Pistol-Toting Phuket Bus Driver In Road Rage Threat

[Lite Beer]

Pistol-toting Phuket bus driver in road rage threat
Claire Connell

PHUKET: A young Phuket mother has described the terrifying moment when a tourist bus driver apparently succumbed to road rage on Saturday (February 23) and pointed a pistol at her head while her young son was sitting next to her in the car.

Police are now hunting for the tourist bus driver, who is understood to have done a runner.

The woman, who did not want to be identified as she still fears for her safety, spoke to The Phuket News today about her ordeal when the driver jumped out of his vehicle, came over to her, and pointed a pistol at her through the car window, shouting, “I’m going to kill you”.

She said she was driving her car south toward Central Festival Phuket around 2pm, when she made a U-turn at Phuket International Hospital. She then turned left into Bang Yai Rd, which runs behind Central Festival.

When she initially made the U-turn at Phuket International Hospital, she had noticed a medium-sided bus behind her with the driver honking the horn, but didn’t think anything of it except that the driver was obviously in a hurry.

As she drove down Bang Yai Rd, she noticed the same driver trying to overtake her, but the traffic was so busy he was unable to. When she reached the end of the road she turned left, and then waited at the large intersection to turn south toward Chalong.

She was waiting at the lights, slowly moving up, when the same vehicle behind her honked the horn for a long period. This frightened her and, thinking she was about to hit someone, she slammed on the brakes.

The driver behind her also slammed on his brakes. Traffic was moving up slowly and three or four cars overtook the bus driver. Then suddenly, the driver appeared beside her driver’s window and pointed a gun at her.

The woman said the man was speaking with Southern Thai accent, and shouted, “I’m going to kill you”. He hit the glass with the butt of the gun, which made a 15-centimetre scratch on the window.

“I was so scared – for this to happen to a lady when there is a child in the car, it is scary.

“There was a lot of traffic so other people saw what happened.

“I wasn’t crying – I was trying to be strong because my son was with me – but when I called the police my voice was trembling,” she told The Phuket News.

“It happened so fast. I wasn’t worried about me, but I was worried about my son – I was in shock.” By this time the traffic was flowing slowly again and she turned toward Chalong, while on the phone to the police.

They asked her for the licence plate number of the bus. She wasn’t able to see the bus behind, so asked her young son to look for the vehicle. He wrote down the licence plate number – something that proved vital in identifying the driver.

Her son also noted the bus had the “An Xin” tour company logo on the side.

She kept driving south while on the phone to police, and the bus eventually turned left toward the Naka Weekend Market.

The women then went to her uncle’s house, and the family went to the Vichit Police Station to file a complaint.

Vichit Police Station Superintendent, Pol Col Chuawalit Phetsipear, told The Phuket News that the incident was serious.

“My officers are following up on this case to try to locate the driver. We have all his information – including his name, ID card details, photo and address. He is not originally from Phuket – he is from Southern Thailand.

“We were told about this case on Saturday, and we were able to track down the bus in Kamala. He escaped and left the bus at the front of Phuket Fantasea.

“We have a warrant for his arrest and he faces multiple charges relating to attempted murder, criminal damage, carrying a gun in a public place, and issuing threats. We believe we will catch him soon.”

The General Manager of An Xin tour company, Pien Ponkam, told The Phuket News that the driver had worked for his company for six months, and had never showed any signs of being dangerous before this incident.

Mr Pien said the driver called him from Phuket Fantasea, saying “Please arrange another driver to take over the bus. I have to go.”

Mr Pien asked why, and the driver said that a woman driver had driven her car intentionally so that he had nearly hit her. “Then I used a replica gun to threaten her, because she made me angry,” he told Mr Pien.

However the Phuket woman told The Phuket News police believed that, judging from the damage to her car window, it was a real gun, not a replica.

The woman said her son was still traumatised by the incident, and spoke of it regularly.

