Foreign Tourists Allegedly Dumped on Tollway by Thai Taxi

[wellred]

Had a funny squabble with a Bangkok cabbie who wouldn't take a tip, turned out he was from the next village over from mine in Issan, tried to undercharge me! Another one decided I needed a shower and a relax after a long flight and took me to his house where his wife had prepared lunch too. Another lovely old boy who lectured me all the way to Rayong once about the dangers of Thai ladies.

Never found any unfriendly, although some did have exciting driving techniques.

So, everyone's just a cynical <deleted> and you are the real thang! What substances are you on dude?!!!

Calm down over there. He was simply sharing some of his own more positive experiences with taxi drivers and I'm glad he did as it shows there are some good ones out there.

Back to the story in go smacked. Till now I'd never really heard of this sort of thing going on. If the driver refuses up front before you get on ok but they should never kick you out, especially on a a tollway.

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[sawadee1947]

Time to drop the hammer! Suspension of license is not good enough. A taxi driver with such a personality is not fit to provide a public service. Cancel his taxi license.

yes, head off. Greetings from IS. Execution! Now!

[dirtycash]

hate filled piece of sh*t.

[geriatrickid]

Khun Phaen, Geez, what the hell do hippies have to do with this? So what if they're going to Khao Sahn - if they've the money. I'm sure they must have $ if they got in the cab in the first place - at the airport, just arriving in Thailand? If not they would have taken the train. The idiot taxi driver is a criminal period. If they are hippies, they appear to be fairly clean, have money, and a family. Is your neck red?

I took the train when I was going to Khao San Road in 1992.

I think they were asked for 70 baht for the tollway and they realized that this was 10 large bottles of water. Maybe they were Israelis, who try to sleep 10 to a room in KSR and many guesthouses refuse them.

Why post such a sllly comment. That was a European family and you know it. Will you be back to retract your comment when the family is identified? I am anticipating Dutch/German/Swedish, but I wouldn't make a generalization.

The guesthouses do not refuse anyone who is clean and who can pay. Where do you come up with such nonsense? I'm surprised you didn't add that their devil horns scared the driver.

BTW, when did they build a toll plaza between Swampy and Rama IX? When was there a toll?

Edited March 21, 2015 by geriatrickid

[deecee10]

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.

Yes I can imagine it and I also believe it.

[JOC]

Look at them. Backpacks, dressed in rags, is that a guitar?, baby rucksack. Obviously they are wealthy Farangs who should pay what ever extortionate fare demanded of them.

Myself, have had pretty good luck with taxis from the airport. Sometimes they take off witjout starting meter or demand 500. Then I request to alight on the flyover. Turned on meter every time.

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So according to your stereotyping logic, it is okay for taxi drivers to kick their customers out on the Tollway,

if they are carrying a guitar and/or baby rucksack.....................

[JOC]

TAT, wake up!! Time for damage limitation......

High time for a yet another honest cabbie returning 1 trillion $ to forgetful Japanese tourist story............

Just saying

[geisha]

Years ago, coming from Kata beach to Patong by tuc tuc, the driver didn't want to continue in the traffic jam, so he stopped, miles from my destination on the end of Nanai, when I didn't understand his ranting, he pulled my arms and threw me out of the tuc !!!!!! It was some bar ladies telling him off who explained to me why !!!! One of the reasons I left Phuket.

[Shawn0001]

story does not make much sense with the taxi making no money on the trip. missing the turnoff just increases the fare.

unless they paid anyway or beforehand for some strange reason.

That strange reason being the prepaid taxi desk at the airport perhaps?

[Jonmarleesco]

'... (EXAT) says it is investigating ...' Well, the investigation needs to end in punitive action, not hand wringing.

[Jonmarleesco]

Not Surprised, we have asked the Taxi Driver to pull over, because his driving, we have had a driver talking to himself and tell my wife to shut up, because she thought he was asking her a question and since the new law we have been turned down just from Paradise Mall to Aomayi. We will start taking numbers after the other day hearing they will fine the drivers for turning a Fare down!

That's been the case for years. The nub of the problem has been that people - especially Thais - DON'T report the driver, simply moving on to the next taxi. With each and every driver reported, the issue would have disappeared long ago.

[arunsakda]

Look at them. Backpacks, dressed in rags, is that a guitar?, baby rucksack. Obviously they are wealthy Farangs who should pay what ever extortionate fare demanded of them.

Myself, have had pretty good luck with taxis from the airport. Sometimes they take off witjout starting meter or demand 500. Then I request to alight on the flyover. Turned on meter every time.

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So according to your stereotyping logic, it is okay for taxi drivers to kick their customers out on the Tollway,

if they are carrying a guitar and/or baby rucksack.....................

