Hat Yai, Songkhla:- Some 30 drivers of taxis at the Hat Yai International Airport protested Thursday against what they called unfair collection of concession fee from them.

The group of taxis gathered at the airport in the morning. The drivers said the firm in charge of operating taxi services at the airport demanded them to pay very high amount of concession fee in exchange for the right to take up passengers from the airport.

They said the firm claimed that the fee was given to the airport so they would like the Hat Yai airport to conduct an investigation.

Anan Sukhapun, a representative of the drives, said the fee was too high. He said the each taxi had to pay the initial fee of Bt15,000 for the first year and Bt5,000 annual fee each year, starting from the second year. Each taxi has also to pay a monthly fee of Bt2,000.

Anan said a taxi is allowed to collect a flat rate of Bt250 per trip and each of them can averagely drive four trips a day. As a result, their income is inadequate especially when they have to pay the fee to the firm.

Anan also noted that the contract for them states that only 30 taxis are allowed to operate at the airport but he found that there are actually 66 taxis at the airport.

He wondered why the 36 extra taxis were allowed to operate there and whether the airport had received the concession fee from the drivers.

Hat Yai Airport director Jessada Phetmedyai said the issue was an internal dispute between the taxi drivers and the company that has concession to operate the taxi services.

Jessada said the dispute should be solved soon.

So the taxis, who as always insist on cheating their customers by not using meters, are now complaining that someone else is cheating them. Som Nam Na.

Put the taxi scum in prison where they belong!

Do these people never stop whining.

Karma ,,Karma,,

Do these people never stop whining.

no

Seems they have a legitimate gripe. They paid for 1 slot of 30 available, and got one of 66. That means they get less than half the business their contract calls out.

That means sitting around over twice as long waiting for their next fare.

Want to know why taxis are pretty much forced to rip off tourists to make their living? Here's a great example. Perhaps if they got a fair shake from the powers that be, they could make a decent living without having to resort to cheating.

I wish them well in their pursuit of fairness. Maybe it will trickle down to us. (Maybe not, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt- unlike a lot of guys here who have probably never even flown into Hat Yai)

...I doubt they could find it on a map.

Thursday against what they called unfair collection of concession fee from them. In other countries its called Extortion

Which taxis are involved? The Airport green-plated grey limos or the yellow-plated meter taxis?

I think it's the meter taxis, not the AOT Limo service.

TRy another mode of transportation..