British expat threatened in Phuket road-rage incident

[webfact]

British expat threatened in Phuket road-rage incident
Claire Connell

PHUKET: -- An English expatriate has described the moment a minivan driver pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket, terrifying his girlfriend in the passenger seat and making him flee in his vehicle.

Barry, from England but who has lived in Phuket for seven and a half years, spoke to The Phuket News today about the July 21 incident, which started near Surakul Stadium in Phuket Town, around 10pm.

Barry said he was waiting at the traffic lights on Mae Luan road, near Phuket Thai Hua School, when a white minivan stopped behind him very close.

“He was so close behind I couldn’t see the headlights, he was millimetres behind. But I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

The traffic lights went green and both Barry and the minivan driver drove up to the traffic lights outside Surakul Stadium, which were red.

The minivan driver was on Barry’s left, and Barry looked across and mouthed “you were too close,” to the driver, and indicated how close with his thumb and forefinger.

This triggered a reaction from the driver, who then reached into his jacket and Barry saw the butt of a handgun being pulled out of the man’s jacket.

Barry stepped on the gas, and ran the red light, eager to get away: “I had no choice, if we had sat there he would have shot us. I saw that butt coming out and I was gone. I was in a vulnerable position – he was inches away and my instinct took over.”

Barry’s girlfriend was in the passenger seat and was “terrified”, he said.

Barry then turned left at the Central Festival intersection, heading toward Chalong, trying to get away from the man. He drove until he nearly reached the intersection near the Naka Weekend Market.

The minivan drove up alongside on Barry’s right side, and Barry was able to edge the driver over the median line. When the oncoming traffic started, the minivan driver had no choice but to move ahead of Barry, and he then sped off.

While Barry acknowledges his gesture at the Surakul Stadium intersection might have been the trigger for the road rage incident, he said he would do the same thing again.

“I felt he was driving so close and it was very dangerous.”

Barry hasn’t gone to the police as he didn’t get the licence plate number of the vehicle, and the white minivan had no identifying characteristics. However he did say he thinks he could easily identify the driver if he came across him again.

While the incident felt like it took a long time, Barry says the whole thing was over in a few minutes.

“I’ve been here seven and a half years and I’ve never had a situation like this before. Carrying a gun in a car like that is clearly illegal.”

Barry said his girlfriend was “petrified” because she was right by the driver and his gun.

“She was scared and I was acting on adrenalin. The fact that he had a gun – you can’t second guess whether it’s a replica or if he’s going to shoot you. You just get out of the way.”

In February this year, a young Phuket mother spoke about the terrifying moment when a tourist bus driver apparently succumbed to road rage near Central Festival and pointed a pistol at her head while her young son was sitting next to her in the car.

The driver was later arrested and the case is currently before the Phuket Provincial Court.

Barry said his experience and incidents such as the one at Central Festival give Thailand a bad image, but that, “These people are not representative of the majority of Thais who are so nice and helpful.”

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/british-expat-threatened-in-phuket-road-rage-incident-41070.php


-- Phuket News 2013-07-29

[Billy The Kid]

Wow,A scary moments for Barry , That is why i stick to Bahtbus when in Pattaya.

[Tatsujin]

Carrying a gun in a car like that is clearly illegal.

Not if you have a licence it isn't, and MANY here do.

[laurentbkk]

Carrying a gun in a car like that is clearly illegal.”

Not in Thailand apparently .... the same happened to me in Bangkok , funny , they really dont know how to drive and they need to play the cowboy with their guns .... you know what we say .... big gun ..... small ...ego

[angsta]

So out of character for what is usually such a laid back and safe destination.

(insert sarcasm here)

[stevenl]

Barry hasn’t gone to the police as he didn’t get the licence plate number of the vehicle, and the white minivan had no identifying characteristics. However he did say he thinks he could easily identify the driver if he came across him again.

But he did go to the press.

[Myaimistrue]

Motioning to a non-English speaking Thai man that he did or HAS something small should be on the top ten list of things NOT to do in Thailand!

