News Forum - Phuket taxi driver fined 2,000 baht, to do etiquette training after overcharging incident

[Thaiger]

Authorities have slapped the Phuket taxi driver, who is accused of overcharging a passenger, with a 2,000 baht fine and have ordered him to go through etiquette training. The driver charged a Thai traveller 600 baht for a roughly 20-minute drive from the Kamala Beach area to a hotel  Patong Beach. The traveller had tried to book a ride through the applications Grab and Bolt, but drivers on both platforms refused, apparently due to the area. The traveller says the fare was listed as 168 baht on Bolt. He and his girlfriend decided to hail a taxi, but when the […]

The story Phuket taxi driver fined 2,000 baht, to do etiquette training after overcharging incident as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Farang123]

It's about time the authorities got really tough on this issue. Everyone knows in the world that taxi drivers rip people off in Phuket; even a child knows that. Why on earth they cannot keep maintaining these fines until all taxi drivers comply is beyond me.  I would go out of my way NOT to visit Phuket for this very issue. Last time I went there  I walked to my hotel rather than be ripped off by these cretins. 

Fix your country Thailand...it's not rocket science.

[Cathat]

A fine that size assuming that he actually pays it is no deterrent to the all powerful phuket taxi mafia.

[Malc-Thai]

In the phuket news he was only fined ฿1000 and he didn't actually overcharge.. he said the price was ฿600..

 Not sticking up for these parasite taxi drivers, but original report is different to the thaigers report

https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-taxi-driver-gets-b1k-fine-politeness-training-for-verballing-tourists-82933.php

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

3 minutes ago, Malc-Thai said:

Not sticking up for these parasite taxi drivers, but original report is different to the thaigers report

Maybe he was fined by one of the 10 Thai policemen dismissed in January …. 

[Grumpish]

"the police are my friends" - not doing anything in this case would be admitting that they are being paid to turn a blind eye to the Phuket taxi mafia. Licensing of taxi drivers (and enforcement) would be a long term solution, possibly with a substantial upfront investment in actually getting the licence in the first place (as with the black cab drivers in London), but I think that everyone would be very surprised if that happened. 

[kalyan]

all went well!, everybody got their line share !, now the charges are black and white, 600 baht !.

It is just a Fine, all are Fine in the game,  no authority did brought the point the charge was more.

This is going to continue " Police are my friends" !!! 555

 

[AmbientMopar]

I'd would like to make a comment on behalf of the taxi driver. 

     The passenger had tried and failed to book a ride with two different rideshare apps. Both apps had given a very low quoted price, this is just how they work over the cost one would be presented with from a registered taxi or tuk-tuk which incur in higher cost.

   The passenger chose to hire a taxi/tuk-tuk which come with a higher cost, yet the passenger wished to pay the prices from the rideshare apps with the registered taxi/tuk-tuk, this is a known fact this is not how the system works. The driver had spoken stating what the fair would be. At that point the passenger has the option to accept or decline the given fair. If one has chosen to enter taxi/tuk-tuk this is the universal indicator one has chosen to accept the given fare. And i will leave it at that.

    Now if the driver had stopped his taxi/tuk-tuk and demanded the passenger and guest to exit the vehicle before reaching their appointed destination this would have be wrong and incorrect, yet there are times when this type of action is justifiable.

    Our island home here on Phuket is in such devastation surrounding the tourist segment and those working directly within........

[AmbientMopar]

Also a while back when tourism was flourishing, there was a tour bus where the driver had to bring his young son to work with him. On this bus a lady made a video of the event and publicly posted it with some negative comments about the ordeal. This driver lost his job. I did follow up with "The Phuket News" which had also reposted the video but heard nothing more. This to was someone with time on there hands and no regards how their actions can or could affect someone else..... Had the lady in question been sitting further towards the middle to rear of the coach the driver area wouldn't have been in her view....

[HiuMak]

Complaining and reporting does work in Thailand

[unsernametaken]

This is silly.  I'm in Patong right now and I checked Grab rates from my hotel to Kamala Beach, and at 1pm today, the fare was 460 Baht, and at 5Pm it was 598 Baht. So the 168 Baht story sounds like bullshit. 

Taxis are under no obligation to let Grab or Bolt set their rates.  And just like Uber and Lyft in the west, Grab kind of screws their driver's a little, so Grab drivers often refuse long drives as Grab mandated rates don't leave enough profit margin to make it worthwhile. 

Also, from my experience with Grab, drivers don't call and say, "I'd like to pick you up but I'm afraid of the Taxi mafia in that area," as the complainant alleges.  If they don't want the job, they just don't respond to the call out.  So that claim also sounds... dubious.

Phuket News (youtube) says the government negotiated rate for Taxis on that route should be 400 Baht.  I'm no fan of tuk-dicks, but an independent driver isn't obliged to serve you for a rate he feels it isn't going to be worth his time.  Especially at night, at closing time, rush hour, inclement weather, etc.

The tourist customer is the son of a prominent Thai entertainer.   Read into that what you will.

 

[DiJoDavO]

Huh? But in the previous article where I just reacted on, it showed the price list. In the price list 600 looked normal, even cheaper than usual. Why did this taxi driver get fined? Did he charge too less?

[Marc26]

2 hours ago, unsernametaken said:

This is silly.  I'm in Patong right now and I checked Grab rates from my hotel to Kamala Beach, and at 1pm today, the fare was 460 Baht, and at 5Pm it was 598 Baht. So the 168 Baht story sounds like bullshit. 

Taxis are under no obligation to let Grab or Bolt set their rates.  And just like Uber and Lyft in the west, Grab kind of screws their driver's a little, so Grab drivers often refuse long drives as Grab mandated rates don't leave enough profit margin to make it worthwhile. 

Also, from my experience with Grab, drivers don't call and say, "I'd like to pick you up but I'm afraid of the Taxi mafia in that area," as the complainant alleges.  If they don't want the job, they just don't respond to the call out.  So that claim also sounds... dubious.

Phuket News (youtube) says the government negotiated rate for Taxis on that route should be 400 Baht.  I'm no fan of tuk-dicks, but an independent driver isn't obliged to serve you for a rate he feels it isn't going to be worth his time.  Especially at night, at closing time, rush hour, inclement weather, etc.

The tourist customer is the son of a prominent Thai entertainer.   Read into that what you will.

Although I don't have too many complaints on the pricing

 

I disagree with you on the govt mandated prices

If you promote a tourist destination, you should have proper measures in place for transparent taxi fares