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Patong Police investigate taxi drivers beating up a tourist


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1 hour ago, Straight8 said:

You should try getting out once in a while.

Out n about every day, tuk tuk ranks at many locations I frequent, heavy tourist traffic, comings n goings by all nationalities, vans, metered cabs, transfers etc. All runs very smooth.

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On 3/31/2019 at 4:07 AM, joecoolfrog said:

The problem is that many tourists dont know the ' rules ' , oddly enough TAT dont do warnings , the land of smiles is perfect according to them.

Its not a case of taking or leaving published rates , its the general appalling attitude of the transportation ' mafia ' on Phuket.

20 years ago ( pre internet days ) I got into an alternation with a tuk tuk guy who dropped me in karon and demanded an extra 200 baht because it was raining ! 

Being too nieve not to know the ' rules ' I responded in the same friendly manner he had adopted , ie  told him to go <deleted> himself.

He took a swing , regretted it and ended up face down in a puddle , the hotel security guard then kicked him in the arse and told him to bugger off.

Would I get involved now , no because I know better , its a shame the thugs have won though.

“It’s not a case of taking or leaving the published rates” ! Yes it is!

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6 hours ago, chang1 said:

Why not try to look at the situation from the point of view of a tourist who has never been to Thailand before and is used to taxi drivers being polite and always using meters. Just because you know the system and how much to haggle doesn't mean everyone does.

I have used taxis in Bangkok many times with very few problems (I never take one that doesn't want to use the meter though). There is no reason why they should not have the same service in Patong. 

You may not be bothered by being ripped off every time you get a cab but most people despise it.

Bear in mind up to 6/8 folk often cram into tuk tuk, same agreed fare tho!

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7 hours ago, chang1 said:

No, it would just add to the fare on the meter, which even then probably would be cheaper than Patong. 

Do taxi drivers gang up to beat any passengers who dare to question the fare where you live?

I never said it should have been free. 200 Baht is ridiculous for 5 minuets, bearing in mind the daily minimum wage is about 325 Baht. 

I know many on here have plenty of money and cherish looking down on us plebs who dare to question excessive charging, but if we all just rolled over and paid whatever price was offered even they would start to squeal.

Unfortunately in places like Patong the police will normally ignore overcharging so it is a big problem which only gets looked at when cases like this become international news and then soon it's back to normal.

The sooner Big Joke gets these vermin under control the better.

 

Daily wage has little to do with cab fares, what’s the comparison then to Brit wages? I agree these guys need severe punishment and behaved appallingly. Can’t see the police being involved in setting cab fares tho although tourist police here are very helpful in general. Elections over now, BJ will move on to bigger things!

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18 hours ago, carlsimp said:

Anywhere in Patong the price is 200 baht or should be which is expensive when you compare it to other places but a lot try and nail 3 or 400 even for a 2 minute journey

 

Why would anyone need to take a tuk tuk for a 2 minutes drive, especially with those prices?

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On 3/29/2019 at 3:23 PM, Just Weird said:

The whole story that you read (but did not make clear) did not say that the woman and the child were attacked as you seem to be trying to suggest.  The two men were attacked, "the group" was not.

 

Indeed. And the whole story suggests that the ME tourists agreed a price for a trip, put all their bags into the tuk-tuk and the expected the driver to hang around will they went looking at other things. 

 

Not condoning the violence but IME, having lived in the ME, some people there can treat others very incorrectly when paying for service. And they bring the same habits overseas with them.

 

 

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9 hours ago, Olmate said:

Daily wage has little to do with cab fares, what’s the comparison then to Brit wages? I agree these guys need severe punishment and behaved appallingly. Can’t see the police being involved in setting cab fares tho although tourist police here are very helpful in general. Elections over now, BJ will move on to bigger things!

I will give it a go. I don't know the formulas used to work out metered cab fares but I would expect the drivers pay to be included in them. As for unmetered fares they are only an estimate of what the maximum a passenger will pay based on the drivers experience. 

My numbers are ball park figures based on London black cab and Bangkok cabs, corruption, training, taxes, licenses, car prices and maintenance have all been ignored even though they are also major influences on fares.

UK minimum wage = £7.83 = 325 Baht per hour

1 mile taxi journey approx £7.83 (325 Baht)

So roughly 1 mile = 1 hour minimum wage.

Thai minimum wage = 325 Baht per day 325/8 = 40.6 Baht per hour

2km taxi journey = 35 Baht 

35/2x1.6 =  28 Baht per mile

So roughly 1.4 miles per hour minimum wage.

carlsimp said 200 Baht is the standard fare around Patong. So a 1 mile journey is roughly 0.2 miles per hour minimum wage.

As capital cities are usually among the most expensive places for taxis there is no justification for the rip off fares in Patong (or other tourist areas). Now can you understand why I say you are having the piss taken out of you?

