Phuket's tuk-tuk siege now officially over

[webfact]

Phuket's tuk-tuk siege now officially over
Wiparatana Nathalang


Patong's police chief, Pol Col Jirapat Phochanapan, tries to persuade tuk-tuk drivers on Monday night to raise the siege. He has now been transferred out.

PHUKET: -- The siege of Patong by hundreds of tuk-tuks has now officially ended – provided no more drivers are arrested by police, one of the mob’s leaders told The Phuket News today.

The leader, Sakol Srisompotch, told The Phuket News what sparked the siege. “The police were trying to trap us. An undercover policeman parked a black-plate tuk-tuk in a space reserved for yellow-plate tuk-tuks.

“The tuk-tuk drivers asked him nicely to move his vehicle out, but then he showed his police ID and claimed that the drivers had abused him.

“The police then arrested them on charges of forcing someone to do something (moving out of the parking lot) and not allowing someone to do something (parking in their place). The drivers denied doing either of these so they must now go to court.

“We closed Patong traffic to let people know that we do not want the police to trick us this way. “Since June 26 last year, we have asked five times to meet the Governor about this but he has assigned vice-governors to receive our complaints, and they told us to wait 15 days. Now we have been waiting for seven or eight months, and no action has been taken.”

Asked what he wanted from the authorities, Mr Sakol said, “We want the fine [for operating an illegal tuk-tuk] increased to B2,000 so that the black plate tuk-tuk drivers will not be able to afford it, and their numbers will dwindle. The fine now is too low.”

The legal drivers are so strapped for cash, he said, that some are turning to the dark side. “Some of yellow-license tuk-tuk drivers have sold their yellow plates and become black tuk-tuks because they can get a lot of money.”

Yellow plates, he said, sell for as much as B500,000, enough to buy two or three new vehicles, allowing a driver to pay off debts or to start his own fleet.

“We can’t demand a new law – that’s not our job. But we want a higher fine and we want the police to get more serious about arresting the illegal tuk-tuks. This will get rid of them.

He added, “We can’t prove that police officers took bribes from anyone, so we can’t talk about that until we can get evidence.”

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket%E2%80%99s-tuk-tuk-siege-now-officially-over-44967.php


-- Phuket News 2014-03-06

[terryp]

until the police do their real work this will never end....as always the tourist is the victim yet again

[alfalfa19]

This is definitive proof of who runs/owns phuket. These cockroaches can actually have a police corporal transferred because he tried to do his job. They can also paralyze a city's traffic with impunity. Really incredible, but not surprising.

[Bung]

It's incredible they can make such a disaster out of something as simple as organising a tourist islands taxi services. Make some rules that work and enforce them!!

[eezergood]

Last night driving home, tripple parked tuk tuks all down the second road. Not 1 police to be seen, 1155 no answer.......

In short, normal service has resumed!

[steelepulse]

>>The tuk-tuk drivers asked him nicely to move his vehicle out

Really? This must be the one time out of thousands that they asked nicely instead of in a nice loud shouting voice " NO PARKING, MOVE NOW".

[Confuscious]

Last night driving home, tripple parked tuk tuks all down the second road. Not 1 police to be seen, 1155 no answer.......

In short, normal service has resumed!

The police are waiting for the new law.

Then they can fine each of them for 2,000 baht instead of 200 baht.

[eezergood]

Last night driving home, tripple parked tuk tuks all down the second road. Not 1 police to be seen, 1155 no answer.......

In short, normal service has resumed!

The police are waiting for the new law.

Then they can fine each of them for 2,000 baht instead of 200 baht.

been here long?

OR

was that really sarcasm....

[klauskunkel]

“The police then arrested them on charges of forcing someone to do something (moving out of the parking lot) and not allowing someone to do something (parking in their place).

The "someone do something" Law?

