SIMON Burrowes, the British tourist jailed in Thailand for three weeks after he was allegedly rude to an official at Phuket airport, was fined 500 baht today.
Mr Burrowes, given the option by a judge in Phuket Court of pleading not guilty and possibly facing a jail term or pleading guilty, opted to plead guilty.
The charge was that he spoke impolitely to an official.
Mr Burrowes told Phuketwan outside the court that he had caught the bus back to Phuket from Bangkok for today's hearing.
He said that police in Phuket had asked him why he did not have an appropriate visa. Mr Burrowes told them that his application for a visa extension had been refused.
Officials were today in the process of working out how to provide him with an appropriate visa. He says his plan is to return to Britain in about a fortnight.
Mr Burrowes, 44, was arrested after the encounter at Immigration as he attempted to catch a flight back to Britain on January 31. He spent three weeks in Phuket Jail before being granted bail.
Mr Burrowes, given the option by a judge in Phuket Court of pleading not guilty and possibly facing a jail term or pleading guilty, opted to plead guilty.
The charge was that he spoke impolitely to an official.
Mr Burrowes told Phuketwan outside the court that he had caught the bus back to Phuket from Bangkok for today's hearing.
He said that police in Phuket had asked him why he did not have an appropriate visa. Mr Burrowes told them that his application for a visa extension had been refused.
Officials were today in the process of working out how to provide him with an appropriate visa. He says his plan is to return to Britain in about a fortnight.
Mr Burrowes, 44, was arrested after the encounter at Immigration as he attempted to catch a flight back to Britain on January 31. He spent three weeks in Phuket Jail before being granted bail.
