Welcome to Thailand: Where even the police practice two tier pricing, claims Farang rider

[webfact]

Welcome to Thailand: Where even the police practice two tier pricing, claims Farang rider

 

Picture: Thairath

 

KHON KAEN: -- A foreign motorcyclist living in the North East has posted a video of an interaction with cops where he claimed he was fined above the rate for being a foreigner.

 

And not just that - the charge was that his exhaust was noisy while he had in fact just bought the bike from the manufacturer and not had it souped up, reports Thairath.

 

The farang getting in on the police corruption act made popular by Thais recently posted his experiences on the Facebook page "Farang Baan Nok" (Caucasian westerner living in the countryside).

 

 

He said that he was on his way to work in downtown Khon Kaen. He was called over by cops who slapped him with a hefty 1,000 baht fine for having a noisy exhaust.

 

But he said he had only just got the bike from the manufacturer and it had not been adjusted.

 

A picture of the ticket was also posted along with the motorcyclist in helmet and sunglasses.

 

A subsequent explanation reported by sanook.com from the man said that he was willing to pay fines but the police seemed to make up the rate themselves. 

 

It was not the same rate as being paid by Thai motorcyclists at the same checkpoint.

 

Earlier he had posted: "Living in the city for the first day. Police asks for 1,000 baht because he things that I'm foreigner (sic)".

 

He asked onliners to share the story to a wider audience.

 

Thais commenting were less surprised by the man being called over though they raised their eyebrows at the rate charged.

 

The man who has not been named spoke Thai in the video with a distinctive north eastern accent.

 

Source: Thairath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-11-28

[Just1Voice]

And this actually surprises anyone? 

 

[fruitman]

uuueeehhhh, i do believe him but he shouldn't touch his nose that often.

 

Bangkok is loaded with very loud exhaust pipes, very annoying. Motocycles and jetski's, longtailboats, dumptrucks they all love it.

 

But of course the police does nothing against it, far too busy with blowing their whistles.

[Thaiwrath]

Maybe he was trying to be a smart arse with his fluent Thai, and the coppers didn't like it.

Sometimes it pays to act daft.

[The Old Bull]

I ran a red light in Udon Thani and got stopped. However my wife new the cop and I was let off with a warning. The cop mentioned that should I do it again it would be ฿1000, a special farang rate they were going to be inaugurating.

[chickenslegs]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

The man who has not been named spoke Thai ... with a distinctive north eastern accent.

 

"Haddaway, man, there's nee way that's a thoosand bart, na krap"

 

(Oh, not that north east - sorry)

[jaywalker]

My wife was in an accident (Pattaya). 

Totally NOT her fault (a speeding moto in the wrong lane T-boned her truck).

I was miles away.

The cop said "you have farang name, all farangs have big money"....10,000 bt.

[colinneil]

That is 1 brain dead farang, posting that on the internet.

He has just made himself a Big target.

[moe666]

Stop complaining 1000b is the fine for loud exhaust 500b for pollution, 500b for loud sound. A friend recieved the same fine about 5 years ago in Chiang Mai he went to court and fine cut in half. The complainer makes himself a fool not knowing the fine structure

[tracker1]

Special fee for forigners ? I can go along with that it happened to me

[thai3]

4 minutes ago, colinneil said:

That is 1 brain dead farang, posting that on the internet.

He has just made himself a Big target.

 

 

Or somebody with more balls than most of the kiss ass brigade

[trogers]

What is important is whether he was issued an official receipt...

[bluesofa]

15 minutes ago, jaywalker said:

My wife was in an accident (Pattaya). 
Totally NOT her fault (a speeding moto in the wrong lane T-boned her truck).
I was miles away.
The cop said "you have farang name, all farangs have big money"....10,000 bt.

 

That was one of the reasons my wife kept her Thai surname when we were married, to avoid exactly this sort of thing.

[smedly]

I was stopped in Pattaya and the cop tried the same thing, I asked him how loud was in decibels and how did he measure it, he looked at me and continued writing the ticket, when I arrived at the police station I had with me the test certificate which includes the exhaust reading, I showed this to the duty officer and he came out to the bike and asked me to start it up, I do have a big bike but it is not excessively noisy and passes the test every year for the last 13 years, the cop put a line through the ticket and signed it, I returned to the cop who was holding my licence and he almost threw the licence at me, I now carry that certificate and that cancelled signed ticket with me always, I do make an effort to keep everything legal

[mettech]

Cops are cops and doing some work for themselves 1000 bht well they probably know the exchange rate and they use it in order to find a fine line.

[bluesofa]

I see there's a link posted with the article. It's a website called youlike.
Is it me, or do these types of website mke it difficult to find the posted video? It seems the same as facebook, where as you add posts, the earlier ones move down the page. This link appear to just point to the page generally and doesn't take you to the relevant video, making it hard to find the right one, especailly as it's a Thai website.

 

[Get Real]

And this was news in what kind of way? He is probably the last one to find out that the fines differ from city to city.

