Foreign Tourists Allegedly Dumped on Tollway by Thai Taxi

[Rod Wallop]

I am sure that there will be a follow up to this story to confirm whether it is true or not. A chat with the family and the driver will clarify things. Personally I take 2 taxis every day and find that 90% of the drivers are fine. 10% refuse a pick up, and you can usually spot them as the open the window to ask where you are going before you get in so I wave them on.

[Soutpeel]

I am sure that there will be a follow up to this story to confirm whether it is true or not. A chat with the family and the driver will clarify things. Personally I take 2 taxis every day and find that 90% of the drivers are fine. 10% refuse a pick up, and you can usually spot them as the open the window to ask where you are going before you get in so I wave them on.

post #10 of this very thread

[realfunster]

Same thing happened to a good friend of mine except the driver faked mechanical problems, pulled over and claimed he needed to borrow my pal's phone to call for assistance, then he calmly got back in the taxi and drove off. This was in the early hours when I presume CCTV on the expressway system should have been able to pick us suspect(s) fairly readily. You can probably guess the rigour of the police follow-up.......

[Rod Wallop]

I am sure that there will be a follow up to this story to confirm whether it is true or not. A chat with the family and the driver will clarify things. Personally I take 2 taxis every day and find that 90% of the drivers are fine. 10% refuse a pick up, and you can usually spot them as the open the window to ask where you are going before you get in so I wave them on.

post #10 of this very thread

I see 3 people on the side of the road.

[Robert24]

Agree with fey. there must be more to this story. just doesn't make sense. Typical media report something without checking the facts and everyone believes the story.

[chainarong]

Not the first and won't be the last , I remember a Canadian guy getting dumped in the gutter coming in from old Don Muang, he didn't know anything of BBK , first trip into Thai , he was dumped because he wouldn't go to the massage parlour that the driver recommended, another taxi following took the guy too he's hotel and charged nothing , but what a way to start a holiday in the LOS.

[hanno]

I have generally been lucky with taxi drivers but I do remember a rather unpleasant episode many moons ago: I had arranged for a taxi to pick us up early the next morning to take us outside BKK for bird watching. Taxi showed up at 4 or 5 as agreed and off we go. When we are in the middle of nowhere, on a highway, the driver decides that he needs to take his car back and dumps me and my then wife right there. Still dark, no clue where we were, but another taxi comes along. We jump in happily only to be told a couple of kilometers down the road that he, too, had to go back. The third taxi finally got us where we wanted to go.

Not nice but just another story. Since then, it has been mostly smooth sailing.

And I do have to admit that like some fool I too had an argument with a taxi driver when he asked for the toll as I was not aware that I had to pay for it.

[Commerce]

And just how true is this story considering the source - can you just imagine a farang guy with wife and child in tow accepting a polite request (probably in Thai) to vacate a taxi on a motorway - yeah right something that happens everyday in Thailand.

Does this picture answer your question??tollway.jpg

Two new top quality English teachers arriving?

[smutcakes]

I would have dragged the little c##t out of his taxi,shoved him in the boot and drove to the nearest canal,no way would i accept being left on a busy tollway with a woman and kid!!!!

only in your dreams as keyboard hard man you would

BKK taxi drivers carry guns, meat cleavers and even Samurai swords sometimes

Obviously you dont then have a family to be concerned about,but i know i would do anything to protect mine!!!

Yes and the best way to protect your family would be to get into a physical confrontation with a deranged and potentially armed taxi driver.... rather than try to reason with him or just accept your fate and leave the taxi.

[jacko45k]

The driver missed the exit and he threw the passengers out on the tollway??

Hope this idiot get a serious punishment for endangering the tourists life!!

I had one try to throw us out after we complained he had gone the wrong way and he (and us) were lost.

Fortunately my Thai Mrs put him straight on that idea.

[Gjk7777]

Who took the photo?

[georgeubon]

The foreign tourist probably said the amount first in Thai and English Or The two parties have agreed to term of the cost for the fare. For some reason due to distractions from cell fone, talking or not paying attention, resulted in the missing of the exit.

