Foreigner Owned Luxury Pattaya Villa Gutted by Fire | Thailand News Today
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Canadian man’s luxury Pattaya villa gutted by fire
A fire gutted a Canadian man’s 20 million baht luxury villa in Pattaya, eastern Thailand, yesterday. The fire occurred at a pool villa in Phu Thara village in Pattaya’s Bang Lamung District, to where the Nong Prue Municipality deployed three fire engines and quickly got the flames under control.
The fire started on the ground floor which damaged the entire property, and left the luxury villa in remains. The fire spread so quickly, and took about 40 minutes to contain.
Luckily, eventhough he had no time to save any of his belongings, the 58 year old Canadian national who owns the luxury property escaped the flames without a scratch. He said that was shocked when he saw the flames spreading and alerted to authorities immediately. Firefighter Siriwat said that the fire was Level 3 and speculated that it was caused by a short circuit. The cause of the fire still remains a mystery.
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GLO under fire after refusing to pay jackpot winner 12 million baht
An out-of-work, heartbroken Thai Lottery jackpot winner could not claim her 12 million baht price for the Government Lottery Office, for the reason that she got her tickets from an online lottery platform that was shut down for overcharging customers. The said platform is Kong Salak Plus, owned by Phanthawat “North” Narkwisut. Despite being also charged with money laundering, North remains defiant of all allegations against him. He stated that the additional 20 baht charge is a service fee that customers pay on top of the lottery ticket.
Customers of the said online lottery platform are now worried that they won’t be able to claim the prizes they won on February 1.
North addressed the customers concerns, and stated that they could still claim their prizes, but they would have to go to the DSI’s office to process the documents before getting the money from the GLO. However, that was not the case for the customer who won the jackpot prize of 12 million baht, despite North explaining that he processed the document with the DSI. The director of GLO, Nun Sansanakhom, has clarified the issue and have apologized for the inconvenience and delays. They stated that the GLO quickly offered the money to the winner as soon as they found out that everything was under process.
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Thailand’s taxi troubles: Tourists slam overpriced rides and shoddy service
Foreign tourists slammed the country’s taxi services for the overpriced fares and poor service, and the recently conducted survey by The Tourism Council of Thailand (or TCT)
reflects this issue, for the taxi services resulted to a 3.5 out of 5 rating.
One tourist claimed that drivers would agree to provide their services without a meter and only at an agreed price, which results to tourists paying more.
Taxi drivers ripping off their customers is an age-old custom in Thailand. Drivers are well aware of fines and suspensions, but they shrug and refuse to use a meter even if a passenger threatens to report them. Thailand remains a popular destination for tourists but the country needs to address the issues of overpriced taxi fares and inadequate waste management if it wants to maintain its reputation as a top tourist destination.
TCT President Chamnan Srisawat has advised the government to work with private taxi companies to offer transport services that guarantee equal fares using the meter. If these new services become popular, traditional taxis will face competition, and hopefully leads to better service and fairer treatment for all taxi customers.
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