34 taxis rounded up for rejecting passengers

[Stan7444]

Good.

Now go cleanup all the other Sois.

I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride.

Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver.

If this happens to you, you can contact the Land Transport Department Hotline on 1584.

You need to make a note of the license plate or the number painted on the door, taxi colour and the time and place of the incident.

The driver will receive a 1,000Bt fine for every complaint when he renw=ews his yearly permit.

....but do they speak English when calling the Land Transport Hotline????

[Sviss Geez]

BKK taxi drivers late at night are scum. They prey on tourists.

Or to be more accurate, a very small percentage of them are.

[mikemac]

Good.

Now go cleanup all the other Sois.

I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride.

Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver.

If this happens to you, you can contact the Land Transport Department Hotline on 1584.

You need to make a note of the license plate or the number painted on the door, taxi colour and the time and place of the incident.

The driver will receive a 1,000Bt fine for every complaint when he renw=ews his yearly permit.

"I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride. Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver."

As an example of unjustified over-exaggeration and generalisation this nonsense takes the biscuit.

Any one of his posts would take the biscuit Sviss Geez. And I thought it was against the rules to post blatant, unfounded bs.

[jamesjohnsonthird]

Good.

Now go cleanup all the other Sois.

I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride.

Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver.

If this happens to you, you can contact the Land Transport Department Hotline on 1584.

You need to make a note of the license plate or the number painted on the door, taxi colour and the time and place of the incident.

The driver will receive a 1,000Bt fine for every complaint when he renw=ews his yearly permit.

"I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride. Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver."

As an example of unjustified over-exaggeration and generalisation this nonsense takes the biscuit.

You are full of crap my friend.

Walk out of any hotel on Soi 20 and try to get a taxi to use a meter.

Impossible.

[Adeeos]

Coming home about 2AM last night/this morning,,, I was walking along Suk, attempting to get a taxi,, 1st one said no,,, I took a pic of his license plate, and attempted to call the, "taxi hotline, 1584",,, it's all in Thai, and no option for English,,, The 2nd taxi that stopped, happened to stop right next to a BIB that appeared to be doing drunk driving stops, etc,,,, I literally had the front door open, and was told "No" RIGHT next to the Cop,,, I turned to the cop and said, "He won't take me to, XXX, XXXX",,, I was SHOCKED that the cop actually jumped at the chance.. I then just continued walking,,, there was quite a bit of raised voices, between him, and the driver,,, really surprised me,,,

On another note,, a friend and I grabbed a taxi earlier in the evening,, about 7pm,,, the fare, with the $35 Baht initial charge was $61 Baht,, I got out, my friend in the front seat, handed the driver $100 bill,,, "Sorry, No change for $100",,,, Hahahaha,,, My friend was actually going to give the guy the $100, but upon hearing this BS,,, asked me, I happened to have exactly $61 baht,,,, GUESS what the driver got paid?.... lololol

Edited April 24, 2015 by Adeeos

[Sviss Geez]

Good.

Now go cleanup all the other Sois.

I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride.

Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver.

If this happens to you, you can contact the Land Transport Department Hotline on 1584.

You need to make a note of the license plate or the number painted on the door, taxi colour and the time and place of the incident.

The driver will receive a 1,000Bt fine for every complaint when he renw=ews his yearly permit.

"I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride. Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver."

As an example of unjustified over-exaggeration and generalisation this nonsense takes the biscuit.

You are full of crap my friend.

Walk out of any hotel on Soi 20 and try to get a taxi to use a meter.

Impossible.

There goes the last remnants of your credibility, the only ones that are full of it are the ones that make statements like yours when those statements are blatantly untrue.

It is not impossible to find a taxi in that soi that will use the meter, I know, I've lived there.

