should take our business elsewhere. Hey Thai, say

by to my $8000 a month pension money I could have spend in Chiang Mai.

[draftvader]

Simple. Every western Govt should immediately advise every citizen not to rent the things. They will soon have to answer to the who ever they borrowed the scratch for the things in the first place if they can't pay the loan money back for the jetskis.

Totally agreed. We've seen first hand, in our soi, the reaction from one of the "unofficial" lines of credit when the payments fall behind. It was quick and involved the borrower's girlfriend (poor girl), a bullet and her head.....very sad. I have to admit my reaction would be less sympathetic if it was one of these little sh1t5.

[PhilHarries]

Just read somewhere that the TAT received a budget of many milj. THB to upgrade/update about 80 tourist related web sites. Might be an idea to annonce that jet-skies are ilegal in Thailand and urge ALL tourists NOT to rent one.

Best idea on the thread unfortunately the people that would be called upon to police any ban are the people who own the jet skis.

Maybe it's time the Thai government outsourced the police force. Get a private security contractor in.

Putting the fox in charge of the hen house,

Can you imagine what scams a private contractor would operate in order to recover his concession fee

Yes, but they might just be a bit more impartial in their dealings if they weren't part of the problem. Also if they were sourced from outside Thailand, say Cambodia or Viet Nam, they might be a little bit less pro Thai.

An alternative might be to have Pattaya police force sourced from other areas of Thailand, rotated every 12 or 24 months and paid for, in part, by TAT. That way they might be influenced to work for the good of the tourist business.

The jet ski scams have been going since before jet skis (anyone remember those awful water scooters?) and it's so entrenched in the Thai psyche it has become part of normal business practice. The only thing to do is to tell everybody, via the internet and any other form of media that tourists read, DO NOT HIRE JET SKIS IN THAILAND!

[neverdie]

Boycott is the only word that Thai government and merchants would understand and fear. You think the tsunami hurt the Thai economy?

Wait till the wrath of the tourists wipe out the big part of Thai economy. All the expats should pick a date and stage a total boycott throught

Thailand. Look just what happened to Tijuana, Mexico. Drug war and police corruption chased away tourists for many months, downing

local economy by 90%. If Thai government does not appreciate us being there, we should take our business elsewhere. Hey Thai, say

by to my $8000 a month pension money I could have spend in Chiang Mai.

Nice idea BUT it will never happen. For every wise tourist/expat that is ready to jump up and bycott, theres a thousand unsuspecting/foolish replacements lined up to take their place.

[sharecropper]

If you guys want to do something productive, email TAT. If they get enough emails from concerned tourists, maybe something will be done...like was done in Phuket. It can't hurt, and won't take much of your time. There is a "contact us" spot on the bottom of the web page. Get involved, send an email!

http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Or direct link to the contact us form:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/contact-us/

This is a great idea, which I will do.

Also to any friendly international news media anyone has links with might help too.

[gmac]

Finally for me the most stupid people are all the tourists who rent jet skies first place. I haven't met anybody in the last 23+years which I'm living here didn't complain about jet-skies, but many of those rent them out. Scam or not, nobody rents them, no scam.

That's all very well but how many people do you know that have been scammed twice? The problem is that people go on holidays all over the world, rent jet-skis enjoy themselves, pay the rental fee and go home happy. When they come to Pattaya they get scammed so they don't do it again, but who warns them not to do it the first time?

[Siam Simon]

Boycott is the only word that Thai government and merchants would understand and fear. You think the tsunami hurt the Thai economy?

Wait till the wrath of the tourists wipe out the big part of Thai economy. All the expats should pick a date and stage a total boycott throught

Thailand. Look just what happened to Tijuana, Mexico. Drug war and police corruption chased away tourists for many months, downing

local economy by 90%. If Thai government does not appreciate us being there, we should take our business elsewhere. Hey Thai, say

by to my $8000 a month pension money I could have spend in Chiang Mai.

Nice idea BUT it will never happen. For every wise tourist/expat that is ready to jump up and bycott, theres a thousand unsuspecting/foolish replacements lined up to take their place.

But if threads like this reduce it to only 993, that's splendid, isn't it?

[craigt3365]

Boycott is the only word that Thai government and merchants would understand and fear. You think the tsunami hurt the Thai economy?

