Taxi or guide - what to do when a driver takes a foreign tourist for a meal!

[rooster59]

Taxi or guide - what to do when a driver takes a foreign tourist for a meal!

 

Image: Thairath

 

A video is doing the rounds of Thai social media after a taxi driver was questioned after he took a foreign tourist into a noodle restaurant.

There happened to be two tourist policemen in the duck restaurant who overheard the driver talking to the tourist.

Following lunch they stopped the driver and questioned him. They claimed that he was acting as a guide and thus breaking the law.

The driver is adamant that he has done nothing wrong - he says all he was doing was helping the tourist understand the menu.

But the cops are skeptical and question him at length. Though there was no report of any official action they take his details for future reference.

The poster of the clip on Facebook asked the public to decide if they thought the driver had really done anything wrong.

Was it an act of kindness to a tourist in distress or was he breaking the law by operating as a guide without a license?

The incident happened in Samut Songkram on Saturday and was posted on the Mem Pho Dam Facebook fan page.

 

Source: Thairath

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-02-26

 

[optad]

If the 'tourist police' are getting heavy on a taxi driver being social, and informative then the tourist police need to re think their jobs. 

[ezzra]

 

Taxi and Tuk Tuk drivers been doing it for years, taking tourists into

souvenir shops and restaurants for an agreed commission,

it's not the most honest thing in the world to do, but this is a lesser evil

than other scams and somewhat mote excepted by tourists now days... 

[stevenl]

 
Taxi and Tuk Tuk drivers been doing it for years, taking tourists into
souvenir shops and restaurants for an agreed commission,
it's not the most honest thing in the world to do, but this is a lesser evil
than other scams and somewhat mote excepted by tourists now days... 

Unlikely that was the case here in a noodle restaurant. He probably was just explaining.

sent using Tapatalk

[canuckamuck]

Is he not a Thai citizen? Are the citizens now banned from showing people around?

[jonclark]

So a Thai person (taxi driver or other profession) eating noodles with a tourist is now a tour guide and requires a license to eat noodles in the presence of the tourist. 

 

Did the police actually speak to the tourist to see if the taxi driver was just helping him out or not?

[PatOngo]

The story fails to mention who paid for the meal.

[fruitman]

And what if i have guests from Europe and i show them around Thailand for a week? Go to loads of restaurants, markets, hotels, beaches, i will even drive them around in my car.

 

Is that working illegal without a permit?

 

Please tell me if it is cause i do have family/friends asking me to show them Thailand and they're saving money to come.

[djayz]

They're more concerned about a taxi drive eventually doubling up as a guide but don't give a rat's ass about taxi drivers refusing passengers, not wanting to use the meter, speeding, etc.?! 

[edwinchester]

Wifey and I have asked a taxi driver to recommend and take us to a nice restaurant when we were unfamiliar with an area. Really have these cops nothing better to do?

[jaltsc]

“Was it an act of kindness to a tourist in distress…?”

 

That's an easy problem to solve. Was the tourist charged extra for this "act of kindness"?

 

Edited February 26, 2017 by jaltsc

[darksidedog]

Were the cops on duty at the time?

And if so, why were they sat in a noodle restaurant?

It's a real shame they couldn't find something productive to do, like address the soaring crime rate, or the really awful driving on countries race tracks. Sorry, I meant roads.

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

 

Taxi and Tuk Tuk drivers been doing it for years, taking tourists into

souvenir shops and restaurants for an agreed commission,

it's not the most honest thing in the world to do, but this is a lesser evil

than other scams and somewhat mote excepted by tourists now days... 

 

This can be many 'scenarios'.

 

More then 3 decades ago it was very common for both tuk tuk and taxi drivers (no meters in those days) to agree the destination and a fare then suddenly the tuk tuk or taxi would divert into a compound which was a jewelry shop which had not been agreed in advance as the destination and jewelry shopping was not part of any initial discussion.

 

I went through this a couple of times then my company found a reliable private driver who I used on many trips: 

 

- Divert into compound.

 

- Persuaded quickly to enter the shop. (Whether the jewelry is real is questionable.)

 

- Push from the jewelry staff to buy starts quickly.

 

- In some cases suddenly a bowl of cheap noodles appears and tourist is pushed to eat, making the tourist feel obliged to buy something from the shop. 

 

- Then tuk tuk or taxi driver would quietly say to the tourist,  'please buy something or the security guards will be ordered to damage my car'.

 

- Many tourists did of course then buy something because they were frightened.

 

- Back at the hotel, tourist tells the hotel staff, who advise to 'forget about it', in many cases because the hotel staff are frightened to call the police. 

Edited February 26, 2017 by scorecard

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Wifey and I have asked a taxi driver to recommend and take us to a nice restaurant when we were unfamiliar with an area. Really have these cops nothing better to do?

 

Strange, do you really believe your average Bkk taxi driver (any Bkk taxi driver) is well familiar with what restaurants are good / not good? 

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Were the cops on duty at the time?

And if so, why were they sat in a noodle restaurant?

It's a real shame they couldn't find something productive to do, like address the soaring crime rate, or the really awful driving on countries race tracks. Sorry, I meant roads.

 

Cops are not allowed to take a meal break?