[mikemac]

Coming home about 2AM last night/this morning,,, I was walking along Suk, attempting to get a taxi,, 1st one said no,,, I took a pic of his license plate, and attempted to call the, "taxi hotline, 1584",,, it's all in Thai, and no option for English,,, The 2nd taxi that stopped, happened to stop right next to a BIB that appeared to be doing drunk driving stops, etc,,,, I literally had the front door open, and was told "No" RIGHT next to the Cop,,, I turned to the cop and said, "He won't take me to, XXX, XXXX",,, I was SHOCKED that the cop actually jumped at the chance.. I then just continued walking,,, there was quite a bit of raised voices, between him, and the driver,,, really surprised me,,,

On another note,, a friend and I grabbed a taxi earlier in the evening,, about 7pm,,, the fare, with the $35 Baht initial charge was $61 Baht,, I got out, my friend in the front seat, handed the driver $100 bill,,, "Sorry, No change for $100",,,, Hahahaha,,, My friend was actually going to give the guy the $100, but upon hearing this BS,,, asked me, I happened to have exactly $61 baht,,,, GUESS what the driver got paid?.... lololol

Used to happen a lot in Hanoi, "Sorry, no change"...........in other words, give me that big note and that will do, about 10 times what the fare was worth.

If you hold your ground and refuse to hand over the big note until change is found, it suddenly appears, and driver gets no tip.

[jamesjohnsonthird]

Good.

Now go cleanup all the other Sois.

I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride.

Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver.

If this happens to you, you can contact the Land Transport Department Hotline on 1584.

You need to make a note of the license plate or the number painted on the door, taxi colour and the time and place of the incident.

The driver will receive a 1,000Bt fine for every complaint when he renw=ews his yearly permit.

"I stay on Suk Soi 20 when in Bangkok and have not gotten a ride in years. Have to walk all the way to Sukhumvit to get a ride. Every one of them is a criminal posing as a taxi driver."

As an example of unjustified over-exaggeration and generalisation this nonsense takes the biscuit.

You are full of crap my friend.

Walk out of any hotel on Soi 20 and try to get a taxi to use a meter.

Impossible.

There goes the last remnants of your credibility, the only ones that are full of it are the ones that make statements like yours when those statements are blatantly untrue.

It is not impossible to find a taxi in that soi that will use the meter, I know, I've lived there.

You haven't lived there in a long time then.

I stay there 4 or 5 times a year. Impossible to get a taxi. Walk up to Sukhimvit EVERY time. Same thing on Soi 18 too.

The honest taxi driving thru won't even stop now because the taxi mafia that are sitting around threaten them. These punks think they own the Soi and all the customers since they pay the police for the prime scam turf.

Last time I did notice the Best Western Hotel Soi 20 finally put up a warning sign about the taxi situation.

Edited April 24, 2015 by jamesjohnsonthird

[Sviss Geez]

Coming home about 2AM last night/this morning,,, I was walking along Suk, attempting to get a taxi,, 1st one said no,,, I took a pic of his license plate, and attempted to call the, "taxi hotline, 1584",,, it's all in Thai, and no option for English,,, The 2nd taxi that stopped, happened to stop right next to a BIB that appeared to be doing drunk driving stops, etc,,,, I literally had the front door open, and was told "No" RIGHT next to the Cop,,, I turned to the cop and said, "He won't take me to, XXX, XXXX",,, I was SHOCKED that the cop actually jumped at the chance.. I then just continued walking,,, there was quite a bit of raised voices, between him, and the driver,,, really surprised me,,,

On another note,, a friend and I grabbed a taxi earlier in the evening,, about 7pm,,, the fare, with the $35 Baht initial charge was $61 Baht,, I got out, my friend in the front seat, handed the driver $100 bill,,, "Sorry, No change for $100",,,, Hahahaha,,, My friend was actually going to give the guy the $100, but upon hearing this BS,,, asked me, I happened to have exactly $61 baht,,,, GUESS what the driver got paid?.... lololol

"taxi hotline, 1584",,, it's all in Thai, and no option for English..."