She has lived in Phuket for around 30 years, and never had any problems before.

“This is the first time something like this has happened to me. I’m friendly to everyone, and I’ve never done anything bad to anyone. I don’t know why he said he would kill me.”

This is the second reported incidence of road rage by tourist transport drivers in recent weeks. A Phuket News reader wrote in to report a frightning ordeal when a minibus driver swerved in front of his car near SuperCheap, Phuket Town.

The reader wrote that he had avoided the swerving minibus, and had leaned on his horn.

“The driver wound down the window and spat. We kept calm and decided to be submissive,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately this only made things worse. He then tried to smash us from behind, but somehow we managed to swerve out of the way,” the reader explained.

“Once we got off the main road, he continued to pursue us, and finally he caught up and blocked our way.

“He came flying out the minibus and ran towards the car. [At this point] we decided to no longer drive away and face up to our certain demise.

“Then, the driver stopped running to reach behind his back to produce... We will never know because we fled again and this time faster.”

The reader and his family escaped.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/pistol-toting-phuket-bus-driver-in-road-rage-threat-37353.php

-- Phuket News 2013-02-26

[LivinginKata]

Just another day in paradise ... just some road age and a gun ,,, what could possibly go wrong ...

[huuwi]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

[bearpolar]

So she admitted to doing an illegal uturn and didn't get fined?

[transam]

So she admitted to doing an illegal uturn and didn't get fined?

Wrong answer.

Bloke pulls a gun on a bird. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Trash.

[nontabury]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

It seems to me she was understandably scared,perhaps she made a wrong turn to loose this lunatic coach driver,but you seem to think it's ok for him to threaten her with a gun.Crazy world.

[Yo Sup]

I am waiting the day that a mass exodus from Phuket happens, accompanied by a global notification sent to all travel agencies, by individuals and embassies alike, about the dangers of said cesspool.

Copy and paste wherever you like.

[JetsetBkk]

"She was waiting at the lights, slowly moving up, when the same vehicle behind her honked the horn for a long period. This frightened her and, thinking she was about to hit someone, she slammed on the brakes.

The driver behind her also slammed on his brakes."

Pretty obvious the van driver thought she was "brake-testing" him.

Maybe she was.

There's always two sides to every story.

No excuse for his reaction though, other than he's Thai.

[bearpolar]

"She was waiting at the lights, slowly moving up, when the same vehicle behind her honked the horn for a long period. This frightened her and, thinking she was about to hit someone, she slammed on the brakes.

The driver behind her also slammed on his brakes."

Pretty obvious the van driver thought she was "brake-testing" him.

Maybe she was.

There's always two sides to every story.

No excuse for his reaction though, other than he's Thai.

seeing as she was making a completely retarded uturn to get where she was going, my guess is she was acting tough on the road trying to piss the hothead off even more and at some point turned quickly into the turn and then got stuck when oncoming traffic decided to arrive hence missing her opportunity to lose the guy she was taunting.

As usual its probably both their doing and they should just both stripped of their driver's licenses

[Marlow999]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

You want to explain what this means? The woman's decision to go where she wanted to go justified having a gun pointed at her? I don't see the humour in the story.

[Marlow999]

"She was waiting at the lights, slowly moving up, when the same vehicle behind her honked the horn for a long period. This frightened her and, thinking she was about to hit someone, she slammed on the brakes.

The driver behind her also slammed on his brakes."

Pretty obvious the van driver thought she was "brake-testing" him.

Maybe she was.

There's always two sides to every story.

No excuse for his reaction though, other than he's Thai.

seeing as she was making a completely retarded uturn to get where she was going, my guess is she was acting tough on the road trying to piss the hothead off even more and at some point turned quickly into the turn and then got stuck when oncoming traffic decided to arrive hence missing her opportunity to lose the guy she was taunting.

As usual its probably both their doing and they should just both stripped of their driver's licenses

You're probably right. Or not, more likely.

