Stealers’ Wheel: missing in Phuket

PHUKET: A retired teacher and his family on a weekend trip to Phuket had an unpleasant surprise yesterday, when they checked out of their Phuket Town hotel to find the spare tire of their pickup had been stolen during the night

Niphon Phetkong, 62, a former director of Ban Tha Chang school in his home province of Ranong, said he and his family regularly come to Phuket on weekends to run errands.

They checked out of the Manohra Hotel on Komarapat Rd just before 10am and were all ready to leave, but then discovered the spare tire had been stolen off the back. That’s when he called the police.

Phuket City Police duty officer Na-non Phithakkultornmet set forth from his station, located a few hundred meters away, and met Mr Niphon at the hotel parking lot to investigate.

The pair reviewed footage taken by the five-story hotel’s CCTV security cameras, but the Isuzu was parked too far from the cameras for the footage to be of any help.

Lt Col Na-non dutifully wrote up his report, but for the meantime Mr Niphon and his family will have to keep their fingers crossed they don’t get a flat tire on the long drive back to Ranong.