Thai man with altered police ticket says online: "No wonder everybody hates the police"

[dutchinlondon]

that seems to be various. in pattaya 400 Baht, no licence is 800 I believe, wrong way or illegal U turn 600.  think I had them all . LOL 

[ThaidaGwaii]

I haven't met a cop yet who won't ask for a bribe...  Must be common in Thailand!  When Thai people tell me to be careful because the cops could catch me, I say no worry, 2oo baht and they'll go away!

[elgordo38]

15 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

One thing I do have a gripe with is the Thai law which says one loan policeman can stop you, and fine you, no one should ever be charged on one mans word, that gives the bad cops ( and I know they are not all bad) the opportunity to demand tea money from you.

Its best to pay and walk away to fight another day. You could end up with some white powder found in your pocket. Then there is the extensive search that always finds 2 or 3 other non compliant infractions. Sometimes the cost is steep to stand your ground.  

[elgordo38]

4 minutes ago, dutchinlondon said:

that seems to be various. in pattaya 400 Baht, no licence is 800 I believe, wrong way or illegal U turn 600.  think I had them all . LOL 

The cops no doubt feel that if you can afford to live in Pattaya you can afford to pay more. I am sure a police posting there is a much sought after prize. 

[elgordo38]

8 hours ago, rhythmworx said:

This is why they have to "lure" tourists into the country.

 

If they can do that to a fellow man what hope does a farang have?

He hopes that like Thai national parks he pays the same fee and not more. 

[elgordo38]

8 hours ago, z42 said:

I think the most surprising thing about this story is that there is no mention of defamation, computer crimes act, or some RTP organ grinder talking about tarnishing the police's image......

Its a pyramid case in the planning. This guy is escalating things to the next level and the police will follow suite.  This guy thinks that 4 Aces wins but the cops hold a royal flush computer crimes card. They are no doubt scanning their 150 year old rule book to see what they can add to the pyramid. No doubt he is also guilty of not having a roll of toilet tissue under his bike seat. 

[Moonmoon]

the BIB can change the rules and laws as and when they like, its no wonder they don't have public trust.

[Shiver]

I feel like speculating.

 

I think the officer had a lapse of concentration and wrote what looked like 1 instead of a 2 hundred.  The guy thought he was he was on a lucky roll, and rather than pay what he would already know should be 200,decided he'd pay at the office.  Office saw the error saying that should be 200, and when he wouldn't climb down they said "Look, if you're going to be like that then we can add all the things on that we already let slide, so it's now 500.  Stick or Twist?

 

Just yesterday a friend on his pushbike went past some traffic on the inside to avoid the queue, then realised he'd lost his wallet and went back the way he came (except this time in the opposite direction to the rules.  A policeman attending to traffic management stopped him, pulled out the guys wallet and handed it over too him (100% of content intact).  Guy offered the officer some money as a thank you, and the officer said that was not necessary, and sent him on his way.

 

So there's a good story and a bad.  We all know the police are corrupt, but at street level I prefer the corruption than having to go to the office and breaking my schedule.  It's just the big stuff that 'important people' (monied) blatantly get away with that really narks me.

Anyhow, personally I can't read many Thais writing when they use numeric 0-9.  A 7 with a line through it can easily become a 4 for example .  It reads like a doctors script to decrypt, whilst their written language is invariably very tidy.  What's that about?

Edited January 20, 2017 by Shiver

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, jonclark said:

Perhaps a brave future government should remove the power of the police to physically collect fine money.

Not in my lifetime or yours. If this became the case there would be nobody writing the police exam or paying 400,000 bahts to pass. When they say a job with benefits it does not refer to pensions, dental, etc. wink wink. You have to watch for the wink. If a cop catches you and starts writing the ticket slowly watch again for the wink that is the time when you roll up a 100 bahts and pass it to him in your rolled of fist never let the edge of the bill stick out it is bad manners(passers by may see it) and tell him that is all you have. Its a game of checkers to see who gets jumped first. 

[lvr181]

5 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

I recall getting pulled once by a Thai cop who demanded 200 baht because I wasn't carrying my driving licence. Stupidly I pulled out a 500 baht note and asked for change. He was really pussed, said he didn't  have any and became furious when I suggested he ask one of the other cops manning the road-block. I stood my ground and eventually got the change. But I was careful toa void taking the same route for the next few weeks. . . 

