Hi. I have been renting scooters in pattaya with a uk driving licence though been fined good few times for not having a proper bike licence. I thought that all you needed was an international licence. You know at the back of the photocard licence it says cars, tracks, bikes i havent got one for bikes so this international driving licence rule for cars that allowd u to ride bikes in thailand is bs or am i really supposed to have a bike category on mine Has anyone with a uk one had the same sort of worry?

Of course its BS, you dont have a bike license from the UK why would you be allowed to drive one here then. Do like the smart ones here (if you are here long time) get a real Thai motorbike license.

just keep paying the BIB and all will be Okay

just keep paying the BIB and all will be Okay

That is unless you are involved in a serious accident and discover your insurance won't cover you on the grounds you were riding without a valid driver's licence!

You can ride with a UK [or other 1st world country] bike license for about 2 months. After that you're not really considered a tourist and the cops expect to see a Thai one. Actually they'd rather not see a Thai one because then they couldn't fine you. Many Thai cops wouldn't know an international license from a ham sandwich, so it's not worth the bother. You can't ride a motor bike here on a British car license. Well you can of course but then they have a good reason to fine you. Fines can be bargained down. If you have work ID from a well known place or a high ranking cop's business card with message, local cops will let you off. These are my opinions on the subject. There are no hard and fast rules in Thaland; the cops do as they please and call it law.

Coming back from Sattahip to Pattaya on a rented scooter last month along the Suk road I was waved in by the Police at their Police box

He was all smug and smiley thinking the farang's 400 baht was his to steal at that point, when I wipped out my current Thai Licience and his shoulders sunk. Off I went feeling good.

That alone is worth the minimal grief of getting one ... plus your be legal.

My old UK paper license has something about mopeds or small motorbikes on it, would have thought pointing at that would cover you.

Don't live in a tourist area, so can't speak about shake downs there. Here cops are happy to see a picture ID and ask where you come from. Never paid a fine in over 10 years of being here. Jim

Of course its BS, you dont have a bike license from the UK why would you be allowed to drive one here then. Do like the smart ones here (if you are here long time) get a real Thai motorbike license.

+1 Just get yourself a Thai license, problem solved. The test is dead easy.

Bottom line is, you can ride a bike here on any license you like or even no license, yes cops will take a small fine if it's not legal or they may not even know. But only a Thai license or IDP(Maybe UK or US)(only for a 3 montyh period?) is legally valid in an accident. So you can all boast about how you've gotten away with it for years etc but if you ever have a serious accident you are in big trouble.

I'm not trying to preach to you all, as I'm guilty of it as well(before), I was just lucky nothing ever happened.