'HELL ON EARTH': Brit traveller spent nightmare week in cockroach-infested Thai prison because handwash leaked on his passport

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'HELL ON EARTH' Brit traveller spent nightmare week in cockroach-infested Thai prison because handwash leaked on his passport

EXCLUSIVE

BY BEN PERRIN AND ANNABEL HOWARD

 

Gavin Topley spent six days in a Thai airport detention centre after being denied entry from Vietnam

 

Gavin Topley, from Bournemouth, spent six nights sleeping on the floor of a Thai jail after being denied entry from Vietnam for having stain on his passport

 

BANGKOK: -- A BRIT backpacker was thrown into a cockroach-infested Thai prison for six nights — because handwash gel had leaked on to his passport.

 

Gavin Topley tried to travel to Vietnam but was refused entry at the border because of the stained travel document and returned to Bangkok.

 

But his 30-day Thai visa expired and he was held at the airport detainee centre, where he slept on a floor mat in a 30ft by 20ft cell.

 

Gavin, 30, documented the conditions by taking selfies and snaps on his mobile phone, which he was allowed to keep.

 

Full story: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1766286/brit-traveller-spent-nightmare-week-in-cockroach-infested-thai-prison-because-handwash-leaked-on-his-passport/

 

- THE SUN 2016-09-13

[seahorse]

Luxury. That isn't even a Thai prison. It's just a detention centre.

[PatOngo]

That's about six days more than the red bull scum will ever do!

[ukrules]

Of course the British Embassy leaped into action and did their absolute best which probably amounted to very little.

 

I've read this story before but I think it was Phuket last time.

 

[tomwct]

That wasn't a Thai Prison, but looks like a nice clean detention room. If the British Emabassy had issued him a new passport in a timely manner he probably would have spent 48 hours. Looking at this guy with his tank top and tattoos, I would have refused him entry into

Vietnam. If you dress and act properly you will be treated with respect rather than being put in a detention room.

[CelticBhoy]

Looks like the Indians have his back covered   

[sipi]

15 minutes of fame.

[NongKhaiKid]

7 minutes ago, CelticBhoy said:

Looks like the Indians have his back covered   

Just trying to curry favour !

[JAG]

£600 (ThB27000) a week for an English teacher in Vietnam? I rather doubt it. Not only cock roaches,  but some large very pungent rats are involved in this story!

.

 

Unless of course his impeccable dress sense, highly original tattoos and obvious charming personality, together with the brilliant forethought in packing liquid in his hand luggage with his passport means his employer realised he merited such a stellar salary.

[Andrew65]

I'm a bit confused by this, did he have a 2/3 month multi-entry. (Acquired before he travelled to Thailand).

 

The Sun says that his 30 day visa had expired, I was under the impression that the 30 day stamp that one receives on arrival is finished once one exits Thailand, having only here maybe for a day or two.

 

 

[JAG]

2 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

I'm a bit confused by this, did he have a 2/3 month multi-entry. (Acquired before he travelled to Thailand).

 

The Sun says that his 30 day visa had expired, I was under the impression that the 30 day stamp that one receives on arrival is finished once one exits Thailand, having only here maybe for a day or two.

 

 

My understanding  is that he travelled to Vietnam  from Bangkok, was refused entry because of his damaged passport,was returned to Bangkok where he was again refused entry ( and a further 30 day entry ).

 

It would be very interesting to know how he approached the immigration officials in both countries.  I rather imagine that has a  lot to do with how he was treated. 

[greenchair]

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

That's about six days more than the red bull scum will ever do!

Get over it for goodness sake. 

The topic is thai detention center. 

[greenchair]

And thanks to the media coverage of being allowed to keep his phone and the way he had used it to criticise the Thai authorities for doing their job. 

I imagine future foreigner will have their phone confiscated, making it extremely difficult for them. 

Ungrateful sod. 

[daveAustin]

Do we really need the title repeated five times!

Doesn't look to be having too bad a time but it is surprisingly easy to end up in this predicament if your paperwork is not in order no matter how you dress. I think some of those higher than mighties on here should remember that.

[romeijoe]

25 minutes ago, JAG said:

My understanding  is that he travelled to Vietnam  from Bangkok, was refused entry because of his damaged passport,was returned to Bangkok where he was again refused entry ( and a further 30 day entry ).

 

It would be very interesting to know how he approached the immigration officials in both countries.  I rather imagine that has a  lot to do with how he was treated. 

you would suspect that maybe he dosent have the skills to  to help himself  eg manners!!!

[PatOngo]

21 minutes ago, greenchair said:

Get over it for goodness sake. 

The topic is thai detention center. 

 

Ok....I'm over it!

 

[ezzra]

I beg your pardon, nobody promises you a rose garden.....

hey buddy, this is a jail, if it was all nice and clean like, crimms will clamoring

over each other to go in..... just chalk it to your travel experience to tell back home....

[hansnl]

38 minutes ago, romeijoe said:

you would suspect that maybe he dosent have the skills to  to help himself  eg manners!!!

Dosent?

Now, what could that mean?

[Ianatlarge]

Just what is wrong with the people here criticizing this backpacker? He was imprisoned for no good reason. Shirt, tats, attitude, none of these are reasons for imprisonment. Perhaps it is officialdom who need an attitude adjustment? It is called justice, where people who have travel problems receive assistance, and people who kill other people on the road go to jail. Not the other way around.

