Physical Assault By Bangkok Taxi Driver

[freakingcat2]

My friend and I after we had dinner at a restaurant in Ruamrudee Road (near Wireless Road) wanted to take a taxi to go home. The driver refused to turn on the meter (as usual) and we were not willing to pay the fee he demanded and left the taxi. The driver stepped out to and started to yell at me and my friend. I speak enough thai to explain him that we wont take his take and that we will call 1584 (the taxi complaint line) if he doesnt stop threatening us. He tried to punch my friend (who is smaller than I am) but I stood in the way and blocked it. Then the taxi driver returned to the taxi, took out a metal wringe (for changing tyres) and started to attack us. I was able to block the attack and yelled at him to do away. Security guards from the building opposite were watching but when I called them to call the police they refused as they were scared of the driver. I managed to calm the driver down, but when he went back to the taxi he turned around again and tried again to hit my friend with the wringe on the head. Luckily he missed. Then he ran back into the taxi and drove off. I remembered the taxi (which was a purple color taxi) licence plate number which is 6112. The driver was about 30 years old, wore glasses, 1.65 meter tall and he was obviously under the influence of drugs. We went over to the security guards and asked them to call the police which they refused. As my friend and I were in shock we drove home. The incident happened today, April 25th at 23.30 at Ruamrudee Road. At home I called 1155 and the police man told me to file a report tomorrow at the police station, which we will. I asked him to phone the taxi complaint line 1584 but he said he cant do that. I phoned them myself and explained them the incident. I was given another number 1644 which I called, but nobody spoke english and even I explained in thai the incident I was asked to phone tourist police. NO action will be taken and one is completely helpless in this situation.

My friend and I are still in shock. Even we will try to report that incident tomorrow at the police station, as usual no action will be taken by Thai police. It was a very serious physical assault which could have ended deadly. I post this as a warning to everyone[

[Beetlejuice]

Is this post typed in Braille for the visually impaired and the mentally challenged?

[h90]

thanks for that report.

I always ask the taxi if he wants to go at the destination and than meter?

But not go inside before that is clear. At least it helps not being assaulted inside the Taxi.

Don't know if Pepper spray is legal in Thailand, but it would have helped.

[Beetlejuice]

The so-called complaint lines are a waste of time.

In most cases they are not interested and will fob the complainant onto somewhere else and you will find the same applies with the police unless someone is seriously injured or killed. Even then they maybe reluctant to come out. Hardly worth the effort of making a phone call.

The golden rules when taking a taxi here in Thailand are:

In unmetered cabs, always agree a fare before making the journey, than there can no disputes later on at the destination.

For metered taxis, always insist that the meter is switched on and running, then during the journey keep an eye on the meter to see that the thing is in operation. If the driving refuses for any reason not to apply the meter or the meter is not running, than bid your farewells and try another taxi.

In Thailand as far as farangs are concerned, some taxi drivers automatically consider that if his/her farang passengers do not bother to agree a price before the journey begins or insist that the meter is turned on, than they are willing to pay whatever the driver asks at the destination. It`s a sort of unwritten policy and just the way it`s done here. Perhaps in this case the driver became aggressive because he believed he was being cheated although of course it was him that was doing all the cheating, but failed to realise this fact.

I have heard stories that some of the meters are rigged or will take the gullible farang on a grand tour so as to run up more money on the meter, plus there have been reports of foreign passengers robbed and murdered. So you use these taxis at your own risk and discretion.

Personally, I try to avoid taxis and use other means of transport when possible.

[loong]

I speak enough thai to explain him that we wont take his take and that we will call 1584

Sorry to hear about this

You won't take his take ?? what does that mean?

As my friend and I were in shock we drove home.

You had a vehicle? Why did you need a taxi?

[h90]

The so-called complaint lines are a waste of time.

In most cases they are not interested and will fob the complainant onto somewhere else and you will find the same applies with the police unless someone is seriously injured or killed. Even then they maybe reluctant to come out. Hardly worth the effort of making a phone call.

The golden rules when taking a taxi here in Thailand are:

In unmetered cabs, always agree a fare before making the journey, than there can no disputes later on at the destination.

For metered taxis, always insist that the meter is switched on and running, then during the journey keep an eye on the meter to see that the thing is in operation. If the driving refuses for any reason not to apply the meter or the meter is not running, than bid your farewells and try another taxi.

In Thailand as far as farangs are concerned, some taxi drivers automatically consider that if his/her farang passengers do not bother to agree a price before the journey begins or insist that the meter is turned on, than they are willing to pay whatever the driver asks at the destination. It`s a sort of unwritten policy and just the way it`s done here. Perhaps in this case the driver became aggressive because he believed he was being cheated although of course it was him that was doing all the cheating, but failed to realise this fact.

