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theblether, on 2012-05-25 22:31:17, said:
BigBikeBKK, on 2012-05-25 22:26:26, said:
jamesbrock, on 2012-05-25 21:22:22, said:
My gf & I came off our bike a few months ago, which put me in a wheelchair for nearly six weeks; while I was being maltreated in the local govt hospital (bandaged up and being sent out while still unable to walk) the gf, who was injured herself, was receiving calls from the local BiB demanding we attend the station as soon as we were released from hospital. When we attended, there were a dozen people in there all wanting a piece of the action; the big BiB came out and said to me, without asking ANY questions, "You wrong. You pay 20,000 baht and we finish. You not pay, we go to [the main station in Samui] and you go court, pay big fine. Be big trouble." The problem here was - I wasn't in the wrong.
At that stage, all I wanted to do was go to a proper hospital and get proper treatment, so I paid. The subsequent proper treatment has cost me over 150,000 baht so far, none of which was covered by insurance, because the BiB didn't write an accident report.
Unfortunately, these are the types of situations where the best thing to do is suck it up and move on.
At that stage, all I wanted to do was go to a proper hospital and get proper treatment, so I paid. The subsequent proper treatment has cost me over 150,000 baht so far, none of which was covered by insurance, because the BiB didn't write an accident report.
Unfortunately, these are the types of situations where the best thing to do is suck it up and move on.
Paid for WHAT? Go to court for what? What law(s) are you accused of violating that would lead to a 20k Baht fine? What did the police say you did wrong? Drunk? Was your bike insured? Did you have a valid license?
Sounds like there's more to this story than you're sharing with us...
Surely you know that we farangs are always in the wrong even when we are in the right? Come on, you must have come across this type of " selective farang taxation" in the past.
I disagree Blether – In 15 years in Thailand I’ve experienced nothing other than fair treatment no different to that any Thai would experience
The issue of blaming the foreigner simply because he’s foreign does not exist.
The issue of blaming anyone who will accept the blame without resistance does exist – I believe this is where many foreigners will fall on their face, they are faced with the blame simply because the police are lazy and looking for the path of least resistance. In general foreigners simply accept the blame too easily and the police know this (they don't care if you are a foreigner or not).
The police do and will try it on, but when they face polite resistance they will generally take another path.
It’s not that the foreigner is always in the wrong. Its simply that the quickest and easiest person to blame is blamed first.
Even the last two times I've been pulled over in my car (twice in 2 years) I refused to accept fault and eventually waved along (Thai's were also pulled over in other cars). However, before that when I knew I had done something wrong I accepted fault quickly and dealt with the matter efficiently.