[tomwct]

This guy is supposed to be a Veterinarian. If it looks like duck, seems like a duck, and quacks like a duck it's not a Veterinarian.

600 pounds per week to teach in Vietnam? If it looks like duck, seems like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's not a Teacher.

I have never heard of a Backpacker Veterinarian. Maybe he's a talented tattooist and going to Vietnam to teach them tattooing.

Now that makes sense, but 27,000 baht per month not per week.

[soalbundy]

16 minutes ago, hansnl said:

Dosent?

Now, what could that mean?

one of the 20% of Brits who have trouble reading

[AngelHeather]

LOL!

[colinneil]

Big girls blouse !! Get over it you will survive.

Been there done that, i survived.

Thai prison at least he had a mat to sleep on, i had to sleep on the concrete.

Run home to mummy she will take care of you.

[trogers]

Ahhh...what adventures can a disrespectful attitude towards traveling identification brings you?

[Boon Mee]

1 minute ago, colinneil said:

Run home to mummy she will take care of you.

Indeed!

Seems like every day we read where some SJW is crying about "injustice" and how he or she need their "safe spaces"! 

[romeijoe]

25 minutes ago, hansnl said:

Dosent?

Now, what could that mean?

get over your self mate 

[denkiblue555]

1 hour ago, greenchair said:

Get over it for goodness sake. 

The topic is thai detention center. 

 

Nah, it's always worth remembering these things. 

Important to be well aware of where we live.

 

[Kerryd]

I call bull on this story.

I get the feeling this is just another one of these "Sell your story to us and we'll pay for your vacation" trash bits that pop up every couple of months.

 

(There are companies in the UK that buy people's BS stories, "buff" them and then resell them online. News "spiders" then spread the story around to other, usually similar quality, media outlets.)

 

He claims he tried to enter Vietnam "but was turned away at the border". Hello - there is NO border between Thailand and Vietnam. 

Then it says he was returned to Bangkok and held at the airport detention centre. That would indicate he had flown to Vietnam, in which case he would have been stamped OUT of Thailand before getting onto the plane. Which means he would have had to clear any overstay before leaving Thailand. 

 

IF Vietnam had of refused him entry for some reason he would have been returned (to Bangkok) and would have gotten a new 30 day stamp (it seems this mysterious "stain" was overlooked by the Thai officials when he left the country and doesn't appear on the pic of the guy's passport). As he'd been stamped out of Thailand, he should have been able to go through Immigration when he returned to Bangkok. Being denied entry to one country doesn't mean you get thrown into detention when you are sent back (unless you were kicked out of that country as well). 

 

(Also - I was denied boarding a flight once because the airport staff in Vancouver determined that by the time I arrived my passport would be 1 day under the "6 months validity remaining" and if I was turned away by Thai Immigration, the airline would be responsible for flying me back to Canada at their expense. Fortunately I was able to get a new passport the next day thanks to a lot of running around and nearly $400 in taxi fares and flew out 1 day later than initial planned. On other flights I was almost denied boarding because the airport staff in Thailand didn't know that a Canadian didn't need a visa to fly into Dubai (at that time) and once they even questioned me about not having a visa for Afghanistan, which was my end destination, as I had noted I was only going to be in transit in Dubai on that trip.)

 

The point being, when he checked in the airline would have checked his passport for validity and condition as well as checked to see if he had a Vietnam visa, because if it wasn't acceptable and he was denied entry at his destination, they would have been required to fly him back at their expense. They should have noticed if a "mysterious stain" had defaced the passport (or visa) in any manner. Immigration would have also noticed if his passport wasn't in acceptable condition.

 

(And yes, he would have needed a visa because he claimed he was going to a teaching job. From the gov.uk site: "Until 30 June 2017 ‘British Citizen’ passport holders travelling for tourism or business can enter Vietnam for up to a maximum of 15 days without a visa. If you have a different type of British nationality – for example ‘British national (overseas)’- you’ll need to get a visa before entering Vietnam.

You must get a visa before you travel to Vietnam if you want to stay for longer than 15 days. "

(Unless of course that "teaching job" was going to be less than 15 days duration.)

 

Then at the bottom of the article " The Foreign Office warned about the risk of overstaying a Thai visa. "

 

So yeah. Bull ! I'd say he overstayed his 30 day stamp and tried to fly out of the country. Couldn't afford the overstay fine so was tossed in detention. (I think it's 1 day of detention for every day of overstay ?) Made up a sob story and sold it to one of those companies.

 

(Notice the story doesn't mention about how he ended up being released, or what he did or where he went after being released. Just that he plans on returning to Vietnam in a month.)

 

[aussiandrew]

To me the story is about reminding everybody to make sure that your Passport is in good condition, full stop.

[denkiblue555]

Unfortunately it's an issue which is easily escalated.

 

It is very common for forged passports to have been water damaged or the like to help conceal the fact they have been tampered with. Immigration officials in any country will be very weary of any passport with an amount of water/liquid damage. Regardless of the 'accidental' factor of the damage in these cases, if the official can not say for sure that it is 100% original, then there will be trouble.

 

Either way, his 'prison' time could have been a lot worse.....if that was actually where he went as opposed to a detention centre.