Tourists take Patong tuk-tuk for joyride
Agroup of four tourists may have escaped any legal action for allegedly taking a Patong tuk-tuk parked at the beach end of Bangla Rd for a joyride early on Mar 24.
The incident came to light when a video of the tuk-tuk driver chasing down the men was posted on TikTok on Mar 25.
The name of the tuk-tuk driver was not revealed, but in the video a man in a yellow shirt with a hip pack slung over his shoulder took exception to one of the tourists and chased after him down the street. He ceased his pursuit only after a Thai man recording the video shouted from him to stop.
The video was also posted on Facebook by ‘Base Sae-jo’, accusing the tourists of being drunk. However, the tourist being chased appeared to be noticeably agile and aware.
was told that the driver had parked the tuk-tuk and left the key in the ignition while he went to solicit @thephuketnews customers. Four foreign men got into the tuk-tuk, started the engine and drove away.
At last report police had yet to confirm whether any complaints had been filed over the incident.
The intense reaction by the man who appeared to be the tuk-tuk driver follows an incident in Patong only two nights earlier (Mar 22), when a motorbike taxi driver pursued a female Thai tourist over the motorbike taxi driver’s belief that she and her friends had recorded him producing a weapon in public.
The tourist, Orathai Aeampet, posted a video of the motorbike taxi driver pursuing her while she sat on the back of another motorbike taxi on her Facebook page.
Ms Orathai explained that she and her friends were about to record a video of themselves singing together on the street when a group of motorbike taxi drivers started verbally harrassing them.
The motorbike taxi drivers believed the group of women wanted to record them. However, the women had already noticed one of the drivers carrying a weapon and decided to not record anything, and promptly left, Ms Orathai said.
As shown in a later video, the weapon was a large knife.
One of the drivers, the one with the large knife, unconvinced the women did not record any videos, pursued the motorbike Ms Orathai was riding as passenger.
Fearful, Ms Orathai repeated her explanations that no previous video was recorded, while recording the motorbike taxi driver pursuing her. In this video the motorbike taxi driver is seen putting the knife away on his motorbike.
Patong Police reported the motorbike taxi driver only as “Mr Teerawat”, who they said “apologised and admitted his mistake and is ready to be punished and prosecuted in all respects.”
“The Patong Police Station has taken further legal action,” was all the report said.