What's a "completely retarded uturn" anyway?

Surely the lady has the right to go wherever she wants without having to worry whether a nutter with a gun is going to appear at her window. Doesn't matter whether her sense of direction was as good as yours, no-one has the right to threaten another's life for no apparent reason.

[cup-O-coffee]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

You want to explain what this means? The woman's decision to go where she wanted to go justified having a gun pointed at her? I don't see the humour in the story.

The driver, the man with the gun, and the people who gave the woman the license and who set the man loose in society after being a criminal with a history of repeat offenses are all to blame.

They are all idiots. They are all stupid. They all brought this on themselves. Please don't try to make out like one is innocent and the man is the only one to blame. I doubt the child sitting next to "the young mother" (what a sweet image of eternal innocence guiltless divinity) was even strapped in when she made an illegal turn and slammed on the brakes. Any mention of the kids condition after slamming into the dashboard?

No, this is an summary of the dysfunction of Thailand and the all the factors which all come together at one place in time to create a F.U.B.A.R. scene.

[kevvy]

just in phuket? i was driving in pattaya and was in the middle lane and there was alot of traffic in all 3 lanes when a public bus came up behind me and started honking his horn and was only metres behind me , he kept this up for at least 2 minutes till i could finally move over to the left lane . he proceeded to do the same all along the road . road rage in a public bus , it happens all the time

[stevenl]

So she admitted to doing an illegal uturn and didn't get fined?

No, legal at the moment because of the road works going on.

And this route does make sense at the moment.

[Valentine]

Maybe it is standard kit for bus drivers to carry a weapon. I recently had a bus driver yelling & screaming at me out of his window while brandishing a large dagger. All because I honked my horn at him for trying to squeeze through on the shoulder as I was worried he would scrape down the side of my car.

BTW lots of people make U turns at the hospital & as with the turn at Index (& everywhere else) there is usually some cretin trying to push in instead of waiting in line.

[spidermike007]

OK, we have a very observant youngster, who saw a AN XIN logo on the bus. What do you want to bet if they find this guy, he will be given a 5,000 baht fine, and told not to do this again. There is simply no deterrent aspect of the law here. This goon should be tossed in prison for 5 years, for a murderous threat to this woman's life. Or made to work on a chain gang, building highways, or crushing rocks. In the US, or in the UK he would be tossed in prison for a very long time. Punks like this one do not know anything about anything. Perhaps he was raised by an ignorant mother, who did not want an extra child. They learn nothing in the real world. This punk gets up in the morning, eats, smokes 10 cigarettes, goes to work, makes life miserable for hundreds, gets off work, drinks himself blind, smokes another pack of cigarettes, gambles away his money, hassles women, and makes a pain of himself to everyone he encounters. Then he sleeps. Then, he gets up in the morning and feels like crap. And now we all have to pay the price for this fool's foolishness. Thankfully he did not kill someone, but to think that this insect of a man is driving a tour bus around with a pistol is a very scary thought. What a waste of a life. And to think that he is consuming oxygen? What for?

[Bokchoi]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

You want to explain what this means? The woman's decision to go where she wanted to go justified having a gun pointed at her? I don't see the humour in the story.

The driver, the man with the gun, and the people who gave the woman the license and who set the man loose in society after being a criminal with a history of repeat offenses are all to blame.

They are all idiots. They are all stupid. They all brought this on themselves. Please don't try to make out like one is innocent and the man is the only one to blame. I doubt the child sitting next to "the young mother" (what a sweet image of eternal innocence guiltless divinity) was even strapped in when she made an illegal turn and slammed on the brakes. Any mention of the kids condition after slamming into the dashboard?

No, this is an summary of the dysfunction of Thailand and the all the factors which all come together at one place in time to create a F.U.B.A.R. scene.