Wait till the wrath of the tourists wipe out the big part of Thai economy. All the expats should pick a date and stage a total boycott throught

Thailand. Look just what happened to Tijuana, Mexico. Drug war and police corruption chased away tourists for many months, downing

local economy by 90%. If Thai government does not appreciate us being there, we should take our business elsewhere. Hey Thai, say

by to my $8000 a month pension money I could have spend in Chiang Mai.

Nice idea BUT it will never happen. For every wise tourist/expat that is ready to jump up and bycott, theres a thousand unsuspecting/foolish replacements lined up to take their place.

And thousands who have never experienced a scam here. I've only had one, after 9 years of traveling all over the kingdom. And it wasn't that bad. Actually, didn't cost me a penny (it was the tuk tuk scam in BKK where they take you around if you agree to visit a tailor and a jewelry shop...I bought nothing, but got a free ride for the better part of a day!)

Thailand is easy compared to many other countries.

Finally for me the most stupid people are all the tourists who rent jet skies first place. I haven't met anybody in the last 23+years which I'm living here didn't complain about jet-skies, but many of those rent them out. Scam or not, nobody rents them, no scam.

That's all very well but how many people do you know that have been scammed twice? The problem is that people go on holidays all over the world, rent jet-skis enjoy themselves, pay the rental fee and go home happy. When they come to Pattaya they get scammed so they don't do it again, but who warns them not to do it the first time?

I've rented a few times and did not have a problem. Once on Samui and once in Jomtien. I guess I was lucky. I would have hated to have this pulled on me...

[saintofsilence]

If you guys want to do something productive, email TAT. If they get enough emails from concerned tourists, maybe something will be done...like was done in Phuket. It can't hurt, and won't take much of your time. There is a "contact us" spot on the bottom of the web page. Get involved, send an email!

http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Or direct link to the contact us form:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/contact-us/

This is a great idea, which I will do.

Also to any friendly international news media anyone has links with might help too.

Pattaya, November 24, 2010 [PDN]: On November 24, at Pattaya City Hall, officials held a meeting to discuss the operating hours of entertainment businesses following a claim by the Office Of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission [PACC] that it had received a significant number of complaints from concerned people in the city. Present at the meeting were Pattaya City Mayor, Mr. Itthiphol Khunpluem, the president of Entertainer in Pattaya, Mr. Banyat Siritanyong, Pattaya administrative assistant, Mr. Soonthorn Rattanawaraha and Colonel Nunthawut Suwanla-ong (Pattaya Police Superintendent).

The meeting was told that the high level of corruption in the city was of grave concern, especially the negative impact it has on the tourist industry. Complaints had been presented to successive administrations, but the problems still remained.

This is a clipping from Pattaya Daily News

It would be worth while contacting the PACC they seem to be overlooking these type of issues , does anyone have their contact details for complaints.?

[Bagwan]

If you guys want to do something productive, email TAT.  If they get enough emails from concerned tourists, maybe something will be done...like was done in Phuket.  It can't hurt, and won't take much of your time.  There is a "contact us" spot on the bottom of the web page.  Get involved, send an email!

http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Or direct link to the contact us form:

http://www.tourismth...org/contact-us/

This is a great idea, which I will do.

Also to any friendly international news media anyone has links with might help too.

Pattaya, November 24, 2010 [PDN]: On November 24, at Pattaya City Hall, officials held a meeting to discuss the operating hours of entertainment businesses following a claim by the Office Of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission [PACC] that it had received a significant number of complaints from concerned people in the city. Present at the meeting were Pattaya City Mayor, Mr. Itthiphol Khunpluem, the president of Entertainer in Pattaya, Mr. Banyat Siritanyong, Pattaya administrative assistant, Mr. Soonthorn Rattanawaraha and Colonel Nunthawut Suwanla-ong (Pattaya Police Superintendent).

The meeting was told that the high level of corruption in the city was of grave concern, especially the negative impact it has on the tourist industry. Complaints had been presented to successive administrations, but the problems still remained.

This is a clipping from Pattaya Daily News

It would be worth while contacting the PACC they seem to be overlooking these type of issues , does anyone have their contact details for complaints.?

Given the family connection of the present Mayor this whole affair is hysterically funny - unless you believe in black sheep. Black sheep in ThaIland?  555555555

[gmac]

If you guys want to do something productive, email TAT. If they get enough emails from concerned tourists, maybe something will be done...like was done in Phuket. It can't hurt, and won't take much of your time. There is a "contact us" spot on the bottom of the web page. Get involved, send an email!

http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Or direct link to the contact us form:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/contact-us/

This is a great idea, which I will do.