I have heard stories that some of the meters are rigged or will take the gullible farang on a grand tour so as to run up more money on the meter, plus there have been reports of foreign passengers robbed and murdered. So you use these taxis at your own risk and discretion.

Personally, I try to avoid taxis and use other means of transport when possible.

Best sentence: "Personally, I try to avoid taxis and use other means of transport when possible."

Another thing is in your home village if there is security......be friendly....pack of cigarets, krating deng, when you pass in the evening make friends. If you arrive in the night with a f#$% Taxi Driver than it is nice if the security remembers you as particular kind person....

If the Taxi driver seems to be under drugs, get your way out......change the destination to a place with strong security.....offer him a big tip for that. People on Yabaa are complete crazy and put in 200 Baht more is better than dieing.

I personally never had problems....but never go in the night with them and mostly arrive at airport or office.

[Ijustwannateach]

There ARE crazy taxis out there, so it is good to be alert- though I never heard of such a strong reaction to refusing to be scammed. Maybe people are getting more desperate.

[raymp]

I have had a few run ins with taxi drivers mostly over turning on the meter or going 50 k in the wrong direction.

They all think we are rich dumb farangs.

The most recent being in Samut Phrakan near the ferry terminal.

We got a taxi from my wifes uncles house to the ferry to go home to Phrapradaeng.

She left her bag in the taxi with her phone in it.

After he drove off i called her phone for 30 minutes untill it was obvious he was going to keep the bag.

Nothing in it but her phone and id card.

I did not get the taxi number.

It is a yellow and green and what makes it stand out is the taxi has I LOVE FARANG on the drivers side window in white stickers.

So obviously he was out of his territory in Samut Phrakan and he would be a tourist area taxi.

I would love to hear from anyone that knows an i love farang, yellow and green taxi.

I have seen it once in Sukhumvit in soi 4 while i was sitting in a bar.

Unfortunatly he was gone by the time i got after him

[autan]

The Autans 10 Golden Commandments when dealing with Taxi drivers.

1. Agree a fair in advance. Before getting in.

2. You always pay the tolls. The taxi driver drives the cab, you pay the tolls on top.

3. Ensure you destination is a hotel/airport etc, where they have to deal with security they wont risk a fuss.

4. Never ever ever get in a taxi if they say its free.

5. Before you get in the taxi, ask to see some ID. Make a note of any id number.

6. Be nice, be friendly and make conversation.

7. Ask questions about them, they are human afterall.

8. If they dont speak English, then dont try to speak Thai.

9. If you smoke, offer them a cigarette.

10. Offer them around 10% of the fair as a tip and say "Put that in your poket, my friend, Kop Kun Kapp,"

My longest taxi ride was from Patong Beach, Phuket to BKK Airport. Nearly a thousand miles and it cost me £200, I paid him 2000 baht tip and he was the best taxi driver ever.

[brit1984]

I speak enough thai to explain him that we wont take his take and that we will call 1584

Sorry to hear about this

You won't take his take ?? what does that mean?

As my friend and I were in shock we drove home.

You had a vehicle? Why did you need a taxi?

I was most confused by the sentence "The incident happened today, April 25th at 23.30"... I think maybe it is a prediction

[autan]

The National Lottery number in the UK for Lotto 25th April 2012 are as follows :

08 10 15 25 38 46 and bonus ball of 12

Spooky !

[Soutpeel]

Looks like the BTS guard who was sacked for assulting people with a metal detector has found a new job....and a new weapon...

[draftvader]

I am mightily confused. Take the Thai approach to taxis to win every time (there is nothing you can do about nutter drivers apart from ask them to go slowly as you feel sick). Most Thais I know are not polite until they have agreed:

1. Meter

2. Destination (and route, if ambiguous)

3. Meter

I was shocked at their attitude the first couple of times I saw it. They weren't rude, but there were no pleasantries at all until everything was agreed, they were in, the taxi was rolling and the meter was on and working properly.

I find with this approach my only problem is nutter driving and then I explain that I (or my 6 month old little girl) will be sick if they don't slow down. Amazing how the thought of a pile of vomit in their taxi changes the actions of the right foot.

My biggest complaint from nutter driving is the 120km/h in 3rd gear with a twitchy right foot leading to constant jerking of the taxi (normally accompanied by "Mr T" style steering wheel rocking). Yaabaa at its best!

[lovelomsak]

I read about a taxi driver in Phuket attacked a man in front of his children for not wanting to pay the price the taxi driver was asking, broke his glasses and left him bloody.The driver took off then the guy talked to another driver in the same area and got the taxi for 200 baht less than the the attacker wanted.