Tourist police don't set fares but can mediate and are a better option than violence when a customer thinks 5 hours minimum wage is an excessive charge for waiting 5 minuets.

Maybe BJ will think one of the biggest problems for tourists is important enough to sort out - I won't hold my breath.

For now I will rent a bike when in tourist areas - probably no more dangerous than most taxis either and less chance of confrontation.

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49 minutes ago, chang1 said:

I will give it a go. I don't know the formulas used to work out metered cab fares but I would expect the drivers pay to be included in them. As for unmetered fares they are only an estimate of what the maximum a passenger will pay based on the drivers experience. 

My numbers are ball park figures based on London black cab and Bangkok cabs, corruption, training, taxes, licenses, car prices and maintenance have all been ignored even though they are also major influences on fares.

UK minimum wage = £7.83 = 325 Baht per hour

1 mile taxi journey approx £7.83 (325 Baht)

So roughly 1 mile = 1 hour minimum wage.

Thai minimum wage = 325 Baht per day 325/8 = 40.6 Baht per hour

2km taxi journey = 35 Baht 

35/2x1.6 =  28 Baht per mile

So roughly 1.4 miles per hour minimum wage.

carlsimp said 200 Baht is the standard fare around Patong. So a 1 mile journey is roughly 0.2 miles per hour minimum wage.

As capital cities are usually among the most expensive places for taxis there is no justification for the rip off fares in Patong (or other tourist areas). Now can you understand why I say you are having the piss taken out of you?

Tourist police don't set fares but can mediate and are a better option than violence when a customer thinks 5 hours minimum wage is an excessive charge for waiting 5 minuets.

Maybe BJ will think one of the biggest problems for tourists is important enough to sort out - I won't hold my breath.

For now I will rent a bike when in tourist areas - probably no more dangerous than most taxis either and less chance of confrontation.

So next time I,m in London I,ll slip the cabbie a ten to wait an hour while I down a pint or two? Oh and go right ahead rent that bike!

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it is normal in Thailand. Long time ago I went to Bangkok with two elderly friend, one was handicapped , we traveled with a Taxi from Siam back to Sathorn . Arrived to the Hotel, the taxi driver shout at me and asked me to pay 100 bahts more than the meter price. He was very angry and shout loudly, my friends were very scared. I did not want to make my friends suffer as they were over 75. So I paid.  I hated that incident , my friends were so scared, They did  not want to go out anymore . Next day they left Thailand earlier and cancelled all their trip in Thailand.

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2 hours ago, Olmate said:

So next time I,m in London I,ll slip the cabbie a ten to wait an hour while I down a pint or two? Oh and go right ahead rent that bike!

An hour on the meter will no doubt cost more than £10, so he will be long gone when you come back but at least there won't be a linch mob waiting to give you a good shoeing. This is how it should be - you know exactly what to expect to pay with a meter, nothing less and any more is at your discretion. Getting hospitalised for negotiating poorly with vermin may be a risk you don't mind taking but the less money I have to waste, repeat waste, on those scum bags the better. Motor bikes aren't always the most convenient (especially with the family and luggage) but most of the time are better. So I'll keep risking mine and my family's lives on bikes while you risk yours while bending over and being shafted by vermin. Read the post above to see the effect your friends have on normal people.

Bangkok taxis have their bad eggs but I use them all the time when there so I am not anti taxi just anti rip off and thuggery.

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I have never had problem with taxis in bangkok, but when i went to patong i was refused of every taxi when i demanded to go by the meter. I ended up walking the 10 km distance from patong to kamela. I enjoyed the walk and it was free. I would never spend a single baht to take a taxi in phuket because i strongly feel that it is some kind of mafia methods that are enforced and nobody want to take a passenger that demand to go by the meter. There have been many promises to end patongs taxis illegal practice and to make them following the law. If the law was enforced this situation would never happen because if the taxi are waiting then the meter is still running and the taxi driver got paid for the extra 5 minutes waiting according to the fare prices set by the authorities. To solve this problem in patong somone like big joke have to be assigned for that work! 

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10 hours ago, chang1 said:

An hour on the meter will no doubt cost more than £10, so he will be long gone when you come back but at least there won't be a linch mob waiting to give you a good shoeing. This is how it should be - you know exactly what to expect to pay with a meter, nothing less and any more is at your discretion. Getting hospitalised for negotiating poorly with vermin may be a risk you don't mind taking but the less money I have to waste, repeat waste, on those scum bags the better. Motor bikes aren't always the most convenient (especially with the family and luggage) but most of the time are better. So I'll keep risking mine and my family's lives on bikes while you risk yours while bending over and being shafted by vermin. Read the post above to see the effect your friends have on normal people.

Bangkok taxis have their bad eggs but I use them all the time when there so I am not anti taxi just anti rip off and thuggery.