My simple mind cannot grasp "the dysfunction of Thailand" or "all the factors" and so much else. What I do see as the woman's fault is slamming the brakes on and almost causing the driver to uphend her rear - simply, because he honked long & hard at her. Says she heard the horn and became frightened......so braked. Such baloney. She was dishing out some of her own road-aggression to the driver. Then it turned quite sour when he appeared at her window pointing a gun. Of course there is never any excuse for getting all aggressive and gun-ho. Men and their pistols can set a girl's heart throbbing.

Sadly, Thai's have aggression just beneath the surface veneer and it manifests in ways many visitors to this country least expect or understand when situations don't quite go sabai-sabai for them. In this instance it was Thai-on-Thai.

[Locationthailand]

Every day occurrence in Thailand...

[stevenl]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

You want to explain what this means? The woman's decision to go where she wanted to go justified having a gun pointed at her? I don't see the humour in the story.

The driver, the man with the gun, and the people who gave the woman the license and who set the man loose in society after being a criminal with a history of repeat offenses are all to blame.

They are all idiots. They are all stupid. They all brought this on themselves. Please don't try to make out like one is innocent and the man is the only one to blame. I doubt the child sitting next to "the young mother" (what a sweet image of eternal innocence guiltless divinity) was even strapped in when she made an illegal turn and slammed on the brakes. Any mention of the kids condition after slamming into the dashboard?

No, this is an summary of the dysfunction of Thailand and the all the factors which all come together at one place in time to create a F.U.B.A.R. scene.

A history of repeat offenses?

Nothing illegal about that turn BTW.

Maybe time for you to consider your stay in Thailand if you really think it is in a state of dysfunction.

[JetsetBkk]

So she admitted to doing an illegal uturn and didn't get fined?

No, legal at the moment because of the road works going on.

And this route does make sense at the moment.

Thanks for the info (now legal to do the U-turn).

That probably explains why today there was a stream of cars coming along Bang Yai road from Chaloem Phrakiat road preventing me from exiting Big C car park!

[Bokchoi]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

You want to explain what this means? The woman's decision to go where she wanted to go justified having a gun pointed at her? I don't see the humour in the story.

The driver, the man with the gun, and the people who gave the woman the license and who set the man loose in society after being a criminal with a history of repeat offenses are all to blame.

They are all idiots. They are all stupid. They all brought this on themselves. Please don't try to make out like one is innocent and the man is the only one to blame. I doubt the child sitting next to "the young mother" (what a sweet image of eternal innocence guiltless divinity) was even strapped in when she made an illegal turn and slammed on the brakes. Any mention of the kids condition after slamming into the dashboard?

No, this is an summary of the dysfunction of Thailand and the all the factors which all come together at one place in time to create a F.U.B.A.R. scene.

A history of repeat offenses?

Nothing illegal about that turn BTW.

Maybe time for you to consider your stay in Thailand if you really think it is in a state of dysfunction.

I know hundreds of farang who think that Thailand is in a "state of dysfunction". Telling them all to go home is hardly the way to win a debate or dislodge adverse comments. Reading some threads its clear that some Thailand diehards don't like some parts of the criticism. They sound like apologists given even many Thai people agree that a lot needs to change. To those we disagree with - we need to respond using reasoned argument and logic or ignore those posts. Simply telling farang who are critical to go away is akin to Texas telling Democrats critical of that state to go live in California or Republicans telling people to go get sick since Obamacare will pay. Does not work and is a loser type of comment!!

[stevenl]

The driver, the man with the gun, and the people who gave the woman the license and who set the man loose in society after being a criminal with a history of repeat offenses are all to blame.

They are all idiots. They are all stupid. They all brought this on themselves. Please don't try to make out like one is innocent and the man is the only one to blame. I doubt the child sitting next to "the young mother" (what a sweet image of eternal innocence guiltless divinity) was even strapped in when she made an illegal turn and slammed on the brakes. Any mention of the kids condition after slamming into the dashboard?