It seems now that taxi drivers attack if you are unwilling to use their services, when they over price.They are attacking people who havenot even used their service. Just refusing to use it. Talk about hard sell.So what do tourists do now simply stay away from taxi areas? Or will tourists just quit coming thinking they cannot go anywhere in thailand because the taxis and tuk tuk drivers will attack with no provocation.

Edited April 25, 2012 by lovelomsak

[waza]

miracle thailand, maybe the crackdown on unregistered taxis will reduce the numbers of cowboys

[Soutpeel]

miracle thailand, maybe the crackdown on unregistered taxis will reduce the numbers of cowboys

Why only target the unregistered ones....by the looks of the OP, this was a registered taxi

[Soutpeel]

I am looking forward to the comments from the Thai apologist when they start piping in and blaming the OP for not understanding Thai culture and not being at one with their thainess...

[beano2274]

The taxi driver near me carries a machete in the boot of his car.

[Bangkokhatter]

I think this should be put into perspective a bit. Most taxi's in BKK are fine as long as you apply the usual rules. The OP I think just ran into a bad one and the incident could have happened to anyone. Seems as though in his alleged drugged up state he would have assualted someone at some point.

Problem is when such assualts are reported nothing seems to be done.

[TommoPhysicist]

I am looking forward to the comments from the Thai apologist when they start piping in and blaming the OP for not understanding Thai culture and not being at one with their thainess...

I think the OP only has himself to blame.

Everyone knows all taxi drivers are criminals and drug addicts, why even approach one?

[dantilley]

1. Agree a fair in advance. Before getting in.

2. You always pay the tolls. The taxi driver drives the cab, you pay the tolls on top.

3. Ensure you destination is a hotel/airport etc, where they have to deal with security they wont risk a fuss.

4. Never ever ever get in a taxi if they say its free.

5. Before you get in the taxi, ask to see some ID. Make a note of any id number.

6. Be nice, be friendly and make conversation.

7. Ask questions about them, they are human afterall.

8. If they dont speak English, then dont try to speak Thai.

9. If you smoke, offer them a cigarette.

10. Offer them around 10% of the fair as a tip and say "Put that in your poket, my friend, Kop Kun Kapp,"

Where did that list come from? Mostly a load of rubbish, for Bangkok at least.

#1 is the exact thing you should never do.

#2 is true but never comes into dispute anyway.

#3 is irrelevant - your destination is where you want to go, if that just happens to be a hotel or airport then fine.

#4 makes sense, I don't recall ever being offered a free cab ride though.

#5 is unnecessary, no-one ever does this.

#6 & #7, yes this makes sense.

#8 is wrong, if you speak good/reasonable Thai then definitely speak to the driver in Thai (if you want to engage him in conversation at all), and if you speak basic Thai and want to practice, many cab drivers are happy to chat with you. Certainly no reason to not speak Thai.

#9 is up to you but hardly a hot tip for Thai taxi riding.

#10, tip as you please - as a general rule, rounding up to the nearest 5 or 10 Baht seems to be the accepted standard amount to tip - if the driver's been exceptionally nice or helpful, an extra 20 Baht or so is appreciated. Expect some funny looks if you say "Put that in your pocket, my friend" though.

[robblok]

1. Agree a fair in advance. Before getting in.

2. You always pay the tolls. The taxi driver drives the cab, you pay the tolls on top.

3. Ensure you destination is a hotel/airport etc, where they have to deal with security they wont risk a fuss.

4. Never ever ever get in a taxi if they say its free.

5. Before you get in the taxi, ask to see some ID. Make a note of any id number.

6. Be nice, be friendly and make conversation.

7. Ask questions about them, they are human afterall.

8. If they dont speak English, then dont try to speak Thai.

9. If you smoke, offer them a cigarette.

10. Offer them around 10% of the fair as a tip and say "Put that in your poket, my friend, Kop Kun Kapp,"

Where did that list come from? Mostly a load of rubbish, for Bangkok at least.

#1 is the exact thing you should never do.

#2 is true but never comes into dispute anyway.

#3 is irrelevant - your destination is where you want to go, if that just happens to be a hotel or airport then fine.

#4 makes sense, I don't recall ever being offered a free cab ride though.

#5 is unnecessary, no-one ever does this.

#6 & #7, yes this makes sense.

#8 is wrong, if you speak good/reasonable Thai then definitely speak to the driver in Thai (if you want to engage him in conversation at all), and if you speak basic Thai and want to practice, many cab drivers are happy to chat with you. Certainly no reason to not speak Thai.

#9 is up to you but hardly a hot tip for Thai taxi riding.

