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A Songkhla tuk tuk driver is in critical condition after a rival driver allegedly shot the man multiple times for taking his customers. 40 year old Chaowalit Phuthaksin allegedly shot the driver 9 times from behind just as the driver was calling out to potential customers. When police arrived to the scene, they found 40 year old Sao Phuangthong on the ground with gunshot wounds on his chest and back. Chaowalit was also still on the scene, carrying a .38 handgun and a brass knuckle. Sao’s relative saw the shooting and says the 2 tuk tuk drivers often got into arguments, and sometimes fist fights, over customers. “Before the incident, Sao was calling passengers who had just got off the train to use his tuk tuk service, when Chaowalit walked from behind and shot him repeatedly, reloaded the gun then shot some more until he went down.” Police arrested Chaowalit and say he confessed to the shooting. Chaowalit told police he was angry at the tuk tuk driver for taking his customers. … [Read more...] about Tuk tuk driver shot multiple times by rival driver in Songkhla

PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi announced today that his plan to curb tuk-tuk ripoffs by introducing fixed, published fares has been put on hold indefinitely. The announcement came after a tense two-hour meeting between the Governor and some 20 representatives of Phuket’s tuk-tuk drivers, who told him that they would not accept the new distance-based scale of fares that he had sought to impose. The drivers gave Gov Pongpayome a list of the rates they feel they can accept. Their proposed rates are at least 25% higher than the fares announced by the government on Monday, and for some trips are more than double. The imposition of the new fare structure has been “postponed” indefinitely until all parties agree on new rates, said the Governor, adding that he would meet with driver representatives again to try to come to an agreement. However, no date for such a meeting was given. In announcing the new fares earlier this week, the governor was responding to a rash of complaints in … [Read more...] about Tuk-tuks defeat governor’s fair fare plan

PHUKET TOWN: Kenneth James Nelson, a 51-year-old Englishman, discovered that it can be painful indeed to thwart the aspirations of a tuk-tuk driver. At 8.30 a.m. on January 25, he was walking along the street in front of the Ruangjit Cinema (opposite The Metropole hotel) in Phuket Town when a red tuk-tuk approached him. The driver asked if he needed a ride. Nelson refused and ‘waved off’ the persistent cabbie, who then removed his belt, whacked the astonished tourist in the face, and fled the scene. Muang District police took Nelson to the hospital where he was treated for facial cuts and, shortly thereafter, released. Following a futile search for the belt swinging driver in the area of the attack, the officers assisting Nelson reported the incident to Pol. Maj. Gen. Kongpol Suwannaraks, Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police. He ordered the Muang District Police to locate and arrest the cabbie quickly. “Incidents like this are bad for tourism,” the commander said. Keep in … [Read more...] about Tourist Belted By Tuk Tuk Driver

PATONG BEACH: At a time when many wonder who, if anyone, is really running the show in Patong, a new contender has emerged and demonstrated that he is a force to be reckoned with. When roughly 100 tuk-tuk drivers banned together late Friday night to block Patong’s beach road for more than three hours following a police lock-up of two tuk-tuks illegally parked in front of the Lai Mai Restaurant, a Khun Manawd, (surname not available), strode into the limelight. Speaking as leader of the Patong tuk-tuk drivers’ association, he announced that it had been “wrong” and “unfair” of the police to penalize the two drivers, stating that they, like all other tuk-tuk drivers, were providing good service to the public. Moreover, in the world according to Khun Manawd, and presumably in mitigation, the area where the two immobilized tuk-tuks had illegally parked should not be a ‘no parking’ area in any event. So important were the words of K. Manawd that his audience soon grew to include the head of … [Read more...] about Law, Order, And Tuk-Tuk Power

KAMALA: An American fighter pilot who later told police he was bored of flying jets, “borrowed” a tuk-tuk in the early hours of May 22. His high-speed flying skills did not get him far, however; he crashed the tuk-tuk into a ditch and landed in a punch-up with the vehicle’s owner. Pol Capt Komdej Pohthong of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that the pilot, whom he named as Patrick Kevin White, 30, was arrested for stealing the tuk-tuk but was released later after agreeing to pay the owner, Saneh Wattanaporn, for the damage he had done to the vehicle. “Both sides came to a compromise, whereby the farang agreed to pay for the damage,” said Capt Komdej. He said that White jumped into the tuk-tuk at 118/13 Moo 3, Tambon Kamala, and started driving toward Phuket FantaSea. K. Saneh jumped on a motorcycle and followed, only to find Mr White and the tuk-tuk in a ditch about 500 meters away. The two traded punches before White ran away. He was captured soon afterward by FantaSea security … [Read more...] about Fighter pilot crash-lands tuk-tuk