Thuggish Phuket Taxis Targeted After 12 Hotels Complain

[julemanden]

In the animal kingdom, it's survival of the fittest, if these reports are true of how the taxis drivers are acting, it's simply disgusting, simple!!!!!, take there taxis licence away, oh in Thailand is there such a thing, take there car and crush it, what!!!!! he's a friend of the head of the police and the crushing machine is ka-poot, behead him, wow!!!!! it's the beheader guys day off, f,,, it, reward him for being over abusive with international tourists. it seem these taxis companies are so well connected there staff can get away with anything, you have to hit the big boss man, whoever he is!!!!, a villain out of a James Bond movie, but if he's at the top of the food chain, who will take him down

'Nobody!!!

[eezergood]

all those cheap charlie tourists making a big deal of less than 100$, I mean they hardly charge more than 20-30$ for a ride around the island,that is less than a simple lunch back home

Not only tourist's have to put up with these scum.

Local Thai's live here as well you know and I bet they would just love to be able to spend 20-30$ on lunch

Not only 1 trip per vacation also! Average 2 week trip, 4-6 rides, soon mounts up! Should you feel this is still peanuts please provide your name & number and I can send some tourists to be reimbursed from your coffers

[oldsailor35]

Is'nt the president of the Phuket taxi association the son of the govenor or maybe the police chief ?

[farangme]

Can't believe people still go to Phucrap.

[LivinginKata]

Is'nt the president of the Phuket taxi association the son of the govenor or maybe the police chief ?

President of Patong taxi association is the son of the mayor of Patong.

[bunnaag]

I could bet my last bottom dollar, Buddhist or Muslim they're all controlled by the local influential figure(s).

This is the problem.Influential figures are politically connected and absolutely nothing will ever happen.And the tourists will come again and again and again.Why should the system be changed it works so well.

[Emdog]

"He recommended that a special committee of all concerned officials should be convened as the problem might affect tourism in Karon, Kata and Kamala." Woe. That should make a huge difference! (sarcasm). I would guess the mafia must be paying off for protection from the police doing their duties, maybe the hotels and all other businesses should outbid them? I used to live in Phuket, but I am never going back. Rather be in free enterprise haven of Pattaya! 555

[numnut65]

Talk of boycotts etc is not going to happen,when u have tens of thousands of tourists who have plenty of cash they will just pay what is asked,lets face it the people from sweden norway denmark etc have much more dosh than the average guy from the uk or usa.

Just go along to soi 1 or 2 pattaya and see how many coaches full of koreans or japanese who are paying big bucks to go and see the sex shows,they dont care how much it costs.

[hawker9000]

Really, a "meeting"! They're going to get together and talk? How novel! How promising! Why that oughta' reassure all those foreign tourists who might've been thinking about going somewhere else. Phuket must finally be turning over a new leaf!

Not.

[CroBiker]

Salapoo, on 03 Jun 2013 - 23:14, said:

Ahh, beautiful, moral, superior buddhist Thais.

Don't worry, the problem will be gone in 10 or so years as there won't be any tourists left visiting there.

what makes you believe they are buddhist - the island is 50% muslim

Majority of them are Isaan scum. The rest comes from Nakhon and Phatthalung.

[DekDaeng]

"He recommended that a special committee of all concerned officials should be convened as the problem might affect tourism in Karon, Kata and Kamala." Woe. That should make a huge difference! (sarcasm). I would guess the mafia must be paying off for protection from the police doing their duties, maybe the hotels and all other businesses should outbid them? I used to live in Phuket, but I am never going back. Rather be in free enterprise haven of Pattaya! 555

In Patters nobody uses taxis because they refuse to use the meters -

[Salapoo]

Just realized something that made me happy.

Me and none of my loved ones will ever be Phuket again, ever.

Life is good....

[Loptr]

Chiang Mai has its tuk tuk mafia equivelent in that nearly all of them are owned by one man, he even provides the drivers who rent the tuk tuks from him with cheap(ish) accomodation. Interesting that we don't see the same problems here in CM in respect of charging and competition, here it's all run as a competitve business that exists side by side with taxi and bus services, I wonder why the big difference in attitude an behaviour, culture perhaps, dunno.

It all boils down to one word, greed.

[Loptr]

what needs to be done, is that all hotels van drivers, and business affected need to gather together with sticks, then go after all those mafia taxi drivers and beat them up. that's how you solve things with those animals...

No, just run over a few of them with a bus that are blocking entrances to hotels or attacking hotel customers. That should send the necessary message.

[Hecate]

I'd never go back to Phuket because of the transport/taxi situation. It's the most expensive place in Thailand and the one I like least.

[Loptr]

I'd never go back to Phuket because of the transport/taxi situation. It's the most expensive place in Thailand and the one I like least.

It would be ok if you only had to deal with them when needing their services, but no, these thugs block all the parking spots in Patong, accost tourists as they walk about and are generally loud and rude. They know they are protected, much like the jet ski folks. To them, we are all just fish with $$$ signs attached.

[pomchop]

He recommended that a special committee of all concerned officials should be convened as the problem might affect tourism in Karon, Kata and Kamala.

