Israeli tourist fined 2,000 baht for littering in Pattaya, makes complaint to police

[Sweet Swede]

This 2000 bath fine and also other expensive fines are obviously a selective fines which only purpose is to cash in on tourists. If it had been fines with the target to actually improve the environment, the fines would have been in the same range as traffic fines. The enforcement of this is only applied at tourist spots.

[donnacha]

If they were genuinely worried about litter, it is hilarious that the bright new hope for tourism is India.

The cultural tendency to throw trash anywhere is noticeable when you walk through the Indian districts of otherwise reasonably tidy cities such as Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.

Also, the Indians are probably the only nationality on earth who will make a bigger fuss over a 2,000 baht fine than the Israelis ????
 

[Chazar]

Blacklist him for 999 years like a  Thai prison sentence , meanwhile outside my 7-11 soi 52 sukhumvit so many butts  the roads and inch higher 99%Thais stand there puffing away

[Krataiboy]

Q: What do you call a melange of five plods who waste their time and our money sniffing out "antisocial" individuals?

 

A: A thicket.

 

 

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

They don't think.  Greed has killed all their brain cells.  Why doesn't someone who can write Thai, send a letter to the town hall, explaining that every time a Pattaya cop singles out a farang for specialist treatment (check out roadside banditry) this action deters a score of others from ever visiting.

I will agree with you in part, but how many farangs come here and cause trouble or throw rubbish on the ground, that can't be let go of IMO.

 

When I returned to Sydney in October with the family, we were outside the Opera House enjoying the foreshore and an Indian or Pakistani lady threw a piece of tissue on the ground, I said threw, not drop, and I said oi, that belongs to you and her husband said mind your business, with my reply being, this is my business, would you like me to arrest your wife as a civilian for littering until the police arrive and she can pay the $200 fine, I have 5 witnesses here mate.

 

He said to his wife in his lingo to pick it up, which she did angrily and walked off and I couldn't give a rats a$$ if I offended them as tourists, don't need people throwing their rubbish in our backyard, too bad the Thai's don't care about their own, but the cops are within their right to fine the bloke, I won't go off and jump on the bandwagon as to why they don't serve fines to their own, two rights don't make a wrong, and we know farangs are easy targets, if stupid enough to litter or break the rules here, simple really, e.g. I was stopped at a road bloke, told I was speeding, I said, no I wasn't my cruise control was set at 80, oh, ok then you travelling in the wrong (right lane), I said you must have a small d i c k because this fine is chicken feed to me, but I took it on the chin, and made sure one of their brother in the downtown TV store dropped his pants 400 baht to pay for the fine, reluctantly, you see what goes around comes around.

[atyclb]

3 hours ago, mikebell said:

They don't think.  Greed has killed all their brain cells.  Why doesn't someone who can write Thai, send a letter to the town hall, explaining that every time a Pattaya cop singles out a farang for specialist treatment (check out roadside banditry) this action deters a score of others from ever visiting.

 

 

logic has no effect

[Odysseus123]

Just now, atyclb said:

 

 

logic has no effect

Agreed...in every respect.

[atyclb]

doesnt walking street have a clean up crew at around 4 am. they make money selling food and alcohol, etc etc and thus knowingly accept there will be litter on the street. no lack of drunk money spending tourists that yes may commit the heinous crime of leaving a bottle on the ground.

 

i wonder/doubt their assigned duty hours include after midnight. they likely dress up and go to walking street to join the other freelancers.

[shy coconut]

12 hours ago, Mango Bob said:

Why is is only farangs get fined and you never hear of a Thai person getting fined.  Especially an amount like 2,000 baht.

Are Arabs farang?

[MeePeeMai]

9 hours ago, kevin612 said:

I feel like he is a victim, 2000 baht is huge.

Probably has poor negotiation skills.

[tinca tinca]

12 hours ago, Dcheech said:

Good on em, that he complained. This is just another scam that drives tourists away. 

Whilst great fun to shake a stick at the Israeli. I recall It was almost ten years back the plain clothes whatevers had an old aussie couple up against the rail out by MBK, siam square. They were scared too. The crime; dropping a ciggie butt, of course no ashtrays up on the walkover. The undercover squad hovered about seeing if a crime would be committed then pounce, extort. Behavior like this is why western tourists are not coming back to Thailand. High Baht sure, but years a scamming takes a toll. 

was there not an incident Soi 4 ....soi nana  ???

[Traubert]

8 hours ago, mikebell said:

They don't think.  Greed has killed all their brain cells.  Why doesn't someone who can write Thai, send a letter to the town hall, explaining that every time a Pattaya cop singles out a farang for specialist treatment (check out roadside banditry) this action deters a score of others from ever visiting.

Because it doesn't.

 

Look up Singapore and chewing gum. Never hurt their tourism one jot.

[moonseeker]

They might wanna start with literally every Soi lined with garbage and garbage piles. Obviously all dropped off by foreigners. MS>

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, rooster59 said:

After he left the bottle, the man was approached by five men in uniform,

Shame they're not as proficient at catching the motorcycle thieves that prey on victims at night..