Now, the driver left with a few choices in his head. 1)If i like the passenger(s) i will take a sacrafice lost and take them to the destination like promised. 2) I don't like the passenger(s) , i.e smelly, rude, obnoxious or whatever, Now, I just drop them off and they can walk back to the exit, the car can not reverse back to the exit. Once they had been walking back toward the exit, there are buses to take them along that route for much less bahts. Which in this case, it seems to the driver that the passenger is poor. 3) If in Vietnam, the taxi driver wouldn't drop them off but take them to the destination and then ask for more money during the trip by cursing and doing all kind of psychological expressions to let the passenger knows that "you better hand over some more money because i am pissed" for wasting more gas and time because missing an exit was not the his/driver's fault.

[Holdfast72]

And just how true is this story considering the source - can you just imagine a farang guy with wife and child in tow accepting a polite request (probably in Thai) to vacate a taxi on a motorway - yeah right something that happens everyday in Thailand.

I've had it happen to me (only once in 9 years), picked up from Suvarnabhumi then he just stopped on the motorway and asked me to get out, didn't ask for money...

No point getting upset... unlike Australia, in Thailand there's always another taxi 15 seconds away (even on the motorway).

[useronthenet]

Another example of Thainess. When you think you've seen it all, then this.

[jacko45k]

Is that a guitar case? It isn't the infamous busker is it?

[dopenhagen]

I have had my scuffles with taxi drivers in bangkok, even had to defend myself physically a number of times, and I know what mean bastards they can be, the meds they take to stay awake to make the most of the lease they have on the taxi doesnt and the heat they take from law enforcement doesn't make it more easy for them to maintain posture when dealing with 1000's of people every day that has different ideas and sometimes no knowledge about how the system works.

Now, from a realist perspective (not knowing any of the details leading to this picture being taken), this couple obviously decided to backpack to Thailand, and isn't dealing with sh** like this part of life as a backpacker ?

I don't feel sorry for the kid, he will probably grow up to be one mean son of a b**** and being able to deal with all kinds of situations.

I don't feel sorry for the couple, they signed up for this when they decided to go backpacking and bringing their toddler and their guitar.

From the original post:
"Surachai said he received the photo from a traffic police officer who eventually hailed another cab for the family. He added that the tourists did not remember the name or registration number of the taxi driver."

Well, kudos to the Traffic police to taking action (read the OP) and kudos for the passer by mentioning it.

I'm not sure I feel so terribly sorry for the family, they made a number of mistakes (like not taking the number of the taxi) and they were taken care of by traffic police subsequently.

I think if this proves anything, it proves that 1) Traffic police actually do their work sometimes, 2) there actually are compassionate Thai people and that 3) actually most backpackers are reckless hippies !

Edited March 21, 2015 by dopenhagen

[steven100]

This story shows once again how unprofessional these Bangkok taxis are.

STOP THEM WITH YOU WALLET .... DON'T USE THEM ANYMORE !!!

TRY USING UBER taxis or Grab a Taxi ...... check for an app download then you just call them from where you are ...

Put and end to bangkok taxis ... !!!

[eggers]

The pic has been taken from passenger side window of taxi or other signed vehicle.

According to article in Khaosod, "Surachai said he received the photo from a traffic police officer who eventually hailed another cab for the family".

Why would a cop give the pic to this Surachai guy?

How come Surachai was at the scene?

Why wasn't vehicle from which pic taken used to get travellers off the Tollway?

More questions to this post than answers!!

[recom273]

And just how true is this story considering the source - can you just imagine a farang guy with wife and child in tow accepting a polite request (probably in Thai) to vacate a taxi on a motorway - yeah right something that happens everyday in Thailand.

Does this picture answer your question??tollway.jpg

No it doesn't - how / why did the guy and family leave the cab --- an armed threat of violence or did they do it from the goodness of their heart.

Would be interesting to hear the story from the passengers of the in's and out's

Anyone who has lived in Bangkok for an extended amount of time will know.

From experience, The driver takes the fare, after a little drive around he realizes he doesn't know where he's going, starts asking moto's the way, then starts calling his mates. By now he's starting to lose face, he asks you to get take another taxi, you refuse and explain to him in Thai that no you won't be as he took the fare in the first place. He refuses to move, then you realize that this idiots lack of knowledge are costing you money as the meter ticks away. Sometimes they do start getting aggressive but by then the wife knows there is nothing to do so she pays the meter.