It's very simple, at each recorded option that you hear press1 (you don't need to understand what the recording is saying), then a real person answers and if you ask for someone who speaks English they will transfer you to an operator that you can speak to.

[RolandRat]

They should introduce WHEEL CLAMPS here, if they refuse a fare, clamp the car for 24hrs on the spot ! then fine them on release.

There has to be a real consequence to their action or it will never change.Stupid 200 baht fine or 1000 baht fine is nothing to these scam artists and will extract that rapidly from customers.

Disable the vehicle from any kind of use and they lose rental payment and income. A real consequence.

[JAG]

Trouble is that you would then end up with the highways and byways of Bangkok littered wirh immobilised taxis.

It would be like rush hour 24 hours a day!

Edited April 24, 2015 by JAG

[falangjim]

EVERY scamming taxi driver that parks near a hotel is paying off the police. It's gong to be impossible to stop it.

Taxi driver lease these prime scam zones from police and prey on first time visitors with no intention of operating a legitimate taxi service.

They are criminals posing as taxi drivers, colluding with police to defraud visitors.

Call 1584 every time a taxi driver refuses the fare. Report the taxi colour, time and number painted on the door.

They certainly are cockroaches, slumped like vermin sucking God knows what out of a plastic baggy. I pass them everyday on Silom. It took a few solid weeks of "eff yous" to them to get them to leave me alone on my daily commute on foot. Thanks for the information, by the way. Along with a fine, I'd like to see the grin wiped off drivers' faces with a monkey wrench. It takes around 60 baht for me to travel from Silom to Nana BTS area. Why would I pay some goon 150-200 baht for not using his meter? Last night some clown thought he could steer me to a massage parlour at 11pm. When I started speaking Thai to him that I just wanted to go home, he finally got the message. This is one part of daily life I could do without, though. Most taxis are honest, but when night falls, they turn to crooks, especially in tourist areas.

Edited April 24, 2015 by falangjim

[JAG]

Reading rhe headline - "taxis rounded up" - does raise the amusing spectacle of chaps dressed as cowboys, chasing errent taxis down Sukhumvit road waving lassoos and firing six gyns into the air!

I presume it wasn't like that?

Edited April 24, 2015 by JAG

[mercman24]

that is not a feasable excuse " i have to get the taxi back" early hours in the morning at sukhumvit area, (2/3am) every taxi driver i talk to, (and i know many) their shift finishes at 6 am .

[mikemac]

Reading rhe headline - "taxis rounded up" - does raise the amusing spectacle of chaps dressed as cowboys, chasing errent taxis down Sukhumvit road waving lassoos and firing six gyns into the air!

I presume it wasn't like that?

You read my mind. I could not get the image out of my mind, cowboys on horses, whips cracking, cattle dogs barking, trail bikes knocking over street vendors' stalls and even helicopters overhead.............................All in the midst of Sukhumvit peak hour traffic

[hawker9000]

Re @ Hawker 900 "I am intrigued", Sir many of us have lived and worked here in Thailand for more that your 10 years. Hopefully our efforts have been beneficial to Thailand's development. Many who comment here in this forum do so not as "whiners" but as people who think they have something positive to contribute. Maybe you should try to see this point, or just move to another bar stool and be comfortable with your complacency.

Fair comment, but my earlier post was not targeting the type of people you mention, ....................."Many who comment here in this forum do so not as "whiners" but as people who think they have something positive to contribute."..............................

If you read my comment again, carefully, you will see that. I thought I asked a fair question, but maybe I was wrong.

Many of the posts I read have absolutely nothing positive to contribute.

So I don't have to try and see that point as I am already aware of it, but thanks for the advice anyway.

I probably should not have used "sitting on a barstool" as an example as I rarely step foot in bars these days being kept busy at home with family or away working.

"Many of the posts I read have absolutely nothing positive to contribute.

So I don't have to try and see that point as I am already aware of it, but thanks for the advice anyway."

