Phuket Citizens Join Growing Outcry over Tuk-Tuk, Taxi Intimidation, Monopoly - Phuket Wan

Phuket Citizens Join Growing Outcry over Tuk-Tuk, Taxi Intimidation, Monopoly

By Phuketwan Reporters
Thursday, November 10, 2011

PHUKET: Residents of Phuket are now calling for action to end the threats of violence and other negatives associated with the monopoly grip of tuk-tuks and illegal taxi groups.

Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha met a Phuket resident yesterday who complained that he went to pick up a business associate at a resort in the Bang Tao-Cherng Talay area, only to be turned away at the entrance by a group of taxi drivers.

The man, a Phuket citizen who wishes to remain anonymous, told Phuket's governor yesterday that the taxi drivers told him, in effect: ''Get lost or we'll beat the s*** out of you.''

The Governor passed on the man's letter of complaint immediately to the office of the Damrongtam bureau, which is based in Phuket City at Provincial Hall.

The Director of the Damrungtam office, Praphan Kanprnsang, said today that the latest allegation followed a letter from Karon residents.

The Karon residents wrote that they went to Chalong Police Station to complain about illegal taxis but were told by officers: ''There's nothing we can do. It's the taxi Mafia.''

As well as using threats and intimidation to monopolise tourist transport at virtually all Phuket's west coast resorts, the drivers have been accused of setting up a checkpoint on a public road in the small township of Nai Thon.

It is believed a British man who was ordered from a car by taxi drivers at that checkpoint has since complained to the British Embassy, and that the embassy is reportedly taking the issue up with senior government officials in Bangkok.

The British man's treatment follows a similar incident reported by a Thai man who said he went to pick up a Russian friend, but drivers ordered the Russian, a tourist staying at a beachfront resort, out of the vehicle.

At a meeting earlier this week involving Phuket's local authorities and tourism industry leaders, Phuket Tourism Association Vice President Bhuritt Maswongssa called on the government to solve the problem.

He said that authorities needed to determine how many of the ''taxi drivers'' in both legitimate cabs and personal cars pretending to be taxis were actually from Phuket.

''These people are hurting Phuket's tourism industry and in the end, they hurt themselves as well,'' Khun Bhuritt said.

The tuk-tuk and taxi drivers of Kata-Karon have failed to respond to a suggestion that they pioneer a call centre model that would end the need for traffic-clogging taxi stands all over the district.

Phuket authorities, having assessed the possibility of them taking action to solve the problems associated with Phuket's thousands of uncontrolled tuk-tuks and taxis, have requested intervention by the Interior Ministry in Bangkok.

The issue of Phuket's extortionate tuk-tuk and taxi fares, six times those charged in Bangkok, has also been passed on to the Permanent Secretary of the Interior Ministry, Prania Suwanrath, for resolution.

Phuket's honorary consuls are scheduled to meet with Governor Tri later this month. While some account will certainly be taken of the need to make a priority of the Bangkok floods and recovery, the honorary consuls are also likely to make the point that the tuk-tuk and taxi issue will seriously damage tourism's part in assisting recovery unless action is taken.