Happened to me on numerous occasions including the morning of my wedding day on the way to bang rak,

Anything could have happened to those customers. Although nothing will change, this guy should be made an example of - attempted manslaughter and negligence.

[indieke]

Same thing happen to me, around 20 years ago. Nothing new. This when I friendly asked to put his meter. he stopped, threw our bags out, and shouted to get out. There we were on the highway, having to catch a plane. Another much friendlier taxi driver pulled over and got us there....

[rebelplatoon]

TIT.

Thought they just made a deal with the meter taxis to behave....

[godden]

Perhaps dumping the drivers own family on the express way would be punishment enough, if he has one.

[TheKnave]

Usually, at the end of the trip, if they don't wai and complement me on my perfect Thai, I just beat the holy crap out of them, and fart in their taxi.

But that's just me...

[dopenhagen]

having to change taxis under the most inconvenient circumstances is something I have tried in basically every country I have travelled... sometimes its in heavy rain, when the taxi stops and asks for more money to continue and sometimes when they just don't like you... driving a taxi is stressful, even in most modern countries, with surveillance, monitoring, panic buttons, procedures for dealing with situations, etc...

everyone here knows the risk of taking a taxi, and it is something we calculate in the balance of convenience versus cost and (in)convenience of arranging private transport.

these are backpackers, they crave and thus deserve to have these experiences, which without, their backpacking story would just be another boring travel epos of a small family traveling to thailand on holiday.

[Tywais]

Who took the photo?

The article said a traffic policeman did. Also it stated, he flagged down a taxi to pick them up, which is probably the yellow vehicle you see in the photo and they are picking up their gear to load into the cab.

[johndudorn]

This has happened to me as well.... kicked out because the guy was totally lost, and after 20 minutes of humoring him & wasting time I insisted we follow the directions on the map. The same directions which had gotten me there just fine many times before.

He even threatened to call the police, to explain he got lost and was now having a cry. Who knows.

I got out, also on the highway, didn't pay, left the door open.

Had enough of some loser's mental meltdown for one day.

This poor family probably had the same sort of thing happen to them.

My wife and I where the only ones in a baht bus in Udorn (#7), He decided he wanted to go home and not take us to our destination. He asked us to get out and we did.

[Robstar]

Not surprised at all sadly, The lunatics that wish to treat foreigners this way appears to be on the Increase!!

I want to add to it by warning foreigners using the mini vans from Victory Monument to Pattaya regardiung driver attitudes towards us. This past Wednesday March 18th myself and Thai partner used this service (van 19) just after 1pm en route to Koh Larn. The driver never offered assistance as to where to place my suitcase so I just bundled it into the van near to where I was sat at the very rear. Let's say 1 hr into the trip he pulls over the van on the busy highway, starts looking in the mirror and talkinbg in Thai, others around me, all Thai seem bemused and wondering what's going on? He then turns around from his driving position and looking back in my direction continues to say something. Finally I assume he is directing his issues at me and ask 'what' in Thai whilst shrugging my shoulders as if to say what is your problem? Then my Thai partner says he wants us to be quiet and no talking???? What??? Again, the other Thais In the van whisper disbelief, my partner says we just stop, he's crazy we say nothing. We were talking privately, very quietly as to not disturb others or let prying Thai ears in on whatever we wished to speak about and this lunatic wants to show some type of power at the wheel and threaten to throw us out?? She had never witnessed anything like this so just be warned to shut your mouth when using these maniacs! My anger was bubbling when I realised what he was trying to do, attempted to eyeball him via his mirror immediately after and continued to do so but he never once looked back again, nobody in the van dared talk the rest of the trip and we ended up being the last 2 on the van before being dropped off at the pier so you can only guess what a change in attitude pervailed when he had no back up around him? Exactly, looked like a rabbit in the headlights he did, we politely got out and I just said goodbye Mr Happy and Increase your dossage tonight :-)

[DrTuner]

After I found google maps has a decent bus route navigation on my phone, I won't use BKK taxis unless I really have to. Bottom of the gene pool.

[Afook]

Always two sides of the story?

[samuibeachcomber]

I cant believe some posters in this thread would actually choose violence towards the driver as an acceptable means. Sad really

It's called being macho!....but you can understand the anger if this happens!