See, and that's where you go off the rails. Presumptuous in the extreme to set yourself up as the decider or verdict-giver of whether someone else's comment constitutes a "contribution" or not, sufficient to make them persona non grata. Even a negative vote is a contribution, but apparently not if it flies in the face of your vote. You really should at least TRY and see that point. Why not just simply voice your disagreement - you can even leave in the self-righteous I'm-positive-you're-negative schtick - and leave off with the smug invitations to hit the highway?

No need to render any disclaimers regarding your drinking habits...whatever they are. And I think we "get" your "figurative" barstool. (Oops. An emoticon. 'Guess I'll be invited to leave the country now.)

......................"and leave off with the smug invitations to hit the highway?"...........................

......................."(Oops. An emoticon. 'Guess I'll be invited to leave the country now.)"............................

Please show one example of me asking someone to leave the country, or an "invitation to hit the highway" as you put it.

You have accused me of that a number of times, now show me where I told anyone to leave if they don't like it.

"My question is - if it is such a bad place populated by such bad people, what the heck is keeping these foreigners in Thailand ?"

So now I suppose we're going to play the "that's-not-what-I-meant" game...

[mikemac]

"My question is - if it is such a bad place populated by such bad people, what the heck is keeping these foreigners in Thailand ?"

So now I suppose we're going to play the "that's-not-what-I-meant" game...

How sad, that you are trying to post comments on an English language based forum, and you have such a poor grasp of the language. Either that or you are just deliberately twisting my words, again.

That comment does not come close to telling people to leave if they don't like it, it is in fact a legitimate question - as in "What good do they see in the country to keep them there." There must be something they like about the place and I want to know what it is.

I doubt if too many other posters would take that question the wrong way, except for a desperate troll like yourself.

So I will ask you again to show me a comment I have made telling people to leave the country if they don't like it. You made the claim, now back it up with proof.

If you cannot I will report you for telling lies and bs about me and twisting my words.

[windas]

My wife and I spend around 3 months of the year in Bangkok and its unbelievable how many taxis turn down a fare. Last month we got off the Skytrain at Bang Wa tried to hail a taxi on the main road, the first 14 cabs turned off their lights when we hailed them.

Then one stopped, it had a large 'GRAB TAXI' sign on the side window. The driver was happy to take us, he was polite, clean and the cab was newish.

If that is what all GRAB TAXI'S are like, there is hope that the system will change. I will definitely use them in future.

We have had problems with UBER as they use Google Maps for the driver that doesn't know the area. The route generation and destination location is quite often inaccurate.

My wife, a Thai, is ripped off by unscrupulous taxis on many occasions when the doesn't know the route.

I think the future of booked taxis is promising as many more come onstream. That will slowly rid us of the terrible situation as of now.

[hawker9000]

"My question is - if it is such a bad place populated by such bad people, what the heck is keeping these foreigners in Thailand ?"

So now I suppose we're going to play the "that's-not-what-I-meant" game...

How sad, that you are trying to post comments on an English language based forum, and you have such a poor grasp of the language. Either that or you are just deliberately twisting my words, again.

That comment does not come close to telling people to leave if they don't like it, it is in fact a legitimate question - as in "What good do they see in the country to keep them there." There must be something they like about the place and I want to know what it is.

I doubt if too many other posters would take that question the wrong way, except for a desperate troll like yourself.

So I will ask you again to show me a comment I have made telling people to leave the country if they don't like it. You made the claim, now back it up with proof.

If you cannot I will report you for telling lies and bs about me and twisting my words.

Ooooooo. Threats & petulance now. Yet another (lame) attempt to show someone who disagrees with you the door. OK. Right. An 'A' for persistence, but still sad indeed. The very definition of disingenuous. So report & namecall all you want, rant & rave, cry & whine, pout & sulk, but you should really own up to your own agenda. Neither I nor anyone need justify to you (or to anyone) their decision to leave or stay just because of or despite the fact they don't share your rosy picture of things.

