PHUKET: A meeting of Central Festival Phuket taxi drivers voted today to endorse arrested queue leader Pom Sukkasam to continue in the role.
Khun Pom, arrested on the weekend and taken to Bangkok, retained the confidence of most of the 179 drivers from the Phuket City shopping mall when they met at the Phuket Land Transport Department office.
He blamed his arrest and the arrest of his brother Sern on a disruptive driver who had the support of perhaps four other members of the group.
''When the officers said we were going to be driven to Bangkok in a pickup, I hired a minivan and we all went to Bangkok in that,'' he told reporters after the meeting.
Earlier, the Department of Special Investigation's Major Natapol Diisayatham told the gathering that complaints had been made by 16 embassies about taxi drivers in Thailand, especially about those on Phuket.
Only 43 of the drivers at Central Festival rank had registered and there was no excuse for not being legal, he added.
Central Festival Operations Manager Preecha Ritthiratree told the drivers that there had been complaints from shoppers about taxis being of low quality, with poor service to match.
''We would really like you all to be in the best possible kinds of vehicles,'' he said. ''Our standards are high and we expect the same standards from Central Festival taxi drivers.''
Although Central Festival were hoping to have all of the vehicles registered by the end of November, the drivers were given until the end of February to make their vehicles legitimate.
A total of 107 of the 179 drivers have registered or begun the process of registration.
Khun Pom, who has been in charge of the rank for nine years, told the gathering it would take about three months to get everything done.
He said later that he was due to reappear in Bangkok on intimidation and extortion charges - which he denies - on October 28.
Khun Pom, arrested on the weekend and taken to Bangkok, retained the confidence of most of the 179 drivers from the Phuket City shopping mall when they met at the Phuket Land Transport Department office.
He blamed his arrest and the arrest of his brother Sern on a disruptive driver who had the support of perhaps four other members of the group.
''When the officers said we were going to be driven to Bangkok in a pickup, I hired a minivan and we all went to Bangkok in that,'' he told reporters after the meeting.
Earlier, the Department of Special Investigation's Major Natapol Diisayatham told the gathering that complaints had been made by 16 embassies about taxi drivers in Thailand, especially about those on Phuket.
Only 43 of the drivers at Central Festival rank had registered and there was no excuse for not being legal, he added.
Central Festival Operations Manager Preecha Ritthiratree told the drivers that there had been complaints from shoppers about taxis being of low quality, with poor service to match.
''We would really like you all to be in the best possible kinds of vehicles,'' he said. ''Our standards are high and we expect the same standards from Central Festival taxi drivers.''
Although Central Festival were hoping to have all of the vehicles registered by the end of November, the drivers were given until the end of February to make their vehicles legitimate.
A total of 107 of the 179 drivers have registered or begun the process of registration.
Khun Pom, who has been in charge of the rank for nine years, told the gathering it would take about three months to get everything done.
He said later that he was due to reappear in Bangkok on intimidation and extortion charges - which he denies - on October 28.
Hi, I have a friend who is a taxi driver and has what is a clean Toyota with great aircon and drives very well I have been in it many times and it is up to Western standards. He told me that he could not keep his name on the side as he could not transfer the car's finance to become legal. I had read there was financial changes going underway and although I am not supporting the taxi/tuktuk drivers in general if they cannot switch finance due to the Ownership book kept in different location then how can they be legal. You can't get money if the person does not have it right. So perhaps more should be done to make it easier for the finance to be arranged.
Posted by Fiesty Farang on September 12, 2013 16:23
Editor Comment:
Phuket does not need the numbers of taxis it now has, and you want to encourage more poorly skilled people to charge extortionate fares? You are generous with our money.