Thai woman sues Grab driver for drink driving, sexual harassment

A Thai woman is seeking legal action against a Grab driver after he drank alcohol while driving and sexually harassed her. He later tried to enter her condo in the Isaan province of Khon Kaen.

The 20 year old victim, Eye, filed a complaint against the Grab driver, Rattaphum Sisompan, at Mueang Khon Kaen Police Station and handed over a video of the driver attempting to enter her condo at about 4.40am yesterday, July 29. Eye explained that she went to a club with her friends and was drunk but she remained conscious and remembered she was sexually harassed.

She booked a ride from the Grab application from the club to her condominium. The route was only 4 kilometres but it took her 20 minutes to get home.

Eye explained that she wanted to use the Grab Lady service for a female driver but it was unavailable at that time. She frequently used Grab when she was drunk and had always encountered good drivers, so she felt safe choosing a general Grab car.

Rattaphum accepted her booking and picked her up in a white Honda City saloon. Shortly after starting the journey, Rattaphum began drinking alcohol from a bottle and invited Eye to join him, which she declined.

Rattaphum then stopped the car midway and asked Eye to move from the back seat to sit next to him but Eye refused. She revealed that Rattaphum stopped the car multiple times and tried to touch her, prompting her to push his hand away each time.

When they arrived at her condo car park, Rattaphum still refused to let her leave. He asked to go up to Eye’s room, claiming he needed to use the bathroom. Eye began recording a video of the incident and asked her boyfriend to come over.

Rattaphum remained at the car park until Eye’s boyfriend arrived. Her boyfriend confronted Rattaphum and inquired about the situation. Rattaphum denied any inappropriate behaviour, insisting that he had provided good service and spoken to Eye politely before eventually agreeing to leave.

Eye admitted that the incident made her scared, but she would continue to use the Grab application because drivers like Rattaphum were only a minority.