[hanno]

who has lived in Phuket for seven and a half years

Should have known better. I try to stay very calm when driving here in Cambodia; way too many VIP's with guns and bodyguards. As in Thailand, they need to compensate for deficiencies elsewhere....

[Gsxrnz]

There was no actual "incident" until Barry raised his fingers and mouthed at the minivan driver. I don't think there are any laws about how close you have to stop behind another vehicle at the traffic lights.

Whilst not condoning the following actions of the minivan driver which were clearly OTT, if Barry has lived here for over 7 years he should probably have more local knowledge and not bothered to make a non-incident into an incident.

[Banzai99]

who has lived in Phuket for seven and a half years

Should have known better. I try to stay very calm when driving here in Cambodia; way too many VIP's with guns and bodyguards. As in Thailand, they need to compensate for deficiencies elsewhere....

What do you mean, deficiencies elsewhere ?

Are you referring to their Penis size or ........

Thai males don't need a huge Penis, that's because they are not with huge Farang women, they are with Thai women, who in general, are physically a lot smaller.

I think it's the Farangs that feel inadequate, they just can't handle the fact that in the grand scheme of things, they are totally insignificant.

This is 2013 not 1963, times have changed.

[Banzai99]

Another example, I was in Pattaya, I had an altercation with another Farang.

What does that mean, anything to do with cock size ?

No, he was wrong I was right, simple, he may have had a bigger cock, I never looked, but I was still right.

I have never understood that analogy that a guy in a powerful car has a small cock, or a guy in a 4x4 has a small cock or the guy on the powerful motorcycle has a small cock........

Does that mean the guy's in low powered cars, 2WD's and 50cc mopeds are hung like horses ?

No.

It's just something Jealous guys say cos they can't afford or can't ride what the other guy has, so they feel inadequate!!!

[hanno]

who has lived in Phuket for seven and a half years

Should have known better. I try to stay very calm when driving here in Cambodia; way too many VIP's with guns and bodyguards. As in Thailand, they need to compensate for deficiencies elsewhere....

What do you mean, deficiencies elsewhere ?

Are you referring to their Penis size or ........

Thai males don't need a huge Penis, that's because they are not with huge Farang women, they are with Thai women, who in general, are physically a lot smaller.

I think it's the Farangs that feel inadequate, they just can't handle the fact that in the grand scheme of things, they are totally insignificant.

This is 2013 not 1963, times have changed.

Where did I refer to penis size? Have you been to Cambodia where every second vehicle appears to be a huge Lexus or Landrover? Usually not driven by the intellectual elite. And most of the guys that do have bodyguards do not really need them, it is all about status symbols and showing off. I mean a Ferrari in Phnom Penh!!!!!!!

[I Like Thai]

The minivan driver was on Barry’s left, and Barry looked across and mouthed “you were too close,” to the driver, and indicated how close with his thumb and forefinger.

This motion may have been interpreted by the Thai man as.

Hey Thai man, your dick is this size

[morrobay]

These minivans/drivers are a problem in Pattaya too. The sois and vacant lots are congested with them, with the major increase in the touring business. Most of the drivers are jerks and the best you can do is ignore them

Edited July 30, 2013 by morrobay

[Suradit69]

"I saw that butt coming out and I was gone. I was in a vulnerable position – he was inches away and my instinct took over.”

I'm sure Barry is quite the raconteur and can liven up all his stories with hand gestures, double-entendre and a foot ready on the accelerator.

[Suradit69]

Barry hasn’t gone to the police as he didn’t get the licence plate number of the vehicle, and the white minivan had no identifying characteristics. However he did say he thinks he could easily identify the driver if he came across him again.

But he did go to the press.

And he got his hearing in the Supreme Kangaroo Court, aka the Thai Visa forum.

[eezergood]

Phuket is a lawless state when it comes to driving - unless they are persuing the big cases such as no helemet!

[Suradit69]

So out of character for what is usually such a laid back and safe destination.

(insert sarcasm here)

But it may have made Barry feel like he was back home in UK where saving face and angry drivers are never an issue.

