The accident, the missing m/c, the teachers, the policeman and the Director of education....

[WhamBam]

After buying the g/f's m/c off her, I decided to drive it home to my place.
Outside Chonburi, just as I was turning right to avoid some soi dogs at the side of the road, the front tyre blew out. 65 kmph speed. The front wheel whipped round. I lowered my speed as I fought for control and lost. I dropped the bike onto its side, crashing heavily to the road. Ripped plenty of flesh off my right leg, broke my collar bone. The helmet did its job and no head damage - well, no more damage than I have already.

A few Thai people gathered round, lifted the bike off my leg and helped me to sit nearby. Thanks :-)

A policeman turned up, kept his distance. His only concern was the bike. He wanted the keys. Said it would be taken to Chonburi police station. I was in pain and some shock. Foolishly I gave him the keys. Got no receipt, nothing, as the rescue vehicle turned up then, loaded me inside and took off on a hair raising ride to the hospital - another topic for that.

The g/f turned up eventually at the hospital after I contacted her at school. Se then took care of me and got me home.

A couple of days later she went in search of the m/c. Started at the hospital. Was told where it should be. She went to Chonburi police station to be told they knew nothing about the bike. The next day after school she went to several other police stations. They said they also knew nothing about the m/c.
This m/c was her pride and joy. She was not letting it go at that.
She, a Filipino, teaching English decided to wait for her Thai teacher friend to come back from holiday and together they went back to the police stations in the area. Same result. Nothing. This Thai teacher friend enlisted the help of her policeman Uncle. Same result, nothing known.

By now I was back in the U.K. getting tended to as my visa had expired.
The g/f asked me for details of where the accident happened. I did not know. Then I came up with the idea of using Google street view. Found the accident spot. Took snapshots and a map view. This was where she had been looking originally from my vague description on the day. Yet that did not help her.

She turned to one of her school directors of education for help. An ex army officer. He gladly offered to help.
Today, they - he, the Thai teacher and the g/f set off in his car, found the accident spot thanks to the maps and snapshots. He questioned people in the area. They remembered the accident. Also that it was a highway patrol officer who took the keys and the m/c. Armed with this and other information the three went to the local police station where my g/f was recognised immediately.

My g/f does not know all what was said, but the director from her school soon had the police officers worried. Apparently - from what little she understood - they soon knew who he was and an ex army officer. In minutes, the m/c was located. Apologies were given, as was a police report into the accident. There were no financial charges made for the compound where the m/c was being kept and only charges made for transporting the m/c from where the accident took place.

Directed to the compound, they were initially reluctant to admit they had the m/c without details of where the accident took place. Maps I had made were produced - having been printed earlier. They were shown to the m/c, much to the happiness of my g/f. No charges made for keeping the m/c.


Now, you can call me cynical if you like, but the BiB did not want to admit they had or knew where the m/c was. Maybe they were going to sell it, break it for spares or whatever, until this ex army officer stepped in with his authoritative way and armed with information from the locals at the scene. Then it was all apologies, paperwork handed over and one located m/c.

The moral of the story seems to be, get someone in authority to help and persevere.
The policeman and 2 teachers could get nowhere. The director of education had it sorted in one afternoon. Well done to him.

[MrWorldwide]

Well done and kudos to your GF for her perseverance - once again, it's how high up the chain you are in Thai society, but its depressing for those of us who dont have contacts at that level. Hope your injuries have healed OK - I'm still recuperating from an injury which was nothing compared to what you must have gone through.

[LivinLOS]

Friend on Phuket had a steed 600 in his ex missus name, who was then living in Surat Thani.. Sold it another mate who ran out of gas near Karon.. Both BTW long termers and both near fluent Thai speakers. Not jonny come latelys..

A cop came and nabbed it.. For no reason all.. and removed its plates.. The bike was purposefully hidden / buried / with a bit of tarp over it at an impound yard and the cops initially denied having it (no plate see) despite it being there..

They wouldnt discuss giving it back except with the one cop who had nabbed it.. Who missed meetings refused to turn up.. Kept playing a run around for days.

First he refused to give back without the book.. They showed him the book photocopies they had.. No enough.. So they then got the book posted from Surat.. Not good enough.. Now the owner in the book must come.. So she did, each time he was impossible to reach, didnt answer phone, blew out meetings, etc etc..

