Latest Phuket taxi skirmish ends amicably

Maj-Gen Sermphan Sirikong, chief of Wichit Police Station, ordered an investigation into an incident that took place late Friday night at a taxi rank outside central Phuket, where a disagreement between taxi companies erupted.

A video of the incident was shared on social media shortly after, with a video clip titled “Expose the Phuket Taxi Mafia.”

In the incident, a Bangkok-registered taxi picked up passengers in front of the popular department store near the Andaman Phuket Car Taxi Service Cooperative Limited service post.

The head of the cooperative, Somphon Nuklai, and several of his colleagues approached the Bangkok-registered vehicle to inquire as to why it stopped in their designated area and why it was picking up passengers from the site.

At one point, the video shows the co-op officials opening the passenger door of the Bangkok-registered taxi several times, seemingly to prompt the passengers inside to get out of the vehicle, which they never did.

Cooperative officials also urged the driver of the taxi that vehicles registered outside Phuket province are not allowed to drive in the area, which the driver of the Bangkok-registered vehicle acknowledges and apologizes for.

However, the video then clearly showed how the vehicle drove off with all the passengers.

Upon further investigation, it emerged that the driver of the Bangkok-registered vehicle was 40-year-old Wisanu Prasertsap who, when contacted, presented himself to Wichit Police and explained that he had traveled from Bangkok and was at the home of his Woman resided in Talad Yai.

Mr Wisanu further explained that he did indeed pick up a group of Romanian passengers outside of Central Phuket, who he took to a drop-off point in Patong.

An unnamed representative from the Andaman Phuket Car Taxi Service Cooperative also joined Mr Wisanu and the police to discuss the situation in hopes of clarification and negotiation.

The Andaman Phuket Car Taxi Service Cooperative representative confirmed the events shown in the video and confirmed that Mr Somporn and five colleagues had reached out to Mr Wisanu to discuss the misunderstanding; The five colleagues were confirmed to be Phakdee Thipphakdee and Teerasuwat Kraitat, both of whom answered the door of Mr Wisanu’s taxi, Thanuthong Paya, Burupon Khaikaew and Ruechakorn Kraiplong, who was the person who recorded the incident on his mobile phone.

The Andaman Phuket Car Taxi Service Cooperative representative stated that in his opinion no vehicles registered outside of Phuket would be allowed to pick up passengers in the province, so they approached Mr Wisanu to challenge him.

In response, Mr. Wisanu confirmed that neither he nor his passengers had been intimidated or threatened in any way and therefore he did not feel it necessary to file any formal complaint. He also confirmed that he fully understands her complaint and will take note in the future.

Police agreed that the actions of Andaman Phuket Car Taxi Service Cooperative members did not pose a threat and therefore did not constitute a criminal offense, adding that any future repeat incident should be reported immediately to the local police. In this case, however, both parties had voiced their grievances and understood each other’s points of view, and as such the incident was settled, police confirmed.