[JohnnyJazz]

EVERY scamming taxi driver that parks near a hotel is paying off the police. It's gong to be impossible to stop it.

Taxi driver lease these prime scam zones from police and prey on first time visitors with no intention of operating a legitimate taxi service.

They are criminals posing as taxi drivers, colluding with police to defraud visitors.

Call 1584 every time a taxi driver refuses the fare. Report the taxi colour, time and number painted on the door.

Where did you get this information from ? According to a taxi driver we know for a long time (he leaves nearby our house and we call him each time we need to go somewhere for the past year and half) the hotel scam is organized by the hotel doormans. I even asked once the hotel manager of an international chain about it, he admitted being aware of the problem but was advised against doing anything about it as it was part of the local custom.

[mikemac]

"My question is - if it is such a bad place populated by such bad people, what the heck is keeping these foreigners in Thailand ?"

So now I suppose we're going to play the "that's-not-what-I-meant" game...

How sad, that you are trying to post comments on an English language based forum, and you have such a poor grasp of the language. Either that or you are just deliberately twisting my words, again.

That comment does not come close to telling people to leave if they don't like it, it is in fact a legitimate question - as in "What good do they see in the country to keep them there." There must be something they like about the place and I want to know what it is.

I doubt if too many other posters would take that question the wrong way, except for a desperate troll like yourself.

So I will ask you again to show me a comment I have made telling people to leave the country if they don't like it. You made the claim, now back it up with proof.

If you cannot I will report you for telling lies and bs about me and twisting my words.

Ooooooo. Threats & petulance now. Yet another (lame) attempt to show someone who disagrees with you the door. OK. Right. An 'A' for persistence, but still sad indeed. The very definition of disingenuous. So report & namecall all you want, rant & rave, cry & whine, pout & sulk, but you should really own up to your own agenda. Neither I nor anyone need justify to you (or to anyone) their decision to leave or stay just because of or despite the fact they don't share your rosy picture of things.

Just as I thought, you lied your way into a corner now you are going to flame and lie your way out of it.

I am sorry I ever directed a simple question at you and will never make that mistake again.

Don't worry, I won't report you, you can do more damage to yourself than I ever could.

[Si Thea01]

"My question is - if it is such a bad place populated by such bad people, what the heck is keeping these foreigners in Thailand ?"

So now I suppose we're going to play the "that's-not-what-I-meant" game...

How sad, that you are trying to post comments on an English language based forum, and you have such a poor grasp of the language. Either that or you are just deliberately twisting my words, again.

That comment does not come close to telling people to leave if they don't like it, it is in fact a legitimate question - as in "What good do they see in the country to keep them there." There must be something they like about the place and I want to know what it is.

I doubt if too many other posters would take that question the wrong way, except for a desperate troll like yourself.

So I will ask you again to show me a comment I have made telling people to leave the country if they don't like it. You made the claim, now back it up with proof.

If you cannot I will report you for telling lies and bs about me and twisting my words.

Mikemac. I know this is going off topic but if I may say.

Don't waste your time on a fool. I no longer respond to his unintelligible murmurs . He tried his little tricks with me and I, like you, responded but this gives him some sort of gratification and away he goes into overdrive in an effort to garner an angry response. One tries to respond sensibly but I don't think he knows the meaning of the word because he just carries on with his agenda; won't answer any questions, twists your words and changes your quotes in his attempts to garner that angry response. I think he does this in an attempt to get a sense of power. Not real power but perceived power and control, and if you get angry then it is your opinion that's discredited, not his.

He definitely has a problem, so every time he carries on with his diatribes, just laugh, never respond, therefore not lowering yourself to his level. Just watch his posts, and you will see his modus operandi. He selects some one he thinks he can better, changes things to suit his agenda and also twists your words and puts them out there as if they are direct quotes. Just look how far of track he has taken this original post, which is about taxis. Don't encourage idiots, just walk away from them..