Edited February 26, 2017 by scorecard

[GOLDBUGGY]

3 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Wifey and I have asked a taxi driver to recommend and take us to a nice restaurant when we were unfamiliar with an area. Really have these cops nothing better to do?

Me to! And to be honest I was never disappointed or felt cheated when I did that.

 

So what if the Taxi Driver gets a bit of a kick-back taking me to a certain place. I never saw the Menu Price go up just because I walked in. So if he takes me to a good place, and I pay the same price, and he gets some money back for doing this, then who cares?

[Destiny1990]

Bit over the top...

[kevc]

Probably hired the taxi driver for the day to take him around Bangkok and they stopped for lunch.

Sent from my SM-P901 using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[dageurreotype]

27 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

Strange, do you really believe your average Bkk taxi driver (any Bkk taxi driver) is well familiar with what restaurants are good / not good? 

Yes. I do. Unless you want some poncy overpriced faux farang shit.

[Mr Tom]

Wow. They really milk the tourist industry here. Should make a mad max style movie where it's a fight to the death to see who can get the most tourist dollars.  

[sugarcane24]

4 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Wifey and I have asked a taxi driver to recommend and take us to a nice restaurant when we were unfamiliar with an area. Really have these cops nothing better to do?

Indeed. Like e.g. arrest fish-feeding tourists. 

[Bantex]

I was in a northern city with my Thai wife. There were 12 main attractions that the tour busses went to, all arriving at the same time and they traveled on to each attraction together. My wife hired a tuktuk for the day at an agreed price and the driver told us all of the tourists would be at attraction 1 so he took us to the 7th on the circuit. When the busses were all at the second one we went to the eighth one etc. When we arrived at each site, it had had been cleaned, had no crowds. Taxis and busses went to the car parks and their passengers walked to the attractions, our tuktuk driver bypassed the car parks and dropped us at the actual attraction so we had no walking in the heat. When we were finished, my wife just phoned him and he collected us and on to the next one. As the day went on my wife asked him about restaurants telling him what type of food we wanted and told us of six which had good reputations showing their locations on a map he also showed us where not to eat.

We chose a restaurant which we were taken to and again he waited for us, we paid the menu price and had a great meal at a reasonable cost. When he took us back to our hotel all he wanted was the agreed price of 300 baht. We had his transport services and local knowledge for 10 hours that day. I paid him 500 baht and was delighted with the tip. He was not hired as a tour guide but his local knowledge was invaluable.

Had we joined a guided tour or taken taxis our day would have cost considerably more and been a lot less enjoyable.

[Freed1948]

I was in Sadao yesterday and was outside the main Police station, 

went inside asked the police where to get the bus to Had Yai.

He showed me the stop and whilst doing so 2 of his colleagues

Were taking photos of us. I was waiting at the stop when he pulled up

told me to hop on and he took me to the van station as he said it was much quicker.

The question is was he breaking the law acting as a guide?

Will he be arrested and fined?

 

[Jingthing]

In the U.S. there is a sarcastic phrase ... white people's problems.

This story ... Thai people's problems.

It's a nothing. Focus on serious stuff, please. There is so much of that here. 

[madusa]

On 2017/2/25 at 5:38 PM, fruitman said:

And what if i have guests from Europe and i show them around Thailand for a week? Go to loads of restaurants, markets, hotels, beaches, i will even drive them around in my car.

 

Is that working illegal without a permit?

 

Please tell me if it is cause i do have family/friends asking me to show them Thailand and they're saving money to come.

Put it this way, if they feel like arresting you for working as a tour guide they can do so. They will not listen to what you say about your guests from Europe or your relatives, friends from your home country.

The more you argue with them the more they feel you are guilty and trying very hard to get out of the situation. That's how they see things. A bunch of S.A.H (stupid arse hole).

They often like to exercise their power. These small people given a bit of authority whether they are right or wrong will try to show their authority. Fascist countries often have problems like this.

To say Thailand is a Fascist country is really an understatement.

[outsider]

So Thai people are not allowed to help tourists. In short, Thais cannot be courteous without a permit? If that's the case, then I have lots of reports to make, because the girls in my office are always recommending me to go this cafe and that restaurant, and sometimes we even go in a small group so they can show me some new places. And the places we go to are most local, so no English menu etc. They have to go through the menu, sometimes item by item, with me. Gosh, I've been working with a bunch of 'illegal workers', it seems. Shame on me.

[free123]

17 hours ago, optad said:

If the 'tourist police' are getting heavy on a taxi driver being social, and informative then the tourist police need to re think their jobs. 

couple of times i joined taxi drivers to a meal together...most are really nice and informative guys ..some are rats but thats no different anywhere else...so whats wrong ??? why police see a need to intervene ???

[optad]

4 hours ago, free123 said:

couple of times i joined taxi drivers to a meal together...most are really nice and informative guys ..some are rats but thats no different anywhere else...so whats wrong ??? why police see a need to intervene ???

Same here. The story is a bit vague where they met or if money passed although they seem indignant enough in the video, but who hasn't here just taken a taxi from the airport to pattaya or a longer journey, shouted the rice bowl at the toilet break and chewed the proverbial fat. Part of the trip. 

 

Secondly, if the 'tourist police' are there to protect organized labor division ie guides appropo drivers then they are misusing their own policing role lest it all be about kickbacks.