 

Didn't have any change............he was a former taxi driver!

[catinthehat]

8 hours ago, jonclark said:

It has been aparent for some considerable time the the police and unable t9 police themselves. Perhaps a brave future government should remove the power of the police to physically collect fine money. If fined the offender pays the fine to a different legal entity. The police enforce the law but never collect the fine. 

Sounds all well and good. But consider  that before a fine becomes a written fine on a ticket most are offered the chance to  pay a "reduced" fine into the cops pocket.

 

A separate entity to collect the money would entail hiring these people, who after time would see a great opportunity to enrich their pockets as well.

 

Many here have endorsed relieving the entire force of duty and starting over. A force that even at the exam level know the potential financial gain to be had by entering the force. Every Thai knows this. This is most likely why the gov't. thinks it's a bargain to pay them little as they know these parasites will be able to subsidize their paltry income to a level which is up to them and how ruthless they can be. I personally know a police general who clears about $300,000 per month.

 

Remember that almost every single shop, business, street stall payoff the police every month. And if owned by a foreigner they get a second visit per month from the tourist police for their cut. That's a fact.

[KenKadz]

"It was all done according to the law of the land"

 

And therein lies the rub!

[Jonmarleesco]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

'... the station chief ... said that the patrol had seen the man going the wrong way down a road, with no helmet ...' Must have been a quiet night, then. They don't normally take any notice. 

 

'Asked by reporters about the alleged comment regarding the paying of 200 baht when the ticket originally said 100 the chief reiterated that it was all above board.' So, it's all above board to alter an already issued ticket?

 

[Basil B]

They stop him and ask him to prove the bike is his, fine him because he can not.

 

Could be the bike was stolen... why not impound the bike until he produces them?

 

[Veeke]

8 hours ago, robblok said:

If the guy did all that then why complain, should have had a helmet and registration papers. The guy was clearly at fault and made a fuzz because of it the fine went up. That is a good thing, they should do that back in my country too. 

4 am in the morning.... when you are at work and feeling to fetch some snack from the nearby night shop your outing is very informal and without any disturbance to the traffic...   it need some sensitivity to humanity in not finding "crime" and violation of traffic rules... It is understandably harassing the boy and Police taking side of their "clan" by justifying this harassment. Reading rules on such occasions is immaturity ..

[robblok]

4 minutes ago, Veeke said:

4 am in the morning.... when you are at work and feeling to fetch some snack from the nearby night shop your outing is very informal and without any disturbance to the traffic...   it need some sensitivity to humanity in not finding "crime" and violation of traffic rules... It is understandably harassing the boy and Police taking side of their "clan" by justifying this harassment. Reading rules on such occasions is immaturity ..

Do you own a scooter ? if so you do know that there is a locked part of the scooter where you can put copies of your papers ? That is what people do.

 

People going on the wrong side of the road at night is not a minor thing it can turn deadly quite fast. I guess your a bit too informal in my opinion. I have had quite a few close calls with idiots on the wrong side of the road... most scary is when their lights also don't work. 

[fruitman]

6 hours ago, Phuketboy said:

The one time they (the police) could have got it right, they still manage to #$%k it up.  Driving down the wrong side of the road, no plates, no papers and no helmet.  Sounds like they were being fair in this instance.  But then they decide to try and get more than what was on the ticket.  

The one thing I have always said here is that the police don't care about anything except helmets.  The truth be that if someone doesn't wear a helmet, they will only hurt or kill themselves.  They are not endangering others, however this seems to be the biggest concern for the police.  Now they could and I use this term loosely because it will never happen, make more money by enforcing all the other road rules.  Driving my daughter to school this week I decided to see how much I would make in fines.  It is a 30 min drive in both directions (1 hour total).  In that hour I would have made close to 100,000 baht in 500 baht fines.  This was made up from no helmets, driving on the wrong side of the road, dangerous driving, speeding, crossing double lines, overloading bikes, not giving way and failing to stop at red lights.  Now that 100,000 was just me and what I saw.  Some of these occurred in front of police as it was school time and they did nothing.  If the entire station was out patrolling and enforcing these laws, how much would they collect in fines?  Makes much more sense than just collecting helmet fines.  The police could then use this for extra training, extra staff, community building all while making the roads safer and saving lives etc etc.  However we will never see this in Thailand because they don't think like we do or have much business sense.  The truth is even those in higher positions including those right at the top running the country are useless morons in uniforms.

