PHUKET: Two local taxi drivers wanted over the bashing of a tour driver outside a Phuket five-star resort have been arrested by police, Phuketwan has learned.
One man surrender to police at 5pm today at Kamala after the other man was arrested outside the Cape Sienna Resort in Kamala, where the bashing is alleged to have taken place on Sunday, September 4.
About noon today, plain-clothes officers used an unmarked vehicle to block the road near Cape Sienna as one local driver was leaving Cape Sienna in his vehicle.
The man denied any knowledge of an arrest order being issued, and said he had done nothing wrong. He was shown a warrant issued by Phuket Provincial Court, but continued to deny any wrong-doing.
The other man, told about the arrest of his Cape Sienna taxi rank colleague, went to Kamala Police Station about 5pm.
It is believed that a member of the local council of Kamala later stood bail for both men.
Police had appealed for the two men to give themselves up after a tour driver was beaten and the windscreen of his vehicle was struck and broken by an iron bar as he tried to escape.
The man had been picking up two Australian tourists, Glenn and Dee Dawson, who were going on an elephant trek in southern Phuket.
They were in the tour vehicle when local taxi drivers blocked its path and began an attack on the driver. The Dawsons, who run a hotel on Lombok, an island near Bali, have said that when they called on the men to stop, the men yelled ''F!@# OFF Tourist.''
More and more questions are now being asked about Phuket's taxi and tuk-tuk monopoly and its tightening control over tourist transport on Phuket's popular west coast.
Incidents of violent retribution allegedly involving Phuket tuk-tuk and taxi drivers have increased markedly this year, leading to calls for authorities to control unregistered ''black'' local taxi drivers and others who take the law into their own hands.
Most resorts on Phuket are forced to suggest their guests use local taxis at excessive rates rather than benefit from free and open competition, as is the case in most of Phuket's regional rival destinations.
The lack of proper public transport and cheap, effective travel alternatives to the excessive fares demanded by tuk-tuks and taxis is often cited as the source of most complaints from Phuket tourists - and the reason, along with jet-ski scams and rip-offs, why some do not return to Phuket.
The existence of the tuk-tuk and taxi monopoly prevents Phuket authorities from providing cheap travel alternatives for local residents, forcing them to use their own motorcycles or cars and pickups and clogging Phuket roads.
Phuket's Taxi Driver Bashing: How a Resort Responded to Tourism TerrorOne man surrender to police at 5pm today at Kamala after the other man was arrested outside the Cape Sienna Resort in Kamala, where the bashing is alleged to have taken place on Sunday, September 4.
About noon today, plain-clothes officers used an unmarked vehicle to block the road near Cape Sienna as one local driver was leaving Cape Sienna in his vehicle.
The man denied any knowledge of an arrest order being issued, and said he had done nothing wrong. He was shown a warrant issued by Phuket Provincial Court, but continued to deny any wrong-doing.
The other man, told about the arrest of his Cape Sienna taxi rank colleague, went to Kamala Police Station about 5pm.
It is believed that a member of the local council of Kamala later stood bail for both men.
Police had appealed for the two men to give themselves up after a tour driver was beaten and the windscreen of his vehicle was struck and broken by an iron bar as he tried to escape.
The man had been picking up two Australian tourists, Glenn and Dee Dawson, who were going on an elephant trek in southern Phuket.
They were in the tour vehicle when local taxi drivers blocked its path and began an attack on the driver. The Dawsons, who run a hotel on Lombok, an island near Bali, have said that when they called on the men to stop, the men yelled ''F!@# OFF Tourist.''
More and more questions are now being asked about Phuket's taxi and tuk-tuk monopoly and its tightening control over tourist transport on Phuket's popular west coast.
Incidents of violent retribution allegedly involving Phuket tuk-tuk and taxi drivers have increased markedly this year, leading to calls for authorities to control unregistered ''black'' local taxi drivers and others who take the law into their own hands.
Most resorts on Phuket are forced to suggest their guests use local taxis at excessive rates rather than benefit from free and open competition, as is the case in most of Phuket's regional rival destinations.
The lack of proper public transport and cheap, effective travel alternatives to the excessive fares demanded by tuk-tuks and taxis is often cited as the source of most complaints from Phuket tourists - and the reason, along with jet-ski scams and rip-offs, why some do not return to Phuket.
The existence of the tuk-tuk and taxi monopoly prevents Phuket authorities from providing cheap travel alternatives for local residents, forcing them to use their own motorcycles or cars and pickups and clogging Phuket roads.
Latest Phuket resorts are victims of lack of control by authorities who do not act to regulate illegal taxi and tuk-tuk groups. It's the tourists and Phuket tourism that suffer.
Phuket's Taxi Driver Bashing: How a Resort Responded to Tourism Terror
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So let me get this correct. These two men had outstanding arrest warrants for assault, yet they made no attempt to surrender themselves to the police, (except after 1 of the guys was arrested). They deny the charges AND the local council of Kamala bailed them out...
This island truly has absolutely no hope of improvement when this is the level of contempt that these people hold for the rule of law.
Posted by Simon Luttrell on September 14, 2011 07:11
Editor Comment:
People are free to deny guilt and to await arrest. That happens everywhere. Being bailed by a friend or relative is not really novel, either. Whether justice is eventually done is the only important consideration.