A committee – the members have not been made public – has since been formed and will meet later this month in Karon.

now why would that affect tourism....stories on the internet worldwide about a taxi mafia beating people up?...I don't blame the committee members for not wanting their names public....unless they want their houses burned to the ground...

the ONLY solution is to send in the military to confront the thugs over and over and over until they slink back under their rocks...obviously the Phuket police are either part of it or afraid to take them on....

[monkeycountry]

"An official at the Centre explained that the six-month wait for action was because of the complexity of the complaint"

Translation: "The taxi mafia is run my superiors and their families, so there is nothing I can do. However, my superiors have allowed me to hold a proforma meeting provided that nothing actually changes"

[monkeycountry]

Some people here suggest the locals simply stand up to the taxi mafia. I think you guys forget that we are talking about a very well organized mafia organization run by the very top of Phuket's politicians, not just a random few aggressive taxi drivers. The only ones who can solve this problem is the central government in Bangkok and/or the army!

[monkeycountry]

"He recommended that a special committee of all concerned officials should be convened as the problem might affect tourism in Karon, Kata and Kamala." Woe. That should make a huge difference! (sarcasm). I would guess the mafia must be paying off for protection from the police doing their duties, maybe the hotels and all other businesses should outbid them? I used to live in Phuket, but I am never going back. Rather be in free enterprise haven of Pattaya! 555

In Patters nobody uses taxis because they refuse to use the meters -

And because in Pattaya people have the Baht bus as an alternative. In Phuket the taxi mafia have removed all alternatives by force!

[Phronesis]

I dealt with these parasites when I arrived back after my recent trip up to Udon. They were so utterly repugnant that I had to walk away from the front of the terminal and into the carpark. Three of them even followed me out there. I then walked down to the northern end of the terminal and boarded the bus that runs into Phuket town. It had a smashed windscreen. It was a full sized bus and there was only me and two other Thais on board. The fare was only 55THB and the lad working as conductor gave me a hand written receipt.

I have lived on Phuket nearly four years now and speak good Thai, but nonetheless I found the Taxi scene at the airport tantamount to being physically assaulted. A special mention should also be made about the lowlife women who work the booths outside the terminal and assist the taxi mafia by providing misinformation and misdirection to confuse the newly arrived victims.

Edited June 4, 2013 by Phronesis

[Donnie Brasco]

Yeah, Phuket's taxis and tuk tuks

I stopped visiting Phuket more than ten years ago.

What knowledgeable or experiences visitor to this place could ever relax and have an evening meal in a decent restaurant knowing that they would have to deal with these barstewards after they'd finished their meal ???

Who wants to deal with a pack of penny ante blackmailers who greatest pleasure seems to be bragging to their mates how badly they've f**ked over some poor tourist and his family ??

These slime-balls actually immigrate to Phuket for the express purpose of taking up a position within this gang.

What I do NOT understand is why the Thai billionaires who own the hotels and the restaurants haven't assembled a mafia of their own and beaten the living bejesus out of these creeps.

Teeth, noses, broken arms, destroyed cars and tuk tuks, the whole enchilada.

Do it once and then go back a few times, armed with whatever it takes and beat the living snot out of these punks.

Taxi mafia, my @ss.

Hammer on these monkeys long and hard enough and they're gone.

[wooloomooloo]

... or you could just ignore the touts. They're no worse than the chancers and scammers that I encounter in London every other day.

Edited June 4, 2013 by wooloomooloo

[Cardiff1963]

Are you a christian, just wondering as you seem to understand the concept of moral superiority so well

[Cardiff1963]

Brilliant

[IrishIvan]

If taxi prices are such a problem then hire a car! EASY

[LivinginKata]

If taxi prices are such a problem then hire a car! EASY

Then the tourists have to face the thugs again when they try to park the hire car, as just about every parking spot in the tourists areas is reserved for the taxis.

[bearpolar]

If taxi prices are such a problem then hire a car! EASY

Then the tourists have to face the thugs again when they try to park the hire car, as just about every parking spot in the tourists areas is reserved for the taxis.

Dont forget that if you manage to get the 1 parking out of 30 spots that is open for anyone else. The taxis will flock to you and bring their police friend pretending that you scratched their cars.

Im at my 3rd time getting that accusation(i have only gone to the patong cesspoll maybe 15 times~.) Luckily me and my wife aren't pushovers.

[Salapoo]

If taxi prices are such a problem then hire a car! EASY

Then the tourists have to face the thugs again when they try to park the hire car, as just about every parking spot in the tourists areas is reserved for the taxis.

Dont forget that if you manage to get the 1 parking out of 30 spots that is open for anyone else. The taxis will flock to you and bring their police friend pretending that you scratched their cars.

Im at my 3rd time getting that accusation(i have only gone to the patong cesspoll maybe 15 times~.) Luckily me and my wife aren't pushovers.

Beautiful Thailand.

What a paradise of genuine, beautiful people.

[belg]

isn't there a private hotel & tourism assosiation that could hire some special people to get rid of the taxi and tuk tuk scam, once and for all ?

i hear some people from the deep south might be in for some extra income