PHUKET: An Australian man was narrowly saved from a beating by a mob of angry taxi and tuk-tuk drivers in Patong last night after he punched a woman in the eye when she asked him for five baht for a few pieces of toilet paper.
Police Region 8 volunteers were metres away and managed to intervene to rescue the man as he fled from what would have been a certain hiding.
A little later at Kathu Police Station, the 47-year-old Aussie - reckoned to weigh 90 to 100 kilos - felt remorseful. When asked to pay 30,000 baht in compensation, he said: ''Better make that 50,000 baht.''
It is believed his travelling companions told him they didn't want anything more to do with him unless he settled the issue reasonably.
Police volunteers believed the man was already very drunk at 9.45pm when he went to use the toilet in a group of bars in Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road, opposite Taipan.
According to the woman, he refused to pay five baht for toilet paper and punched her in the eye.
The man initially said that the woman threw a plastic chair at him but there was no support from his group who were nearby, especially not from the women.
Police volunteers were standing nearby at the top of Soi Bangla when the man ran past, followed by the woman screaming loudly that she had been punched, and bringing taxi and tuk-tuk drivers at the run.
''We had a police radio so we called the regular officers and they were on the scene within seconds,'' one volunteer told Phuketwan today.
The man's wife, who was born in Thailand, managed to defuse the situation at the police station and the man gradually appeared to realise the enormity of his actions.
''If we hadn't been there, and intervened to stop the crowd getting at the man, it could have been a massive incident,'' a volunteer told Phuketwan today.
''God knows what would have happened. But it wouldn't have been good for tourism.''
The bottom line: refusing to pay five baht in the end cost the Australian 50,000 baht, perhaps the most pricey few sheets of toilet paper in history.
Phuketwan has opted not to name the man in the hope that his remorse is real and that his wife and female friends can explain to him what he's done. Other news outlets may not be so kind.
It's expected that he will not be seen in Patong at night again.
Police Region 8 volunteers were metres away and managed to intervene to rescue the man as he fled from what would have been a certain hiding.
A little later at Kathu Police Station, the 47-year-old Aussie - reckoned to weigh 90 to 100 kilos - felt remorseful. When asked to pay 30,000 baht in compensation, he said: ''Better make that 50,000 baht.''
It is believed his travelling companions told him they didn't want anything more to do with him unless he settled the issue reasonably.
Police volunteers believed the man was already very drunk at 9.45pm when he went to use the toilet in a group of bars in Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road, opposite Taipan.
According to the woman, he refused to pay five baht for toilet paper and punched her in the eye.
The man initially said that the woman threw a plastic chair at him but there was no support from his group who were nearby, especially not from the women.
Police volunteers were standing nearby at the top of Soi Bangla when the man ran past, followed by the woman screaming loudly that she had been punched, and bringing taxi and tuk-tuk drivers at the run.
''We had a police radio so we called the regular officers and they were on the scene within seconds,'' one volunteer told Phuketwan today.
The man's wife, who was born in Thailand, managed to defuse the situation at the police station and the man gradually appeared to realise the enormity of his actions.
''If we hadn't been there, and intervened to stop the crowd getting at the man, it could have been a massive incident,'' a volunteer told Phuketwan today.
''God knows what would have happened. But it wouldn't have been good for tourism.''
The bottom line: refusing to pay five baht in the end cost the Australian 50,000 baht, perhaps the most pricey few sheets of toilet paper in history.
Phuketwan has opted not to name the man in the hope that his remorse is real and that his wife and female friends can explain to him what he's done. Other news outlets may not be so kind.
It's expected that he will not be seen in Patong at night again.
the last idiot is not yet born...
Posted by frog on December 26, 2014 14:24