[JesseFrank]

The legal drivers are so strapped for cash, he said, that some are turning to the dark side. “Some of yellow-license tuk-tuk drivers have sold their yellow plates and become black tuk-tuks because they can get a lot of money.”

Yellow plates, he said, sell for as much as B500,000,

That is where it starts to go wrong, A license should prohibited of being sold.

From the other side, if being tuk tuk driver is so hard to make a decent living, then why would anyone be interested to pay 500.000 Baht for a license ?

[SaamBaht]

I don't know why Thais can't enforce the law. It's just bad parenting skills reflected in society at large.

[mickeymouse22]

why phuket news did not ask theses cockroaches if they plan to compensate all the travelers who missed flights or rebooked? would love to hear their comments. the day will come when very few will come. just hope the roaches don't migrate north.

block more roads. make it longer though. its good news for tourist along with the black water being dumped into the sea 24/7.

[FireMedic]

I swear to God, literally nothing surprises me anymore. Tuk Tuk drivers just forced out a Colonel of the RTP. <deleted> is wrong with this place? Every time I see a story involving these monkeys, I just have to laugh at the sad thought this place has become. There is no hope.

[exalll]

“Some of yellow-license tuk-tuk drivers have sold their yellow plates and become black tuk-tuks because they can get a lot of money.”

Surely what he meant to say was that "Some yellow-license tuk-tuk drivers have sold their yellow plates and are now serving lengthy jail terms, together with those who bought them, while the licenses themselves have been revoked"

[mickeymouse22]

I swear to God, literally nothing surprises me anymore. Tuk Tuk drivers just forced out a Colonel of the RTP. <deleted> is wrong with this place? Every time I see a story involving these monkeys, I just have to laugh at the sad thought this place has become. There is no hope.

huge lost of face to the colonel and even more so the orders and direction coming from surat thani that was reported before to clean up these scumbags and the phuket west coast s**thole.

one would hope with this lost of face that a police unit with backing comes down from bkk and does it. now that would be great news cheered on.

[Evilbaz]

I swear to God, literally nothing surprises me anymore. Tuk Tuk drivers just forced out a Colonel of the RTP. <deleted> is wrong with this place? Every time I see a story involving these monkeys, I just have to laugh at the sad thought this place has become. There is no hope.

huge lost of face to the colonel and even more so the orders and direction coming from surat thani that was reported before to clean up these scumbags and the phuket west coast s**thole.

one would hope with this lost of face that a police unit with backing comes down from bkk and does it. now that would be great news cheered on.

Correct - he was a Colonel and Patong Police Chief ( not a "corporal" as someone suggested ).

Now if they can fine all the tuk tuks and taxis for illegal parking that would be a bonus - yeah right.

This "protecting village territoritial rights" on Phuket is all BS - most tuk tuk/taxi drivers are not from Phuket - that's why they don't know where to take you.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Evilbaz

[hawker9000]

...a wonder anyone visits this place anymore.

[Jonmarleesco]

Presumably the tuk-tuk drivers see 'trickery' as a privilege to be earned, preferably confined to their ranks.

[NamKangMan]

I swear to God, literally nothing surprises me anymore. Tuk Tuk drivers just forced out a Colonel of the RTP. <deleted> is wrong with this place? Every time I see a story involving these monkeys, I just have to laugh at the sad thought this place has become. There is no hope.

huge lost of face to the colonel and even more so the orders and direction coming from surat thani that was reported before to clean up these scumbags and the phuket west coast s**thole.

one would hope with this lost of face that a police unit with backing comes down from bkk and does it. now that would be great news cheered on.

They came down from Bangkok a while ago.

All they did was put their hand out for a slice of the pie.

[marko kok prong]

'Some of the tuk tuk drivers are turning to the dark side',beware the dark side Luke.

[arunsakda]

Welcome to the Dark Side.

We have cookies.

[onthedarkside]

'Some of the tuk tuk drivers are turning to the dark side',beware the dark side Luke.

Someone mention my name ...