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Canadian bashed up by PHUKET Taxi driver



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 6th, 2010, 01:57 PM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia
none[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 77
Default Canadian bashed up by PHUKET Taxi driver



Photo by phuketwan.com
Phuket Has Too Many Tuk-Tuks, says Police Chief

By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
IVAN ANWAR says he will come back to visit Thailand again, but he will
give Phuket a little more thought before making a decision.

Perhaps when the bandages come off the wounds on his face, inflicted
in an altercation with a tuk-tuk driver, he may feel more affection
for the island where his holiday went wrong.

''Thailand is not the problem,'' said the 51-year-old Canadian, who
has taught English in Tokyo for 16 years. ''Thailand is a wonderful
place for a holiday.

''My wife and I come here often. We thought we'd give Phuket a try
this time . . . I can't work out why transport here is so expensive.

''It was a one-minute ride. I would have walked if I'd known it was
that close.''

Mr Anwar and his wife arrived on the island on January 4, spent one
night in a small hotel in north Patong, but decided to move because
there was too much noise after dark.

So they planned to move to quieter Kalim yesterday. Mr Anwar said that
when he and wife hailed the tuk-tuk about 1pm, they agreed on a 150
baht fare to move to their new hotel.

But when he arrived on the beachfront in Kalim and realised how short
the jouney was, he walked to the passenger's side of the driver's
cabin and complained loudly.

''It was such a short journey,'' he said he told the driver. ''150
baht is too much.'' The driver's friend and the driver had a brief
conversation in the cabin, Mr Anwar said.

The driver left his seat, walked around to Mr Anwar, and punched him
in the face repeatedly. When Mr Anwar tried to kick the driver, the
driver's friend restrained him by grabbing his arms from behind.

The staff at the hotel saw what was happening and called the police,
at which point the tuk-tuk driver took off.

Another tuk-tuk took Mr Anwar to hospital while his wife checked in at
the hotel.

''He broke my $650 sunglasses,'' Mr Anwar said. ''I don't think
tourists expect to be attacked when they come on holidays. If it
wasn't for the tourists, the tuk-tuk drivers would have no jobs.

''I still don't understand why he chose to punch me rather than talk.
That seems to me to be unnecessary violence for no good reason.''

Mr Anwar will fly to Hong Kong and Tokyo tomorrow. His wife is heading
for New Delhi.

The accused driver, Tadsanarid Damtong, 33, was to be held in a cell
at Kathu Police Station in Patong overnight after Governor Wichai
Praisa-ngob intervened in the case and prohibited bail being
permitted.

Natdanai Chaowana, a prominent tuk-tuk owner in Patong, told Phuketwan
yesterday: ''In Patong, everybody knows that it's 200 baht just to
start the engine of a tuk-tuk.''

When asked why the cost was so high, he added: ''Look at the economy
of Phuket, everything is expensive here.''

Khun Natdanai said Khun Tadsanarid should be allowed bail ''because he
is a Thai. Nobody knows yet who is right and who is wrong in this
case. Let the court decide.

''In some cases people kill each other, and they are allowed bail.''

Khun Natdanai said Mr Anwar should have also been charged because the
driver said Mr Anwar insulted him, and struck the first blow.

Khun Tadsanarid comes from Krabi, although tuk-tuk organisers on
Phuket usually say only locals are employed as drivers.

Patong police chief Colonel Grissak Songmoonnark said that there were
too many tuk-tuks on Phuket. He said there were about 500 in Patong
alone, not including unregistered vehicles.

''Two hundred tuk-tuks would be enough for the whole island,'' he
said.

''Problems arise because of the rivalry between the tuk-tuk groups,
which means they often cannot make pick-ups so return trips are
usually made empty.

''The return trip empty is built in to the price. It should be 150
baht to travel from Karon to Patong, but because the driver has to
return empty, he charges 300 baht.''

The structure of village-based monopolies in the tuk-tuk trade needed
to change, he said. Vehicles should be registered to go from zone to
zone once the numbers are drastically reduced, he said.

The economic downturn should have reduced the number of drivers
because fewer tourists are coming to Phuket, and they are spending
less money.

Instead, the opposite has happened. There are many more drivers . . .
and some of them charge excessively high fares because they sometimes
only have one fare a day.