Sorry but many of my posts are sarcasm and smart-arse quips. Truth is much speculation on this thread and nobody had heard the real story from pax, or the driver.

My guess is if the driver had turned on the meter and driven to the destination without hassling them there would be no issue to discuss.

[ThailandGuy]

Yup those taxi drivers are sometimes insane. I had once one said he knew the address but of course he did not. After driving up to 250 bath he suddenly said we had to get out in the middle of nowhere as he did not know the address we wanted to go. He expected me to pay also. Which of course i did not in full. I gave him 100 bath and told him to draw the other 250 bath with a pencil. In the next cab we got we discovered the previous cabdriver had driven us to the opposite and thus wrong side of Bangkok. So i had to spend even more money to get where we wanted.

And another time we had agreed upon a fixed price to drive us to Kon Kaen. But while we where almost there he started wining about the price and time and he had to drive back etc.... We all know they pick up bus passengers on their way back for a small fee and still make enough money. The latter happened to me once while i was waiting on a bus. A taxi stopped and asked me if i wanted to go to Bangkok for a small fee. Of course no harm in that as it was one of those holidays and several busses already passed me because they were full. So i gladly took the offer.

Edited March 21, 2015 by ThailandGuy

[Yann55]

Some posters question the credibility of the article, and I second that, altough it must be noted that said article does use the word 'allegation' which is better than nothing.

And yes, this source is not what I would call a serious and reliable one, lol ...

However, as several other posts indicate, taxi drivers in Bangkok can behave like absolute a-holes and often do ! If you've been here long enough, I'm sure you have at least one very unpleasant experience to tell. And I'm not just talking about being refused of course, because that's daily routine now.

In about 30 years of coming to this country including 13 of actually living here, I can remember 3 very bad incidents with Bangkok taxis, and I won't go into details because they are very similar to the ones already told here, but my personal observation is that there has been a serious acceleration in a negative sense within the past 5 years or so :

1/ Taxi drivers nowadays almost never say hello or smile, and if you say hello and/smile, you very seldom get a response. Weird and unpleasant.

2/ Refusing passengers seems to have become a sport among taxi drivers. So much so that you begin to wonder if these guys have some kind of illegal betting going on between them as to how many passengers they can refuse in one day.

3/ The way they drive is a nightmare, using the accelerator and the brakes in the strangest fashion. It's like they're 'driving with their nerves'.

4/ They used to be pretty fatalistic about traffic (I admired their poise) but now they seem to be angry about it all the time. Ulcers in the making, along with all kinds of other ailments. Very unpleasant for the passenger(s).

5/ They never ask you if it's ok to have that idiotic radio blaring in your ears, and if you ask them to turn it down, even in the kindest possible way, you often feel that you may well end up being thrown out for bad behaviour (not to mention 'misunderstanding Thai culture').

As for what happened to that family, I'm pretty sure there's more to the story than what the article says, and when things get that sour, it's usually because the farang(s) lost his(their) temper and started shouting at the guy. In that case, throwing them out was of course the wrong thing to do (poor kid, what a nasty moment she must have been through), but .... but ... in this country, screaming at someone, whether or not he's done something wrong, is a cause of many problems and deep misunderstanding, often leading to violence.

We Westerners are the visitors in this situation, so even if we don't agree, understand and accept this 'rule of not shouting', we should not be surprised if the sh*t hits the fan when we break it. Traveling has become so easy these days that we forget one essential rule : visiting far away countries, different people and unknown cultures, even when they seem to be very similar to us, does involve a fat measure of qui pro quo, surprises and misunderstandings, often funny but sometimes not. I also believe that the cultural discrepancy is what most tourists are actually interested in, deep down, but when it becomes too awkward or too disturbing, then we tend to resort to a sterile and silly 'post colonial' attitude : 'they are all a bunch of weirdos and they've got it all wrong'.

Edited March 21, 2015 by Yann55

[ttthailand]

Great press !!! Lets hope it goes international so changes might happen.

Why do farang think badly of Thailand ... This is the answer. Too much disrespect coming from Thais toward farang. This guy should never drive again and get some jail time and fine.

[ThailandGuy]

Why do farang think badly of Thailand ... This is the answer. Too much disrespect coming from Thais toward farang. .....

Ha ha ha....

The word "Farang" itself confirms that already as it is not used tot talk in a positive and respectfull way about foreigners in Thailand. It feels to me like a swear word when i hear Thai people talk about "Farangs"

Edited March 21, 2015 by ThailandGuy

[26vinny]

back packers with a baby what next, until the whole story is out, no comment

[LostDemocracy]

Many years ago, about 21 years to be precise I took a taxi from my apartment in Soi 18 Sukhumvit to Talin Chan, at night and it was pouring down. About half way the driver decided he didn't want to go there (this was before taxi Meters, ie you had to negotiate each trip, in Thai of course). I refused, it has hammering down. I just stayed put and he took me to where I wanted to go. Unless they pulled a gun I would refuse to move.