Also to any friendly international news media anyone has links with might help too.

Agreed. Sent mine already.

[Volks]

I couldn't agree more, with what has already been posted.

I've lived in Thailand for a few years now, and like so many 'GREEN BACKS', I too made the same mistakes when I first visited Thailand.

Don't use TUK TUKS or rent Jet Skies. Beware of dodgy Lawyers and Police, the list goes on and I'm sure many of us have a story to tell?

The Country of Thailand is a very beautiful place, bar all the litter and corruption.

Where I live, us Farang have a saying, 'T.I.T' , ('This Is Thailand'), but as we all know, this Thailand, could and can be a much better place for all.

I live here because I have a son from an X Thai partner, who left me, taking my son, who I've not seen for over seven months. She also has the home and land I bought plus she stole money from me and her family owe me a lot of money too. But you know what! I can't do much, (LEGALLY), about it!

'Life is such', as the French say, but hay, more can be done and yes, tourists should be made aware of the dangers of having a holiday in 'THE LAND OF PARADISE'!

Where I live, I have drunk men, coming to my front gate, begging for money, for so called food. We all know its for Whiskey. It's a disgrace and shameful. I may be Farang but I'm no money bank. Let's face it, we as Farang are not really wanted here as people, it's all about money.

It's very sad.

[mca]

Where I live, I have drunk men, coming to my front gate, begging for money, for so called food. We all know its for Whiskey. It's a disgrace and shameful.

I take offence at you disparaging Pattaya expats in this way.

[chmiroau]

This high season is pretty low, increased competition for money, police owned jet skis, corrupt police everywhere, why is anyone surprised this shit is happening? These Irish guys will go home and tell their friends, who will tell their friends, etc etc , next high season even lower, blah blah.

This is not Disney Land people, pay attention.Give then what they want, the police are in on it, and live to play another day.

I am sorry, I don't understand, are you saying that the people that hire out these jet ski's should just pay the operator the money that they want???

That makes no sense! Payment of these bribes is condoning and encouraging the behaviour. Sadly this is the same when you pay the police their 100B when you get pulled over.

These jet ski hire operators have just cottoned onto a new way if increasing their profits. And the same can also be said of the motor bike hire operators. If we do decide to hire a vehicle from these guys, then we must show them that we are aware of their scam, and behave in a way that will protect ourselves.

This means taking a photo of the vehicle with the hire operator standing beside the vehicle being hired. When you do this, the operator is then fully aware that you have evidence of the condition of the vehicle when hired. Then, in the case of the jet ski, you must give your camera to a friend who sadly must remain on dry land while you have your fun.

I have had friends do this in Phuket, and they never had a bribery problem with the operators, no problem at all.

Like another posting stated, the other option is to go to the less heavily marketed places and have more freedom from the crowds. But we shouldn't really tell people that, after all I do want to save some of these places from the inevitable degrading that Phuket and Pattaya have experienced.

[Wavefloater]

The points about how extreme forms of scamming are (or will eventually) affect legitimate business owners in a negative way is a good one, and further comments about how law enforcement is in on the game are also valid, so you business people who are being adversely affected should stage a peaceful protest and go for the extreme action of just simply having jet-skis banned from local beaches. They are noisy, polluting and dangerous nuisances anyway.

Although it's probably unlikely they would be banned, taking that stance would show anybody (in a position of authority) just how serious you feel the situation has become, and it may be enough to force jet-ski bums to play by the rules, if not shut down their operations. Gawd knows these low-life types certainly don't want to actually have to work to make money.

It seems that Pattaya is becoming a worse travel destination daily.

[craigt3365]

If you guys want to do something productive, email TAT.  If they get enough emails from concerned tourists, maybe something will be done...like was done in Phuket.  It can't hurt, and won't take much of your time.  There is a "contact us" spot on the bottom of the web page.  Get involved, send an email!

http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Or direct link to the contact us form:

http://www.tourismth...org/contact-us/

This is a great idea, which I will do.

Also to any friendly international news media anyone has links with might help too.

Pattaya, November 24, 2010 [PDN]: On November 24, at Pattaya City Hall, officials held a meeting to discuss the operating hours of entertainment businesses following a claim by the Office Of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission [PACC] that it had received a significant number of complaints from concerned people in the city. Present at the meeting were Pattaya City Mayor, Mr. Itthiphol Khunpluem, the president of Entertainer in Pattaya, Mr. Banyat Siritanyong, Pattaya administrative assistant, Mr. Soonthorn Rattanawaraha and Colonel Nunthawut Suwanla-ong (Pattaya Police Superintendent).