 

They would collect namecalling, bullets and their whole family would be hated in the village. So they just do nothing all they and still get paid...now who's the smartest?

[timewilltell]

10 hours ago, robblok said:

Why because the police does not always ticket you for everything the can (same back in my country they don't always write it all down to not hurt you too much). However once you start complaining they will treat you different. I see no problem at all here, this guy was breaking the law and got fined. Now if he was innocent or fined for something he had not done i would be the first to complain. If I get caught on my bike for riding on the right lane instead of the most left I don't complain.. i pay up. 

So if you get a fine for 100 and then get told it's 200 and then it becomes 500 - that is all OK by you? Goodness.

[The Deerhunter]

He's partly right.  A lot of it is about tickets.  Not enough are issued as far as many are concerned when it comes to traffic offences.  And too much cash and carry in lieu of actual tickets.

Edited January 20, 2017 by The Deerhunter

[The Deerhunter]

11 hours ago, playboy said:

In Nice, if you caught on metro that you do not have ticket, you will be fine and pay in spot is one price but to pay later they will tell you the fine will be double! No one challenge!

That is not quite what happened.  Read it again.  The ticket issued was on paper and for only 100B.  It only started to get messy when he went to the police station and the cop on the counter wanted an extra 100b for himself and the ticket holder rightly refused. If the counter cop had just accepted the 100B it seems it should have ended there.  

 

Eventually however, the cop who issued the ticket was called and had to come back to the station, by which time everyone was riled up and all wanted a bigger "face" than each other.  There is lots of blame to be shared around but when it started off, the ticket issuing cop seems to have actually done it right at the time.

 

The really interesting bit is all the other offences brought up later at the station  If they were correct then the guy was a smart Alec and dead lucky to get off with 100B or 500B in fines!!!   If those other offences really were legit, he should have kept it zipped.

Edited January 20, 2017 by The Deerhunter

[Briggsy]

As I posted earlier I suspect there is no option for a ticket to be issued with a fine of just 100 Baht. I think this option does not exist under the law. If this is the case the station sergeant had the option of increasing the fine to the legal minimum or voiding the ticket. He chose the former.

[The Deerhunter]

2 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

As I posted earlier I suspect there is no option for a ticket to be issued with a fine of just 100 Baht. I think this option does not exist under the law. If this is the case the station sergeant had the option of increasing the fine to the legal minimum or voiding the ticket. He chose the former.

If you refer to post 110:   Did I say lots of blame to be shared all round and nobody wanted to lose face?  100B sounds real cheap to me, but it seems our friend just wanted to be a smartypants.  Over & out. 

[bangon04]

17 hours ago, sandgroper2 said:

Problem reading. "the chief said that the patrol had seen the man going the wrong way down a road, with no helmet and no license plate. "  Only robblok has got it right.

can a Thai reader please confirm which offences are actually written on the ticket? Because it might sound like the extra offences were made up after the event to justify the fine increase...

[diehard60]

23 hours ago, 55Jay said:

I don't live in BKK and I don't ride a motorbike, but how does not having registration equate to 6 misdemeanors?   What is the "normal" fine for not having registration?

 

I think you forgot - no helmet, no plates, no driver's licence, no insurance and no registration.

That adds up to six

[piewarmer]

No-one has mentioned the extra offences may have been made up to save face.

I carried my papers under the seat, they didn't survive the rain, despite being in a plastic wallet.

 

[kiwikeith]

On ‎20‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 5:24 AM, rhythmworx said:

This is why they have to "lure" tourists into the country.

 

If they can do that to a fellow man what hope does a farang have?

Wednesday must be a bad day to commit a crime on the road. 

[rems]

well - no helmet, 

-going the wrong way 

-no driving license

-no license plate

-no insurance 

the 6th is probably missing a light or a noisy exhaust...

 

For those 6 misdemeanors he got fined 5€ and made a fuss of it, back home he'd at least finish the rest of the night in jail, and fined several hundred dollars, and still you're blaming the police ?