Phuketwan believes the times has come for Thailand's government to
intervene to rationaise and modernise Phuket's outmoded transport
system before serious damage is done to the tourism industry.
  #2  
Old January 16th, 2010, 02:16 PM posted to soc.culture.thai,rec.travel.asia
Runge11
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 824
Default Canadian bashed up by PHUKET Taxi driver YAWN



"none" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion
: ...


Photo by phuketwan.com
Phuket Has Too Many Tuk-Tuks, says Police Chief

By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
IVAN ANWAR says he will come back to visit Thailand again, but he will
give Phuket a little more thought before making a decision.

Perhaps when the bandages come off the wounds on his face, inflicted
in an altercation with a tuk-tuk driver, he may feel more affection
for the island where his holiday went wrong.

''Thailand is not the problem,'' said the 51-year-old Canadian, who
has taught English in Tokyo for 16 years. ''Thailand is a wonderful
place for a holiday.

''My wife and I come here often. We thought we'd give Phuket a try
this time . . . I can't work out why transport here is so expensive.

''It was a one-minute ride. I would have walked if I'd known it was
that close.''

Mr Anwar and his wife arrived on the island on January 4, spent one
night in a small hotel in north Patong, but decided to move because
there was too much noise after dark.

So they planned to move to quieter Kalim yesterday. Mr Anwar said that
when he and wife hailed the tuk-tuk about 1pm, they agreed on a 150
baht fare to move to their new hotel.

But when he arrived on the beachfront in Kalim and realised how short
the jouney was, he walked to the passenger's side of the driver's
cabin and complained loudly.

''It was such a short journey,'' he said he told the driver. ''150
baht is too much.'' The driver's friend and the driver had a brief
conversation in the cabin, Mr Anwar said.

The driver left his seat, walked around to Mr Anwar, and punched him
in the face repeatedly. When Mr Anwar tried to kick the driver, the
driver's friend restrained him by grabbing his arms from behind.

The staff at the hotel saw what was happening and called the police,
at which point the tuk-tuk driver took off.

Another tuk-tuk took Mr Anwar to hospital while his wife checked in at
the hotel.

''He broke my $650 sunglasses,'' Mr Anwar said. ''I don't think
tourists expect to be attacked when they come on holidays. If it
wasn't for the tourists, the tuk-tuk drivers would have no jobs.

''I still don't understand why he chose to punch me rather than talk.
That seems to me to be unnecessary violence for no good reason.''

Mr Anwar will fly to Hong Kong and Tokyo tomorrow. His wife is heading
for New Delhi.

The accused driver, Tadsanarid Damtong, 33, was to be held in a cell
at Kathu Police Station in Patong overnight after Governor Wichai
Praisa-ngob intervened in the case and prohibited bail being
permitted.

Natdanai Chaowana, a prominent tuk-tuk owner in Patong, told Phuketwan
yesterday: ''In Patong, everybody knows that it's 200 baht just to
start the engine of a tuk-tuk.''

When asked why the cost was so high, he added: ''Look at the economy
of Phuket, everything is expensive here.''

Khun Natdanai said Khun Tadsanarid should be allowed bail ''because he
is a Thai. Nobody knows yet who is right and who is wrong in this
case. Let the court decide.

''In some cases people kill each other, and they are allowed bail.''

Khun Natdanai said Mr Anwar should have also been charged because the
driver said Mr Anwar insulted him, and struck the first blow.

Khun Tadsanarid comes from Krabi, although tuk-tuk organisers on
Phuket usually say only locals are employed as drivers.

Patong police chief Colonel Grissak Songmoonnark said that there were
too many tuk-tuks on Phuket. He said there were about 500 in Patong
alone, not including unregistered vehicles.

''Two hundred tuk-tuks would be enough for the whole island,'' he
said.

''Problems arise because of the rivalry between the tuk-tuk groups,
which means they often cannot make pick-ups so return trips are
usually made empty.

''The return trip empty is built in to the price. It should be 150
baht to travel from Karon to Patong, but because the driver has to
return empty, he charges 300 baht.''

The structure of village-based monopolies in the tuk-tuk trade needed
to change, he said. Vehicles should be registered to go from zone to
zone once the numbers are drastically reduced, he said.

The economic downturn should have reduced the number of drivers
because fewer tourists are coming to Phuket, and they are spending
less money.

Instead, the opposite has happened. There are many more drivers . . .
and some of them charge excessively high fares because they sometimes
only have one fare a day.

Phuketwan believes the times has come for Thailand's government to
intervene to rationaise and modernise Phuket's outmoded transport
system before serious damage is done to the tourism industry.


 




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