[NanLaew]

46 minutes ago, Thaiwrath said:

Maybe he was trying to be a smart arse with his fluent Thai, and the coppers didn't like it.

Sometimes it pays to act daft.

 

That's not Thai he was speaking, that was 'Lao' and pretty decent as well. Can write it too.

 

Meanwhile you just carry on taking a big dry one up the ort next time you get pulled over for buggerall and without the wife to do the yackety yack.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, Get Real said:

And this was news in what kind of way? He is probably the last one to find out that the fines differ from city to city.

 

Or maybe they depend on the attitude too?
I remember seeing a sign in a shop that said, "Prices in this shop vary according to the customer's attitude".

[Thaiwrath]

3 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

That's not Thai he was speaking, that was 'Lao' and pretty decent as well. Can write it too.

 

Meanwhile you just carry on taking a big dry one up the ort next time you get pulled over for buggerall and without the wife to do the yackety yack.

 

It was Isaan, not Lao.

I don't ride a motorbike, and I thankfully do not have a wife.

Next drivel ?

[NanLaew]

35 minutes ago, moe666 said:

Stop complaining 1000b is the fine for loud exhaust 500b for pollution, 500b for loud sound. A friend recieved the same fine about 5 years ago in Chiang Mai he went to court and fine cut in half. The complainer makes himself a fool not knowing the fine structure

How does being unfamiliar with the 'fine structure' in Chiang Mai five years ago make FarangBaanNok look silly in Khon Kaen yesterday?

[jonclark]

35 minutes ago, colinneil said:

That is 1 brain dead farang, posting that on the internet.

He has just made himself a Big target.

 

So he should just take it? 

 

He should be congratulated and supported for taking the time end effort to highlight inequalities that exist. Obviously the police won't like it but they are the ones making themselves look bad here. Perhaps they should take the time to reflect on their own actions. 

[NanLaew]

15 minutes ago, Thaiwrath said:

 

It was Isaan, not Lao.

I don't ride a motorbike, and I thankfully do not have a wife.

Next drivel ?

Yes, it was the northeast Thai Isaan dialect... or as the Isaan speaker would ask, "Waow passat Lao baw?" 

 

Carry on holding your ankles... you know it makes sense.

[jolive]

Do they have commission for issuing summon to farang?



Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[NanLaew]

24 minutes ago, smedly said:

I was stopped in Pattaya and the cop tried the same thing, I asked him how loud was in decibels and how did he measure it, he looked at me and continued writing the ticket, when I arrived at the police station I had with me the test certificate which includes the exhaust reading, I showed this to the duty officer and he came out to the bike and asked me to start it up, I do have a big bike but it is not excessively noisy and passes the test every year for the last 13 years, the cop put a line through the ticket and signed it, I returned to the cop who was holding my licence and he almost threw the licence at me, I now carry that certificate and that cancelled signed ticket with me always, I do make an effort to keep everything legal

Well done that man. As they Brits would say, "Result!"

 

I bet you didn't even have to speak the lingo much either.

[jaltsc]

"...1,000 baht fine for having a noisy exhaust. "

 

They've go to be kidding. If they fined every Thai 1000 THB who for having a noisy exhaust and for not wearing a helmet, they could probably buy Half of China.

[saigonsunset]

I've gotten three tickets in 4 years and on two out of the three occasions got a 100 THB discount on the initial fine because I was just being polite all the way through (in English since I speak no Thai). I think that and the fact that all my paperwork was okay did the trick.

[sandemara]

Jaywalker: if, as you relate, a policeman told your wife she had to pay 10,000 Baht  because she had a farang name even tho she was not at fault in the accident I 'd advise you to get assistance from a lawyer as soon as possible.  Your wife would have her right to a day in court where a police prosecutor would have to produce evidence showing your wife had breached some traffic law that carried such a large penalty.  Your wife is not obliged to simply hand over 10,000 baht to a policeman under any circumstances at a the scene of a traffic accident. It is true that in some instances police might suggest an obviously "rich" driver of a vehicle might like to offer cash to people injured in an accident even if the rich driver was not at fault.  But the not-at-fault driver cannot be forced to make such payments;  it's their choice. My source:  an article about traffic laws for farangs involved in road accidents in Thailand on the website of a Thai law firm.  If you message me I can give you the website so you can read the whole article; I would be breaching rules for this website by posting it openly here.

[Mitkof Island]

Was stopped at a road block the other day by a group of six cops. Thought for sure they would notice my expired tabs four years old. He notice them and then asked what country i was from. When i mentioned United States. His next question was. What do you think of dumb ? Dumb who? President Dumb. oh you mean Trump ? yes Trump. I think he is a criminal. The six cops all laughed and the cop speaking with me said. Maybe better you stay in  Thailand. Yes great idea. then they let me go without a fine. Never had any problems with the police or military here.

[gdgbb]

1 hour ago, trogers said:

What is important is whether he was issued an official receipt...

You didn't see the photo with the ticket displayed?  He was issued an official ticket so why wouldn't this be above board as you are suggesting?