A MEETING of jet-ski operators and insurance officials today set a 45-day deadline for resolving how best to protect tourists from jet-ski scams.
Insurance companies have 15 days to suggest options, and jet-ski operators have 45 days to settle on one of those options.
Representatives of 10 insurance companies attended the meeting with operators and October 9 was determined as the day for decisions on insurance to be made.
What became plain, though, was that only 219 registered jet-skis across all Phuket beaches can be involved in the process.
Another 51 jet-skis on the island are illegal, and they will stay illegal. It is understood that some owners of jet-skis in Patong have both registered and unregistered vehicles.
Today's meeting at Provincial Hall in Phuket City was chaired by Rear Admiral Amornchot Sujirat, the local deputy in charge of the Army's Internal Security Operations Command.
Previous meetings have been chaired by the Governor and a Vice Governor.
No mention was made today of the latest suggestion to ease the scamming: a system that would involve the operators paying into their own communal fund to insure their own vehicles and meet the full cost of any genuine payouts themselves.
This co-op arrangement would be less costly than any insurance-based scheme and shift the emphasis for honest claims back onto the operators themselves.
In Patong, unregistered jet-skis have until now been given to operators who oversee several jet-skis. The unregistered vehicles have been operated as though they were registered vehicles.
This is largely because, according to jet-ski operators who have talked to Phuketwan, jet-skis are seen as a good source of income, especially when claims of ''damages'' are added to the 1500 baht a half-hour hire of vehicles.
Income from the high season more than compensates for the low season, especially if ''damage'' is a frequent occurrence.
Phuketwan has been provided with a list of all the registered jet-skis, and their owners.
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Insurance companies have 15 days to suggest options, and jet-ski operators have 45 days to settle on one of those options.
Representatives of 10 insurance companies attended the meeting with operators and October 9 was determined as the day for decisions on insurance to be made.
What became plain, though, was that only 219 registered jet-skis across all Phuket beaches can be involved in the process.
Another 51 jet-skis on the island are illegal, and they will stay illegal. It is understood that some owners of jet-skis in Patong have both registered and unregistered vehicles.
Today's meeting at Provincial Hall in Phuket City was chaired by Rear Admiral Amornchot Sujirat, the local deputy in charge of the Army's Internal Security Operations Command.
Previous meetings have been chaired by the Governor and a Vice Governor.
No mention was made today of the latest suggestion to ease the scamming: a system that would involve the operators paying into their own communal fund to insure their own vehicles and meet the full cost of any genuine payouts themselves.
This co-op arrangement would be less costly than any insurance-based scheme and shift the emphasis for honest claims back onto the operators themselves.
In Patong, unregistered jet-skis have until now been given to operators who oversee several jet-skis. The unregistered vehicles have been operated as though they were registered vehicles.
This is largely because, according to jet-ski operators who have talked to Phuketwan, jet-skis are seen as a good source of income, especially when claims of ''damages'' are added to the 1500 baht a half-hour hire of vehicles.
Income from the high season more than compensates for the low season, especially if ''damage'' is a frequent occurrence.
Phuketwan has been provided with a list of all the registered jet-skis, and their owners.
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If over the last 20 years nothing has been done to stop the scams, except as a previous Governor stated there would be a total ban such as exists in Khao Lak. That never happened, I don't think anything's going to change.
I really hope I'm wrong
Posted by innocent bystander on September 23, 2009 22:26