Ex minister refunds Japanese tourist overcharged by tuk tuk driver

A former transport minister personally compensated a Japanese victim overcharged by a greedy tuk tuk driver in Bangkok with 2,000 baht in cash, declaring it was his duty as a Thai citizen.

The Japanese man took to X, formerly known as Twitter, on May 13, to report that he was overcharged by a tuk tuk driver, later identified as 29 year old Phummarate. The driver charged him 6,000 baht for a trip from Silom to the Asoke neighbourhood of Bangkok, which is only 6 to 7 kilometres.

The tuk tuk driver was later arrested and fined 2,500 baht. Of this amount, 2,000 baht was for overcharging the Japanese passenger, while the remaining 500 baht was for dressing inappropriately when providing a public service. His driver’s license was suspended for 90 days, and he was required to participate in three hours of ethics training for public transport service providers.

The former transport minister, and current spokesperson of the Committee for the Consideration and Study of Referendum Guidelines, Nikorn Chamnong, came forward to take responsibility for the issue. He proudly shared his successful mission to apologise to the victim on Facebook today, May 29.

In the post, Nikorn disclosed that he participated in a welcoming party for the new Ambassador of Japan to Thailand, Masato Otaka, at the Okura Prestige Bangkok Hotel yesterday, May 28. He took this opportunity to issue an apology to the Japanese victim in front of the ambassador.

Moreover, Nikorn urged the ambassador to hand compensation to the victim. According to the picture shared in the post, the compensation was worth 2,000 baht.

Nikorn revealed that he had urged relevant authorities to search for the Japanese victim but had not yet found the person. He added that he is still waiting for the update on that.

Nikorn explained that he once supervised the Ministry of Transport and had talked to his former team to punish the cheating tuk tuk driver but still owed an official apology to the Japanese victim. He stated that he felt at ease after he had a chance to take responsibility for the issue as a Thai citizen.