Finally when presented with the original book, and the owner, all there after weeks of fighting.. He said he personally had needed to have a key made (why ??) and wanted 2000b reimbursement for the cost he incurred. They paid.

Stealing bikes is part of the low end cop perks..

[WhamBam]

Well done and kudos to your GF for her perseverance - once again, it's how high up the chain you are in Thai society, but its depressing for those of us who dont have contacts at that level. Hope your injuries have healed OK - I'm still recuperating from an injury which was nothing compared to what you must have gone through.

Have to agree about her perseverance.

I have to admit I do not have those sorts of contacts myself, either. Luckily for her, the schools where she works value her quite highly, hence the afternoon off and the help to get this done today.

Thanks too for the sentiment. The injury progresses slowly. The specialist here is not a happy man regards the treatment I got but there is nothing can be done for that now except time and patience.

Same to you on your injury - hoping it heals soon.

[WhamBam]

Friend on Phuket had a steed 600 in his ex missus name, who was then living in Surat Thani.. Sold it another mate who ran out of gas near Karon.. Both BTW long termers and both near fluent Thai speakers. Not jonny come latelys..

A cop came and nabbed it.. For no reason all.. and removed its plates.. The bike was purposefully hidden / buried / with a bit of tarp over it at an impound yard and the cops initially denied having it (no plate see) despite it being there..

They wouldnt discuss giving it back except with the one cop who had nabbed it.. Who missed meetings refused to turn up.. Kept playing a run around for days.

First he refused to give back without the book.. They showed him the book photocopies they had.. No enough.. So they then got the book posted from Surat.. Not good enough.. Now the owner in the book must come.. So she did, each time he was impossible to reach, didnt answer phone, blew out meetings, etc etc..

Finally when presented with the original book, and the owner, all there after weeks of fighting.. He said he personally had needed to have a key made (why ??) and wanted 2000b reimbursement for the cost he incurred. They paid.

Stealing bikes is part of the low end cop perks..

Seems there may be more of this going on than people realise. I'd like to hear if other people reading this have had similar experiences.

That sounds about right, being part of the low end perks. I would have thought there would not exactly be a lot of money in stolen bikes with no books, or in my case, a damaged bike with no book. Yet they do seem to go to some lengths to prevent people from getting their property back.

The g/f did say this compound was so hard to find that the director got lost a couple of times searching for it. When they eventually did find it, there were cars and m/c everywhere, even in the long grass at the outer edges.

It does make you wonder where they all came from as most seemed to be in good condition. And what would happen to them in the future.

[bangkokjulia]

You have a great girlfriend Wham-you are very lucky. It appears this was a case of who you know, not what you know.

[bangkokjulia]

How are you feeling btw?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Camera phone, photo policeman, photo of police car = no problem.

Hope you recover soon, broken collarbone really hurts!

(Tramadol helps a lot for the pain, but you can't have sex for 12hrs after taking one)

Edited January 28, 2015 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Costas2008]

Thanks for the story WhamBam, hope you feeling better by now.

Not surprised at all with the attitude of the BiB and that's why they needed the army to start taking care of them.

Let's see if things will change in the future.........

At least you had your beef burger cut and helped up the stairs the other day.

As you said.........not everybody is bad in Thailand.

[oneday]

It seems to me the key to solving your problem was when the Army officer/School director questioned the witnesses and finally got some solid information on the policeman who took the bike. Once you come up with facts then it becomes much harder for them to continue to lie.

Bravo to your GF for her dogged pursuit of the bike.

[jacko45k]

Seems to be a common occurrence that they hope you will forget or give up.

I recently had a package go missing, got directed around the houses but making a fuss at the post office made it suddenly appear.

As usual I got a line of BS that I was not home that day (err I was), and a card was put in my mailbox, (err no it wasn't).

I think they just can't be bothered.

[mrtoad]

The BIB are not exactly the most trustworthy, always seem to have an angel to extort cash from people.

Apparently at the weekend a motorbike slammed into the back of my mates Car, The BIB want 20k from him. I'm trying to figure out how the car driver could be responsible, but then same shit happened to me when a motorbike slammed into my car, and to get the insurance through some readies were required for Officer Somchai,

[maidee]

motorbikes = donorbikes

most deads = motorbikes

still want one ?

[geronimo]

Camera phone, photo policeman, photo of police car = no problem.