The meeting was told that the high level of corruption in the city was of grave concern, especially the negative impact it has on the tourist industry. Complaints had been presented to successive administrations, but the problems still remained.

This is a clipping from Pattaya Daily News

It would be worth while contacting the PACC they seem to be overlooking these type of issues , does anyone have their contact details for complaints.?

Given the family connection of the present Mayor this whole affair is hysterically funny - unless you believe in black sheep. Black sheep in ThaIland?  555555555

I hear ya, but even he is a businessman....who could possibly be hurt by this negative publicity. We know the level of corruption here is high, but even if you are corrupt, you know how to make money. And this ends up in only a few peoples pockets...not everybody's. Plus, it's nothing compared to the income of say, a big restaurant here in town. Hopefully, he will understand this and take action. One can only hope!!!!

Thanks for the heads up on the PACC.

[Volks]

Where I live, I have drunk men, coming to my front gate, begging for money, for so called food. We all know its for Whiskey. It's a disgrace and shameful.

I take offence at you disparaging Pattaya expats in this way.

Thai men, not X pats.

I quite like Pattaya as it goes, more than Phuket.

I live north of Bangkok, but no matter where, I would guess things are much the same all over Thailand?

[jackh]

I have ben coming to Thailand for many years and see the decline of the LOS almost on a monthly basis. THe end for me was the Red Shirt incident. I haven't been back since and found wonderful alternatives to Thailand vacation. LOS is forever dead now, such a shame.

I operate a large tour business in China. I send about 40 tourists a month to Thailand. At New YEars this goes up to 200-300 families. The Chinese love to go to Thailand. But now I am able to switch 75% of my clients to alternative destinations. Many of them were repeat vacationers to Thailand. The clients reactions to me are very positive after they took my advice to avoid Thailand and experience better places for the same cost. I have no complaints for any client once they come back and compare their experience to their past trips to Thailand. My business continues to grow as more satisfied clients tell more friends about my business.

I always tell people to avoid the trouble, scams, and danger associated with Thailand travel. I am sure I am not alone with many others in this industry. Thailand has shot itself in the foot with it's lethargic approach to tourists and their safety. LOS is NOT is olny game in town. It must really be suffering now from the lack of tourists coming there. Too bad I say.

I myself go to my alternative places to spend my money and time. Imagine Samui 10 years ago, and I enjoy this now where I go. At 10 year old prices as well. In fact I'll be there in a few more weeks for a 15 day holiday.

Sorry Thailand, you are all washed up. Straighten it out now, or the tourist numbers will be getting a lot worse!

[craigt3365]

If you guys want to do something productive, email TAT. If they get enough emails from concerned tourists, maybe something will be done...like was done in Phuket. It can't hurt, and won't take much of your time. There is a "contact us" spot on the bottom of the web page. Get involved, send an email!

http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Or direct link to the contact us form:

http://www.tourismthailand.org/contact-us/

This is a great idea, which I will do.

Also to any friendly international news media anyone has links with might help too.

Pattaya, November 24, 2010 [PDN]: On November 24, at Pattaya City Hall, officials held a meeting to discuss the operating hours of entertainment businesses following a claim by the Office Of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission [PACC] that it had received a significant number of complaints from concerned people in the city. Present at the meeting were Pattaya City Mayor, Mr. Itthiphol Khunpluem, the president of Entertainer in Pattaya, Mr. Banyat Siritanyong, Pattaya administrative assistant, Mr. Soonthorn Rattanawaraha and Colonel Nunthawut Suwanla-ong (Pattaya Police Superintendent).

The meeting was told that the high level of corruption in the city was of grave concern, especially the negative impact it has on the tourist industry. Complaints had been presented to successive administrations, but the problems still remained.

This is a clipping from Pattaya Daily News

It would be worth while contacting the PACC they seem to be overlooking these type of issues , does anyone have their contact details for complaints.?

Great head's up on that one. Here's an email contact for the national PACC. Please send them an email also!

Office of Prevention and Suppression of Corruption in Government.

99/31 Moo 4, Software Park Chaengwattana Klong Pak Kret, Nonthaburi 11120 salt.

