5-year Bar closure warning issued at Pattaya Police meeting with bar operators

[SOTIRIOS]

....what about...criminal charges.....jail....fines.....???

...or another 'all or nothing scenario'....

[Bernard Flint]

A 5 year Ban on any business is just stupid.

As to violence towards Tourists, nothing will change until the perpetrators

get locked up for a year or so, that never happens.

So.. you really think that locking up some expendable thug imported from the fields is going to change anything, over actually hitting the owners in their pocket?

I'd say the latter is a lot more effective.

Can you name me any business that has been punished for the act of one of its employees in your country? Why should Thailand be different?

The question is really....Can a person name any country where the employees attack and maim people as they do in Thailand?

When the company owners allow their employees to attack and assault patrons as seems to be a growing concern here, someone has to get tough and do something about it. Read into this....5 years means the business will be shut down. Good! Plenty of other friendly other establishments that dont have thugs working in them.

Nearly every major town/city in uk have bouncers/doormen who are scum, and love violence. Many bouncers in the night club trade sell drugs and are ex football hooligans too.

[KarenBravo]

Let's face it. Closing bars for five years will never happen.

Notice that the audience are Thais, so, the statement is for Thai consumption.

The translation is "We are very cross with you for bringing bad publicity to Pattaya specifically and Thailand in general. We, the police, have been told by people higher up the food chain to fix this problem. This is annoying and makes us lose face. Therefore, as you are lower than us on the food chain, we are telling you to fix this problem. Of course, we both know that the threat we have issued is empty and for the consumption of the media present; just play along".

[true blue]

bar in chiang mai got a five year ban,on the sale of alchol.still open but no beer or spirits can be sold.

[fred Kubasa]

UNLESS........... unless they have the "Special fee " for local enforcement !

[KarenBravo]

bar in chiang mai got a five year ban,on the sale of alchol.still open but no beer or spirits can be sold.

So, what do they sell?

[hawker9000]

A 5 year Ban on any business is just stupid.

As to violence towards Tourists, nothing will change until the perpetrators

get locked up for a year or so, that never happens.

So.. you really think that locking up some expendable thug imported from the fields is going to change anything, over actually hitting the owners in their pocket?

I'd say the latter is a lot more effective.

Interesting. I was thinking just the opposite. What does the thug employee care about his employer's business woes? If the bar has to close, he just goes & works somewhere else. It's good to incentivize employers to control their employees, but I'm skeptical of the employer's ability to do that, esp. in situations which arise suddenly & unpredictably and in which a foreigner becomes confrontational to the point of provocation.

Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with holding owners responsible. But the individuals directly involved must receive appropriate punishment as well, including jail time going beyond a mere few hours of detention. And I doubt that happens much.

[amerasianex]

It's about time the people lice started doing some protecting and serving instead of whatever they have been doing. Pattaya has become the laughing stock of Asian destinations. Daily rape ,robbery and murder is not what brings visitors. I remember not too long ago you could not get a seat at a bar or restaurant.

[marinediscoking]

I blame the police for these incidents which have been happening in the AM hours on walking street since its inception. I have seen countless fights in this same spot over the years because the tourists police pack up and go home around midnight and the only police are in the police box at the beginning of walking street. And they are useless, whenever I have gone there to report a bad fight to get them to intervene they tell me to report it to the Soi 9 police station. With the amount of people on walking street until daylight they need the tourists police at their temporary tables staying there until that time. The majority of the time its not the thai security guards that cause problems but the drunk tourists starting fights or the crazy ladyboys.

The only reason there is no police presence is because of corruption, as they are paid by the clubs to allow them stay open into late hours so the police stay away as it would look like they would be condoning it.

I have looked at all the press reports about the Frenchmen's attack but none have named the venue by whom the security gurads are employed.

[Redline]

A 5 year Ban on any business is just stupid.

As to violence towards Tourists, nothing will change until the perpetrators

get locked up for a year or so, that never happens.

They just get a week off work

[Basil B]

5 years is ridicules, anything over two weeks and the bar will be (in theory) sold and have a new name.

.

[gandalf12]

The idea is for the owner to control the staff

[daiwill60]

With reports of how many bars are becoming quieter and quieter it would make sense to close down opposition bars not owned by BiB I guess, therein the BiB owned bars maintain their slices of the decreasing pie.

[chrisinth]

A 5 year Ban on any business is just stupid.

As to violence towards Tourists, nothing will change until the perpetrators

get locked up for a year or so, that never happens.

So.. you really think that locking up some expendable thug imported from the fields is going to change anything, over actually hitting the owners in their pocket?

I'd say the latter is a lot more effective.

Five year ban is nothing ?? Not sure if you have ever had your own business ? Five Years with no money coming in and still paying rent, and other fixed costs = Bankrupt ! The question is will the police really do it ?

Do you honestly think the owner will continue to pay rent?

You can't be that naive......

Which opens another creepy layer to the whole thing.

As has been said, there is no such thing as a 5 year ban for a bar, it is shut down, end off. Unless someone owns the property and maintains the registered name for that period, then its gone.

Time waits for no man, or bar....................

What would the incentive be for causing trouble at a well situated venue, get it shutdown for 5 years and take over the lease, opening your own bar in place of the last one?

I hope it is just my warped thinking but this sort of thing upsets me, especially if the 5 year ban is given off the cuff, at the discretion of a local ranker. Would there be incentive there i wonder?

Methinks I 'tink too mutt' at times........................................ .

[peteregion]

Amazing how the police make the rules here. Sounds like no court even just close down!!

Yes. Deciding punishment is outside his authority. Doesnt matter because it will be all talk, no action, just a media announcement opportunity to pretend they care anyway.

In many countries, the permit to operate or the license to operate certain business comes from the Police or some appointed authority. So in this case, the Police can withhold your permit/license for 5 years or revoke your permit/license and not issue you another permit or license for 5 years. Simple as that.

[Norvid 1950]

Violent people should end up in police station and dealt there accordingly, but employees should stay away from any fight. There are courts - police - penalties for these sort of crimes. Bar owner should chose and instruct their employees. Assigning police officer to one particular bar will certainly cause corruption. Closing a bar, means bar out of business. Not the answer, unless owners proved to be involved in drug deals.

[GOLDBUGGY]

Easy enough to control your staff's working age and insure they are over 20 years old, but not so easy to control all the actions of one of your employees, or what he may do, once you have taught them the rights and wrongs. Police Men fly off the handle every once in awhile also so why not other people to? This isn't right and they should be fired or charged, but you can't hold the top cop responsible for there actions. So how is it you can hold a bar owner responsible for the same thing?

But the big question is how do you control someone from bringing in illegal drugs to your bar? This law is not going to work unless you Strip Search everyone who comes in and use x-ray machines.

They can't even control drugs from entering there own Prisons. The Police also can't even control people from bringing in drugs from one country to the next. So how do they expect a bar owner to be able to do this?

[WhizBang]

The full story (see link) says that an individual police officer will be assigned to each bar. Grief! Just how big IS the Pattay police force? And is this really a sensible deployment of resource?

This is just guaranteed income for each of these officers. In Thailand, corruption rules, and now we see the real motive behind this order.

Also, I thought 18 was the legal age. If they are going to close any baror business that allows any illegal activity, then bye bye gogo bars, massage shops, etc., as prostitution is illegal here. Or, did they speak before thinking again?

[ableguy]

The full story (see link) says that an individual police officer will be assigned to each bar. Grief! Just how big IS the Pattay police force? And is this really a sensible deployment of resource?

No it's gathering revenue.

[ableguy]

I cannot waste anymore of my time reading this fairy tale rubbish.