Hope you recover soon, broken collarbone really hurts!

(Tramadol helps a lot for the pain, but you can't have sex for 12hrs after taking one)

Sex is great with four!

[ggt]

I believe the mental and emotional wounds of living in Thailand take longer to heal than the others...

[EyesWideOpen]

Ah another heart warming story about Thai " police ". I had an accident in

Chantaburi with a expensive BMW tour bike. Thai guy who was drunk

ran a red light and T boned into me, causing a crash . At the police station

later, as I am standing there with a broken shoulder, they actually wanted

money from me. I told the policeman that I would pay them money for

an accident caused by somebody else when he saw pigs flying outside

the window..........He did not think that was very funny, and eventually

gave up when he realized I was not going to give him one baht. Stand

your ground here, otherwise people here will be asking for money that

they are not entitled to !! :-)

Edited January 28, 2015 by EyesWideOpen

[jpduggan]

After you bought your gfs bike from her it remains her pride and joy?......but it's not her's anymore! Obviously Filipinos are more like Thais than I thought.

[talktomarty]

What were you thinking going round a corner at 65 k/h ?? Bet you had no license or insurance either right?

[crickets]

I think they just like to show off the power they have with messin farangs around. I would probably like to the same if i was one of them.

[DLock]

Good result and some good advice on taking photos of cops, bike, accident scene etc...maybe the phone number of a Thai witness.

Hope you heal quick.

[marko kok prong]

Glad you got a result Op,not a good advertisment for the Police ,though i guess not many would be surprised with their conduct in this incident.

[mercman24]

the taking pic etc sounds good, but <deleted> you are lieing in the road, broken collarbone/leg etc, i dont think the first thought would be "oh let's get my phone out and take some pictures

[thequietman]

I think they just like to show off the power they have with messin farangs around. I would probably like to the same if i was one of them.

Is your name Richard per chance?

[ebonykap]

Last week outside Fortune Town I saw the police load 3 bikes, illegally parked on the footpath, onto tuk-tuks and they drove away.

Up until this post, I was thinking "Great to see the BIB doing their jobs." Now I wonder what happened to the bikes!

[kinmaew]

No not well done. The police responsible should be reported for obstructing the course of justice and theft. Take their badge numbers and report them. You shouldn't need to get some big shot to sort this out that's bullshit. Saying this is ok is only contributing to the social mess that this country is all ready in. Imagine that you alone farang had to sort this then where would you be? One missing MC and a whole load of bills.

[WhamBam]

How are you feeling btw?

Thanks for asking

The leg has almost healed. Itching like mad where the new skin is forming under the scabs that are left. I so want to scratch !!!

I cannot yet lift my arm. It was a bad break according to the orthopedic surgeon here in the UK.

So awkward trying to do everything with the wrong hand

[WhamBam]

motorbikes = donorbikes

most deads = motorbikes

still want one ?

8 years of riding m/c around Thailand and 1 bad accident. That caused by a blow out. Maybe i have been lucky or simply cautious and aware.

I agree that m/c riding is more dangerous but still the best way to get around town to the markets, bank, shops. This will not stop me riding though.

[SiSePuede419]

I'm not sure where you're from, but if you have an accident in America, the cops call a tow truck to haul your vehicle away. You have no choice.

In Mexico, if you don't have insurance, the police take you to jail.

Obviously, you were going too fast, Dude.

Slow down. What's your hurry?

[WhamBam]

After you bought your gfs bike from her it remains her pride and joy?......but it's not her's anymore! Obviously Filipinos are more like Thais than I thought.

She has cared for, serviced, cleaned and generally looked after that m/c all the time. When I bought it off her I did not and do not classify it as my sole property, more as 'our' m/c, we being in a relationship.

Filipino teachers do not earn vast sums of money. It was something she worked hard for and paid for. Yes, she loved / loves that m/c. I can understand why.

[WhamBam]

What were you thinking going round a corner at 65 k/h ?? Bet you had no license or insurance either right?

Wrong. You should not jump to conclusions and judge others with no facts to substantiate those accusations.

I do have a licence. The bike is also insured. A claim is going to be made. The police have issued a report to help with this.

I was not going round a corner either. I was manouvering to avoid 3 soi dogs very close to the edge of the road that I thought might wander into the road as I have seen dogs do many times here in Thailand. It is known as thinking ahead.