[JOC]

Many years ago, about 21 years to be precise I took a taxi from my apartment in Soi 18 Sukhumvit to Talin Chan, at night and it was pouring down. About half way the driver decided he didn't want to go there (this was before taxi Meters, ie you had to negotiate each trip, in Thai of course). I refused, it has hammering down. I just stayed put and he took me to where I wanted to go. Unless they pulled a gun I would refuse to move.

Why do some guys get all the excitement??

[mango66]

would be interesting to know the whole story;

A tourist which know which exit taxi have to take on Ram IX;

I driving by my own about 10 to 20 times a year and sometime still confused about which exit;

but the tourist did know it,

and what was than real argument between them that driver stopped ?

na payment ?

looks more like a packpacker than a tourist !!!

not looking before on taximeter and not reed the tables everywhere about the 50,- thb surcharge !

In his country he pay propably from airport to city 2.000,- thb or more,

but Taxi made mistake, and bill would be 20 - 50 thb more ??

less than a Singha from 7/11;

[Skywalker69]

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

They were left on the tollway because the taxi driver went past their agreed destination, according to Facebook.

[fey]

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.

you pay taxi fares in advance?

stop doing that, its not required or expected. they get paid AFTER providing the service, either meter or negotiated.

[EyesWideOpen]

This is a piece of bad taxi press. So I give it about two weeks before another

invented story from TAT about how a taxi driver returned 10 million baht a customer

left in the taxi.... Those stories are like clockwork, but this bad news may speed

up the time schedule a bit...

Edited March 21, 2015 by EyesWideOpen

[Thongkorn]

And they wonder, why the tourist numbers are going down.......................

Not true, they are going up, But they arrive in groups stay in groups and the locals businesses don't prosper, only the Big hotels and tour guides are getting rich, the local Bars restaurants and shops don't get a look in , so its a double edged sword.

[kennypowers]

Happened to me last year on the way to swampy. But in this case the driver ran out of gas. Luckily another taxi was just a few hundreds behind and happily picked me up.

[DM07]

I highly recommend to anyone coming to Bangkok more than once to learn Thai taxi. It's fun, it's easy. Learn how to count in Thai. Learn about 6-8 main roads in BKK. LEARN STRAIT AHEAD, left turn, right turn, stop here, 4 way intersection, 3 way intersection , go to the correct side of a street to start your ride, don't use TEN WORD sentences to say where you want to go in English, and only open the back door of a HAILED taxi when telling them in simple Thai where you want to go. Please don't forget to say khrap or ka after your little sentence. I succeed 99.5 % of the time and find taxi's in BKK are great.

Great idea!

Now do the same in Turkish, if you are in Istanbul, in German for being in Munich, Indian for Bombay...for it is really the fault of the passenger, if thy don't get appropriate service.

And also, thanks to all of you, who still don't understand, that if you take up a profession, you should be willing to do, what goes with it.

If you are a taxi driver, take people where they want to go- even if it is not your favorite place!

If you are a waiter, serve people beer or food, which may not be your favorite!

If you are a life- guard, give mouth-to-mouth to people with bad breath!

You choose the job- now DO IT!

If this story is the way, it is told, this particular tax-driver is a deluxe a- hole and deserves punishment and not a bunch of whiny apollogists, who like to blame the victims, for not being "Thai" enough, to deserve transportation by glorious Bangkok taxi- drivers!

Jeeeeeezus!

[NickJ]

And just who took the photo of the silly jesus freak unreal photo op familly?????

[mettech]

My best guess now this will surely come to the attention of the PM and there goes his remarks of last night speech on tv that Thai people are nice people and that tourist should invest in the Country.

Like someone said long time ago it is not what the government can do for you it is what you can do for the government.Well I suppose the best thing is to post every incidents on face book and there action will be taken.

[geriatrickid]

Great press !!! Lets hope it goes international so changes might happen.

Why do farang think badly of Thailand ... This is the answer. Too much disrespect coming from Thais toward farang. This guy should never drive again and get some jail time and fine.

Maybe so, but too many visitors are disrespectful and condescending to Thais. I admit to that sin. I am more patient now than 10 years ago . The whole world has lost much of its politeness. Everyone one of us is witness to improper behaviour from Thais and non Thais alike.

In respect to this thread, I hope more news will be forthcoming as we are missing important pertinent facts.

[KamalaRider]

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

Yes it surely would but until then, you, me and maybe ALL the rest of readers doesn't have any other information, WE HAVE TO RELY on the information given.

Pretty stupid and quite dumb to speculate about anything else, isn't it? Unless you have any more information, not what you believe or think you are Sherlock himself and draw conclusion about this case.