#10, tip as you please - as a general rule, rounding up to the nearest 5 or 10 Baht seems to be the accepted standard amount to tip - if the driver's been exceptionally nice or helpful, an extra 20 Baht or so is appreciated. Expect some funny looks if you say "Put that in your pocket, my friend" though.

I agree with you most of his rules are for newbies, but i seem to remember the the guy just arrived here.When my gf is traveling alone and does not trust it to much she will send the taxi nr and card by sms to me or her friends, so some do take not of those things.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

5...4...3...2....1...

" "Defamation" "

thank you very much. Sleep well, everyone.

[JurgenG]

Fifteen years ago I was half assaulted by a guy in Chiang Mai because I didn't want to buy heroin from him. I'm not an user, the guy just assumed that all foreigners were drug user and was very upset that I didn't want to do business with him.

Nutsy are everywhere, it's a a fact of life, get over it.

[dantilley]

I agree with you most of his rules are for newbies, but i seem to remember the the guy just arrived here.When my gf is traveling alone and does not trust it to much she will send the taxi nr and card by sms to me or her friends, so some do take not of those things.

Yes, that's probably sensible if you want to be cautious. In that list though, #5 says "Before you get in the taxi, ask to see some ID. Make a note of any id number." People are hardly going to ask the driver for extra ID additional to what's displayed inside the front windshield...!

Newbies should certainly never be encouraged to do #1 though, #8 is just bad advice and the others are mostly irrelevant.

[robblok]

Fifteen years ago I was half assaulted by a guy in Chiang Mai because I didn't want to buy heroin from him. I'm not an user, the guy just assumed that all foreigners were drug user and was very upset that I didn't want to do business with him.

Nutsy are everywhere, it's a a fact of life, get over it.

Sure there are idiots everywhere, most of my experiences with taxi's have been great. In the tourist area's it can take some time to find a taxi driver that is willing to go and turn on the meter but other then that not much problems.

I did have one with a rigged meter once, i was with the gf and she was terrified about the guy so i was not allowed to tell him his meter was rigged. She also did not want him to drive into the village towards our house as she was going to inform the taxi helpline about the rigged meter.

I doubt anything came of it but we traveled that trip many times and this time it was 1,5 times as expensive while there was no traffic and the route was the same. 450 instead of 290 or so

[TomTao]

I have only had three bad experiences in two years, 1. My wife didn't want to wait in the queue at the airport and went to arrivals to get a taxi, we lost a bag and were later told there is no surveylance there, also didn't take down the taxi number, our fault lesson learnt, 2. Taxi driver refused to use the meter, thankfully it was at Hualompong so we simply walked away and got another taxi, when my wife went to report the driver for not wanting to use the meter he ran to his taxi and drove away, 3. When my elderly parents were going to the airport from Hualompong after visiting for a month the taxi driver sat on his taxi and wouldn't get out to help with the bags, one of the railway police came over and started yelling at the driver to get out and help, the driver got out and asked where we were going, when told we were going to the international airport he said no, got back in his taxi and drove off, the railway police officer then helped us to get another taxi and did all the talking for us, he even refused a tip.

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[robblok]

I have only had three bad experiences in two years, 1. My wife didn't want to wait in the queue at the airport and went to arrivals to get a taxi, we lost a bag and were later told there is no surveylance there, also didn't take down the taxi number, our fault lesson learnt, 2. Taxi driver refused to use the meter, thankfully it was at Hualompong so we simply walked away and got another taxi, when my wife went to report the driver for not wanting to use the meter he ran to his taxi and drove away, 3. When my elderly parents were going to the airport from Hualompong after visiting for a month the taxi driver sat on his taxi and wouldn't get out to help with the bags, one of the railway police came over and started yelling at the driver to get out and help, the driver got out and asked where we were going, when told we were going to the international airport he said no, got back in his taxi and drove off, the railway police officer then helped us to get another taxi and did all the talking for us, he even refused a tip.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Sounds more like bad service then real bad experiences. I would not even count those things.

[JurgenG]

One month ago I was cheated (didn't want to give me the proper change) of HKD 3.00 ( about US$ 0.5) by a taxi at HK airport. For about half a second I thought I'm going to hit him so badly that he will never even think to do it again. Then I thought I will have to wait for the police to come, will probably miss my flight ... what the point ?

I didn't close the door properly so he had to go out to close it. It was a bit childish but he was as annoyed as I was to be cheated of HKD 3.00

Don't sweat the small things, it's definitely not worth it

[brewsterbudgen]

Sounds like the OP was unlucky, although I would just walk away rather than get into an argument with a dodgy driver.

In 7 years of living here and regularly taking taxis (Bangkok) I haven't had any mjor problems and don't see Bangkok taxi drivers as any worse (or any better) than taxi drivers in any major city - and at least they're cheap!