No, this is an summary of the dysfunction of Thailand and the all the factors which all come together at one place in time to create a F.U.B.A.R. scene.

A history of repeat offenses?

Nothing illegal about that turn BTW.

Maybe time for you to consider your stay in Thailand if you really think it is in a state of dysfunction.

I know hundreds of farang who think that Thailand is in a "state of dysfunction". Telling them all to go home is hardly the way to win a debate or dislodge adverse comments. Reading some threads its clear that some Thailand diehards don't like some parts of the criticism. They sound like apologists given even many Thai people agree that a lot needs to change. To those we disagree with - we need to respond using reasoned argument and logic or ignore those posts. Simply telling farang who are critical to go away is akin to Texas telling Democrats critical of that state to go live in California or Republicans telling people to go get sick since Obamacare will pay. Does not work and is a loser type of comment!!

If a democrat living in Texas feels the state is in dysfunction because of the republicans than yes, I would recommend to move.

Big difference between something being in dysfunction and not everything being to your liking. Big difference between something being in dysfunction and being critical of something.

But anyway, this is OT, this is about a roadrage incident, for which our coffee drinker seems to blame the whole Thai country and its population.

[rbrooks]

"Police are now hunting for the tourist bus driver, who is understood to have done a runner. " As so often is the case in Amazing Thailand. Word of caution, if you find yourself in Thailand in a tour bus and you hear a big bang and your Thai tour driver runs out of the bus and never comes back then your driver has just done a runner.

[Sayonarax]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

[Kilgore Trout]

The driver of the following vehicle ALWAYS has the resppnsibility to not rear end the vehicle in front EVEN if they slam on the brakes suddenly

This is the law full stop, NO exceptions

[Shot]

“Then I used a replica gun to threaten her, because she made me angry,”

The only thing dumber than pointing a real gun at someone, is pointing replica gun at someone.

[slipperx]

Oh for a moment I thought this was news - a tourist - bus driver threatens a Thai woman with a gun? Oh no sorry it's not news really - just a Thai driver of a tourist bus waving a pistol around in Phuket. Thai custom don't you know. At least she didn't meet the Faye of another Thai woman a few weeks ack at the same intersection who was murdered. All in a mouses night.

So sad Thailand!

[Tanuki]

funny story, make a u-turn to go back to the direction you wana go, then turn into the back road of big C, then turn left and then on the next trafic light go back to go torwards chalong.

now you wonder why he pull a replica gun

You want to explain what this means? The woman's decision to go where she wanted to go justified having a gun pointed at her? I don't see the humour in the story.

Im sure she was trying to avoid the long line up of traffic due to the retarded road project there at central. these rodents driving the tour vans here are complete a-holes that think they own the road and anyone in front of them needs to move out of their way. It's a real mess on the roads of phuket. These tour vans don't even wait in line at stop lights but pass everyone up and sit in the middle of the intersection sometime blocking lanes of open traffic. NO police whatsoever, absolutely ridiculous road planning as far as having to go way out of your way in one direction to get where you are going because of the islands in the road and closed round abouts...what else to say when a so called man pulls a gun on a young mother and child except amazing thailand!

[Tanuki]

“Then I used a replica gun to threaten her, because she made me angry,”

The only thing dumber than pointing a real gun at someone, is pointing replica gun at someone.

yep dumb as they get if indeed it was a replica which I doubt very much. what a turd! so where as this gotten him and really why the need for these guys to be in such a hurry in a place that is supposed to be sabai sabai. They don't seem to mind too much making you wait for everything and moving at a snails pace but get behind the wheel and all of the sudden...

[Tanuki]

The driver of the following vehicle ALWAYS has the resppnsibility to not rear end the vehicle in front EVEN if they slam on the brakes suddenly

This is the law full stop, NO exceptions

even in Thailand? I thought the person with the most money or the more expensive vehicle was automatically at fault?? that seems more like thailand to me no?