Bangkok taxi tango: Bad boy driver tries to rip off South Korean tourist
Another bad boy Bangkok taxi driver was caught engaging in unscrupulous deeds, this time attempting to rip off a South Korean tourist, charging the foreigner 700 baht for a 30-minute trip. Fortunately, the South Korean man saw through the taxi driver’s antics and paid him only 300 baht. The taxi driver was furious with this and went into meltdown, cursing and swearing at the tourist.
The viral video caught the moment when the Thai taxi driver had a dispute with a South Korean tourist in front of a hotel on Charoen Krung Road in Bangkok.
In the video, the Thai taxi driver shouted at the foreigner…
“In the afternoon, I must charge you 500 baht because of the traffic jam. OK, give me 300 baht. It is ok, give me 300 baht. You are an asshole! You even drank two bottles of water in my car. It is 40 baht.”
The taxi driver was aggressive and screamed a number of rude words in the Thai language. The hotel staff came to intervene in the fight. They urged the foreigner to get into the hotel and demanded the taxi driver leave.
The caption of the video stated that the incident occurred at 4.11pm yesterday, June 7. The taxi car was a green and yellow car with a registration plate number 1มค504. The identity of the driver was not revealed.
According to the report, the trip started at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, also known as Wat Phra Kaew, and ended at a hotel along Charoen Krung Road. The One 31 media agency reported that the distance was about 7 kilometres. The taxi driver did not use the metre system and charged the tourist 700 baht instead of the estimated cost of about 200 to 250 baht.
Many Thai netizens slammed the taxi driver’s behaviour, claiming he is ruining the good reputation of Thai tourism. Some people believe that the driver tried to provoke the South Korean into fighting him.
The taxi driver later spoke to One 31 regarding the issue. He insisted that he did not ask for 700 baht from the tourist and received only 300 baht. He claimed that he forgot to turn on the metre system, and the traffic took him about 30 to 40 minutes to get to the destination, so he had to charge a higher fare.
The taxi driver disclosed that he was sorry for his behaviour. He did not mean to do it, but he did not have many passengers on that day which made him frustrated.
The driver revealed that the Department of Land Transport contacted him about the issue and would impose a fine on him as a punishment. He was summoned to meet the authorities at 9am tomorrow.