Negotiating poorly, ...you finally get it????

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10 hours ago, Trollmann said:

I have never had problem with taxis in bangkok, but when i went to patong i was refused of every taxi when i demanded to go by the meter. I ended up walking the 10 km distance from patong to kamela. I enjoyed the walk and it was free. I would never spend a single baht to take a taxi in phuket because i strongly feel that it is some kind of mafia methods that are enforced and nobody want to take a passenger that demand to go by the meter. There have been many promises to end patongs taxis illegal practice and to make them following the law. If the law was enforced this situation would never happen because if the taxi are waiting then the meter is still running and the taxi driver got paid for the extra 5 minutes waiting according to the fare prices set by the authorities. To solve this problem in patong somone like big joke have to be assigned for that work! 

Don’t demand , just ask with a smile, works for me!

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11 hours ago, jamesmith said:

it is normal in Thailand. Long time ago I went to Bangkok with two elderly friend, one was handicapped , we traveled with a Taxi from Siam back to Sathorn . Arrived to the Hotel, the taxi driver shout at me and asked me to pay 100 bahts more than the meter price. He was very angry and shout loudly, my friends were very scared. I did not want to make my friends suffer as they were over 75. So I paid.  I hated that incident , my friends were so scared, They did  not want to go out anymore . Next day they left Thailand earlier and cancelled all their trip in Thailand.

Quite right, if you had agreed on a price beforehand, no problem.I seem to recall it’s in all good guide books to set a price.

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On 3/30/2019 at 3:52 PM, mike787 said:

Really?  Good to know.  Which one is polite and witch one I should avoid?  WHY plesae?

Mike I have worked in all three countries. The worst and most arrogant are the Kuwaiti's followed closely by the Saudi's. They are at their worst when they are in their own countries of course. When they travel they realise they cannot get away with their rudeness as they do at home. I found the UAE people to be polite and courteous and completely different to the other two. In Kuwait I had to be rushed out of the country by my company because I lost my temper and swore at one of the operators in the Mina Al Ahmadi gas plant. Would have gone to jail.

 

Den 

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On 3/30/2019 at 5:39 PM, sahibji said:

try to beat a chinese tourist- they will all gang up on you and boycott your tourism.

Oh the pure delight of a Chinese boycott. Would make all my dreams come true.

 

Den

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On 3/30/2019 at 12:20 PM, seancbk said:

Tuk-Tuks should all be banned, or if not at least forced to use a proper meter so that tourist and locals alike stop being fleeced by these scumbags.

Even the taxi's won't  use their meter....

 

Last week i arrived at don mueang, the taxiqueue was at number 30 and i got ticket 120 !!!

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On 3/29/2019 at 3:23 PM, Just Weird said:

The whole story that you read (but did not make clear) did not say that the woman and the child were attacked as you seem to be trying to suggest.  The two men were attacked, "the group" was not.

A male middle eastern tourist was attacked by taxi drivers in front of his child and wife. It has been reported that they were injured in the attack.

 

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On 3/30/2019 at 9:13 PM, Olmate said:

Lived here for many years and have to say never have experienced any aggression as you say. The set prices are well known and on all their boards on display. You can either pay that price or bargain it down and if you have half a brain and a smile it will work for you. If your wacked and full of shit no doubt it won’t.Hows the transport availability in your area?

No you haven't.  Not with a delusional post like that.

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6 minutes ago, Khaeng Mak said:

I visited Bangla a few weeks back.  The entire demographic is middle easterns, chinese and indians.

Karma has ensured that Phuket is now getting exactly the type of tourists it deserves.

So anti Bangla anti Middle East,anti Chinese,anti Indian, anti tuk tuk ,finally anti Thai,s in Phuket... after a visit! ????

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35 minutes ago, Olmate said:

So anti Bangla anti Middle East,anti Chinese,anti Indian, anti tuk tuk ,finally anti Thai,s in Phuket... after a visit! ????

Well he's a quick learner and not far off the mark either!!! ????

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7 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Well he's a quick learner and not far off the mark either!!! ????

Strange comment from a supporter,observer of local business.His Karma comment indicates a wish that the place goes arse up.

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9 minutes ago, Olmate said:

Strange comment from a supporter,observer of local business.His Karma comment indicates a wish that the place goes arse up.

I didn't read it that way, but am not over-enamoured with the quality of the cheap tourists here as I have often posted.

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5 hours ago, Olmate said:

Negotiating poorly, ...you finally get it????

I always had it. 

 

No meters + greedy operators + little alternative options + many weak/uninformed/lazy/wealthy/intimidated customers = rip off fares.

Rip off fares + customers not in the above group = hard negotiations

Hard negotiations = opportunity for conflict

Conflict + poor law enforcement + vermin = possible violence

 

All solved by the police enforcing the law and ensuring meters are accurate and always used.

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