(insert sarcasm here)

A furious lorry driver who used his 17-tonne tanker as a ‘weapon’ to ram a terrified father and his five-year-old son off the road has been jailed for two years.

Martin Swabey, 23, lost his temper after Gary Sutton pulled out of a side road in front of him, forcing him to brake hard.

When he caught up with him at a roundabout several minutes later, Swabey swerved into Mr Sutton's Ford Mondeo, dragging it across the roundabout.

Swabey then continued to shunt Mr Sutton's car for more than 20 metres up the road until it skidded off into a tree.

He pulled 100 metres later, reversed back towards the crash scene, got out and told Mr Sutton: ‘That will teach you to pull out in front of me.’

Brighton Crown Court heard Mr Sutton's son was so traumatised he is still undergoing psychiatric counselling, 11 months later.

Swabey, a dad-of-one from Horsham, West Sussex, denied dangerous driving by trying to ram the vehicle, saying: ‘It's not in my nature.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1244685/Road-rage-lorry-driver-rammed-father-sons-car-road-jailed.html#ixzz2aUaEfwPe

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[Cuban]

Gestures and mouthing "too close" in one context can be understood as "Your penis is this big" by another's eye/brain.

After 7 years on Thai roads one might have assumed he knew how the country works, apparently not.

[FireMedic]

Thainess Promotion: Never hand signal anything to any Thai person ever. Every person in the forum knows that if you make a "size" measurement with your thumb and pointer finger to ANY Thai man, he will immediately take it as you calling him "small" or "not strong" as the girls would say. Of course this would cause a violent reaction. Phuket has a higher than normal rate of hyper-violence. These Thai guys can and will kill you for the slightest misunderstanding.

[Garry]

If he was tailgating me whilst I was moving along I would be concerned, but pulling up close behind me at a red light, I couldn't care less. The OP definitely gave him the small weiny sign, regardless if it was not the intent. If I were the OP, I would think twice about using that guesture again. Seems like the OP caused the problem for himself, but I'm glad that the couple are okay

Edited July 30, 2013 by Garry

[morpho]

“I felt he was driving so close and it was very dangerous.”...according to Barry while both vehicles were STOPPED at a red light.

What danger...stopped at light? Thais everywhere stop too close all the time. The guy's been in Thailand for 7 years and says he would gesture again if a similar incident happened. Obviously the Thai driver was wrong to pull out a gun, but IMO this won't be the first time Barry gets a gun pulled on him if something like this bothers him.

[Lancelot]

I'm thinking about the popular adage "We are so free in Thailand."

Hmmm, the expat exercised his freedom of expression while the Thai driver was in the process of exercising his freedom to pack.

Personally I wish we were less free

[Briggsy]

Barry needs to learn a bit of 'mai pen rai'. So he was close, mai pen rai. So he had a gun, mai pen rai. So he was a nutter, mai pen rai. Just relax in a sabai sabai stylee in Phuket, the tropical, paradise.

[Chicken George]

Barry here is some good advice. Get your windows fitted with the dark sunscreen tint. Then you can use any gesture you want to Thai drivers and they wont see it!!!

[SOTIRIOS]

...actually...the van driver may have mistaken the hand gesture....as an insinuation.......

[Briggsy]

[Baerboxer]

Road rage and violence in not unique to Thailand. You've as much if not more chance of being attacked in the US or UK due to road rage. I've seen much worse incidents in Europe than I ever have in Thailand.

Barry should know better than to make gestures that could be misinterpreted. The other driver had not broken any laws and Barry is not the worlds arbitary authority on driving.

[Sayonarax]

Carrying a gun in a car like that is clearly illegal.

Not if you have a licence it isn't, and MANY here do.

Need me to repost the gun laws, cause obviously you didn't read them last time i posted them.

[tingtongteesood]

The van driver probably wouldnt speak English and even if he did, lip reading through 2 glass windows over 5 feet is not always so easy. He probably took the hand gesture showing he was too close as meaning that he has a small penis and decided he should threaten to shoot the evil falang to save face. Calling the van driver a retard is an insult to retards, what a god damned imbecile !!