[BestB]

3 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Shame they're not as proficient at catching the motorcycle thieves that prey on victims at night..

If anything he should have been praised for helping bottle collectors, as now they would not have to dig through the trash.

 

But on a slightly serious note, how hard is it to find a rubbish bin to throw away your rubbish. See it on daily basis, people just tossing rubbish wherever they stand, could walk few meters to rubbish bin, but too lazy, same applies to Thai.

 

Country is covered in rubbish and there more they remove and more people throw away again

 

2000 is an outrages amount for a bottle, but also a good lesson, no doubt he will not do it again. If only they applies same to Thai as well, then may be this country would be much cleaner

[Destiny1990]

 

I thought it was no-longer legal paying fines in cash in the middle of the night to street cops?

 

[Brick Top]

That's 50 pounds for leaving a bottle on the floor , thing is there are no litter bins anywhere to dispose of an empty bottle , also there are always people walking around collecting discarded bottles . I think 2000 THB is way to much fine , will end up pissing the tourists off yet again.

 

[Traubert]

Couldn't he just of held onto it until he could get rid of it legally? It wasn't a problem carrying it when it had water inside it?

[JHolmesJr]

I wouldn't be surprised if I threw a cigarette butt in a bin and one of these guys fished it out,

threw it on the ground and then proceeded to fine me. They are unpredictable.

[chama]

17 hours ago, Mango Bob said:

Why is is only farangs get fined and you never hear of a Thai person getting fined.  Especially an amount like 2,000 baht.

He's lucky. Normally when you get into a conversation with the RTP you end up paying. The initial stop for littering he paid, but he escaped the station with his wallet.

[brokenbone]

17 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Thais are the worst at just leaving rubbish on the pavement. They really need a massive advertising campaign and more bins

+1 on more bins

[Traubert]

1 hour ago, JHolmesJr said:

I wouldn't be surprised if I threw a cigarette butt in a bin and one of these guys fished it out,

threw it on the ground and then proceeded to fine me. They are unpredictable.

Overactive imagination.

 

Get some sleep.

[observer90210]

Enforcing civil behaviour amongst rowdy tourists has merit.....but it has a rotten taste when  only done towards tourists and not fairly also towards locals.

[Chelseafan]

Yes, it's a 2000baht fine for littering but a little common sense would of seen the Israeli warned, educated and sent on his way then it becomes a non-story.

 

 

 

[Chelseafan]

6 hours ago, Traubert said:

Because it doesn't.

 

Look up Singapore and chewing gum. Never hurt their tourism one jot.

Big difference is that Singapore sent a clear message to the Global community about chewing gum.

 

[Ron jeremy]

18 hours ago, jacko45k said:

It might be better for Pattaya, both in appearance and sentiment, if they employed 5 guys with brushes, sweeping and cleaning. 

In neighbouring countries, the beaches are quite clean, people cleaning on a daily basis, bins everywhere, and FREE showers and toilets for everyone to use. 

Where do people go to the toilet while on a beach in Thailand? 

Only one place to go! U guessed it, then then they wonder why the water is so filthy.

[Destiny1990]

1 hour ago, Chelseafan said:

Yes, it's a 2000baht fine for littering but a little common sense would of seen the Israeli warned, educated and sent on his way then it becomes a non-story.

 

 

 

Fines shouldn’t be paid in middle of the night to a bunch of  “undercover” cops.

The Police station would be much more appropriate.

[richard_smith237]

8 hours ago, Traubert said:

Because it doesn't.

 

Look up Singapore and chewing gum. Never hurt their tourism one jot.

The difference being that Singapore is pristine and the law is enforced equally amongst visitors and residents. 

 

This guy has a right to feel unfairly treated, he placed a bottle down in a place which is already a Sh!thole and was targeted by 5 guys in uniform who could have easily directed him towards a bin (if there were any).

 

In many cities bins are becoming harder to find as they are now removed due to the additional risk of terrorism - its safer to have people litter the floor and then have clean up crews. 

 

Of course, no one would deny the only civilized option is to wait until you see a bin to place your litter, but when you do they are over flowing. 

 

A 2000 baht fine for littering seems extremely harsh when bouncers on the same street are kicking the cr@p out of people and they get a 500baht fine !

 

The issue here is that this could have been handled in a manner which doesn't scream 'we want to rip off tourists at every possible opportunity' 

 

 

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

19 hours ago, Beggar said:

That's indeed a good idea - if you put them in a garbage bin. Such collectors look there. But the don't search for garbage everywhere on the beach. 

Fair enough, if there is indeed space enough in the bin to get something in there. Often they are piled high awaiting the night's collection. Balancing a bottle on top is not a good idea in case it falls and becomes a dangerous collection of broken glass... so place it just besides where it cannot fall and will be seen. OOooops just got a 2000 baht fine!

 

 

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, Ron jeremy said:

Where do people go to the toilet while on a beach in Thailand? 

As far as I know (I have given up sitting on Pattaya beaches except for the fireworks display), they need to get up and cross the busy road and find a toilet in a bar, I seem to recall some place with an escalator North of soi 6 too. Don't forget your 10 baht... I can certainly see why some would risk a skin infection and wade into the water.