Tel. 02-502-8285-6.

e-mail: [email protected].

http://www.pacc.go.th/index.php?mod=contact

[chmiroau]

Sometimes I wonder if Pattaya has a government..... Every once in a while I see pictures of officials at grand openings, so I am pretty sure they exist. But their goal should be to run Pattaya in a reasonable fashion. So let's go over the basics. Pattaya is a tourist town. Any issues that harms tourism, in fact harm everyone in the entire town. So I would think that the government would IMMEDIATELY crack down and stop this jet ski bullshit. The fact they do not clearly indicates to me that the hands in the till reach all the way up to the top. There is no other reasonable explanation for their lack of action....

So allow me to propose a simple solution. Ban all jet skis...This is elegantly simple, and easy to implement. All these headline grabbing face losing reports about jet skis scams go away. Hopefully the scumbags involved in this may go away as well. There is an additional side benefit, as the lack of jet skis would prevent Russian swimming tourists in Jomtien from being run over and killed. So my idea looks to me to be a win win win....

You have hit on two major and ingrained problems, differences with the Thai way of life.

ONE. It has been a long tradition in Thai life, for the people down the bottom of the tree to give gifts to the people at the middle of the tree, and then for those people to give gifts to the people at the top of the tree. This is standard tradition all over Asia, and is not much different to the old tax ways of the British. The big difference is that in the west a government was eventually formed and this kind of gift to the wealthy became a legal gift to the state. This money, in the west, was then eventually used to better everyone's life (debatable of course).

However this transition to the 'tea or drink' money has not changed much here in Thailand, or in many Asian countries. The poor or ones with less 'power' give gifts to those that are rich or have power. This gift is money. Because of the obvious corruption issue, this has transitioned to any one that can assert power, and a knife certainly hits the spot. while this may be a crime in any other part of the western world, here it is just an opportunity for the people with power to receive more gifts. So the bribery 'gift giving' continues.

I doubt very much if this kind of life will ever change.

The second issue here is the ability of some to foresee the near future pertaining to their actions. From what I have learned this is outside the Thai psyche. They just never learn this somewhat simple concept. It is my belief that this has come about because of two things. Krung jai, and the Thai fear of causing someone else to lose face. Krung jai is a great way for those in the game to take advantage of those that are not that willing to break the rules. Then comes the resistance of causing someone to lose face, which means that they generally don't accuse someone else of doing something wrong. sometimes the police adopt this stance, so accept the gifts as a way of protecting the offenders from losing face. It is better for a Thai to pay the gift than be accused of being a bad driver.

My wife is a prime example. When we are in the steel clad protective bubble we call a car, she is open about her hatred of many of the motor bike riders around here. But when we are walking on the foot path, she is always the first one to get out of their way when a motor bike come speeding toward us. Double standard, always. But then This Is Thailand, amazing Thailand.

Edited December 1, 2010 by chmiroau

[Lancelot]

The BiB may get a cut of any fine situation that they "resolve", but often they actually own the jet bikes.

Exactly. The cops usually own the jet skis and the thugs are basically their employees. Nice world we live in

[HughJorgen]

I had a similar situation happen to me a few years ago, 2004, my mate and I hired a small speedboat, sure as the sh*t on a sheepdog's a*s, the vendor claimed we had damaged the propeller and wanted 50,000bt for replacing, it got very heated with lots of threats being bandied about, I spoke to my mate in broad Glaswegian, and told him that when  I went down he was to call the Sawang Boriboon ( we're both ex-pats of 10+ years, and follow good practice by having all relevant numbers in our phones, you can get them all in the Pattaya Mail), so at the peak of all the shouting and bawling, I clutched my chest and went down like a sack of sh*t, he called the SB, the vendor was still shouting for his money, the SB turned up and took me to Pattaya International, I stayed on the trolley right up until the point where they wanted to EKG me, followed by MRI and Cat scan scams, then told them  I was fine, got hit with a bill for the Doc plus ancillaries, it came to 1800 bt, but avoided all the shit with the vendor and local plod. I'd use the same scam again in the event of an RTA ( minor one of course), it takes you away from the heat of the action, the vendor usually won't bother following you to the hospital and the BiB usually piss off soon after.

I hear a lot of guys all over the world saying that when they call the police, they take ages to turn up, in any emergency, it's always best to call the fire brigade first, a bunch of very burly men will turn up very rapidly and occupy your time until the cops finish their coffee and donuts. 

No guarantee it will work every time, but worth a try.

[Hooliganzone]

There is only one answer to this problem DO NOT HIRE JET SKI'S IN THAILAND