[Dieselnoi]

Seems this government is doing something about problems.. never seen the previous one do anything like this. At least its progress.

The government is systematically taking away revenue from their political enemies.

All these crackdowns are hitting the Police and political opponents in the pocketbook.

Doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Very Thai approach.

Typical red response.. its political.

If they followed the rules then they would not be in these problems.

We could turn this around the previous government let the taxi drivers and police rip of anyone because they were on their side. I prefer a government that does the right thing over the wrong reasons (if what you say is true) then a government that does nothing and lets crimes go on because the criminals are on their side.

I was just pointing out the taxi mafia crackdown is political and is really targeting the police that run the show.

I'm happy to see the police and taxies suffer.

How much do the Police take in per month by leasing the street to these taxi scammers?

5 or 6 scamming taxies parked in front of every hotel, each paying 3,000Bt or so to the police.

There are 425 hotels listed in the Sukhumvit area.

That's 2,550 drivers paying 7,500,000Bt. per month to the police in the Sukhumvit area.

90 Million Baht per year going to the ThongLor/Lumpini Stations from the taxi mafia parked outside the hotels.

Dude, what you say may or may not be true- the government may or may not do it 'just for political reason' (BTW now that you pointed it out do you have an actual evidence? or it is just your thoughts?). If fighting crimes is considered an act against the previous government then the previous government must be really really bad- which makes this government even more legitimate.

Anyway, I agree with robblok. Better have a government that is doing something good than a government that is doing nothing.

Perhaps you prefer this government done nothing to law breakers.

[harrry]

Trouble is that you would then end up with the highways and byways of Bangkok littered wirh immobilised taxis.

Not really, if they have not paid the fines (heavy ones) by the time the tow trucks arrive they can collect it from the impound with towing and storage fees too.

[kennw]

Maybe there is hope for us with the new taxi services starting up, uber, nakorn, grab etc. In jakarta the taxi service Blue Bird is the best run and strictly managed. Whenever possible patrons try to use this service. This sets the standard and other operators know what they are up against, of course not all of the "others" cease their bad antics but generally they end up being the last choice option.I hope this will eventuate here in Thailand particularly Bangkok and the airports.

[Johnny S]

and then no more happens ...

[metisdead]

Off topic posts have been removed.

[luis888]

I arrived with the wife and 2 kids (17 & 30 ) at Mochit this morning, got rejected by the 1st cab, we had 4 cases, so I accepted it as too much luggage, so another comes to talk to the wife, I knew I was going to be screwed, but I had to get to the hotel to drop off the bags and get to the South African embassy before 12, so I agreed to go no meter 350 baht, I get in and see that both rear doors don't have the number plates, so I decided to take a photo of the cars number plate and report him, after he drops us off I sneak 2 photos, would you believe both shots has my finger over the lens, I could kick myself. Anyway in the afternoon we take another cab from the hotel to Mochit, 87 Baht, ?

[anon7867763]

ben getting taxis for 10 years and never had a major problem except for a few in tourist areas. 90% + of taxi drivers are decent , it´s only a very few who hang around tourist areas who spoil it for the rest.

[windas]

My wife and I spend around 3 months of the year in Bangkok and its unbelievable how many taxis turn down a fare. Last month we got off the Skytrain at Bang Wa tried to hail a taxi on the main road, the first 14 cabs turned off their lights when we hailed them.

Then one stopped, it had a large 'GRAB TAXI' sign on the side window. The driver was happy to take us, he was polite, clean and the cab was newish.

If that is what all GRAB TAXI'S are like, there is hope that the system will change. I will definitely use them in future.

We have had problems with UBER as they use Google Maps for the driver that doesn't know the area. The route generation and destination location is quite often inaccurate.

My wife, a Thai, is ripped off by unscrupulous taxis on many occasions when she doesn't know the route.

I think the future of booked taxis is promising as many more come onstream. That will slowly rid us of the terrible situation as of now.