A Pattaya taxi driver group got called on the carpet – but wasn’t charged or fined – for harassing a Bangkok driver and scaring his customers he had legally picked up in the city.
Jamnong Sutaboon, 43, was indignant and unrepentant when summoned by police May 4 to explain his actions in a video posted online showing his harassment of a Bangkok cabbie identified only as Supiwat, 43 near Walking Street.
Reached by telephone from Bangkok, Supiwat said he had delivered tourists from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Pattaya around 5 a.m. May 3 and then stopped for a meal. He didn’t put on his “available” light.
While eating, Supiwat responded to a hail from the Grab app for three passengers in Pattaya wanting to go to Laem Chabang. So he picked up the job.
But while leaving the passengers’ hotel, he was cut off by two Pattaya-based cabbies, including Jamnong, who questioned where he was from and told him he wasn’t allowed to pick up Pattaya passengers, even though he was legally registered to use the legal Grab app.
Supiwat drove off but the cowboy cabbies followed, again accosting him at the intersection of South and Third roads. They again cited unspecified transport rules they claimed prohibited him from working in Pattaya and tried to evict the passengers from the back.
They refused to get out and, when the light turned green, Supiwat sped off again and this time escaped Pattaya safely.
Supiwat criticized Jamnong, pointing out they both work in the same profession and insisting he had legal rights to pick up Grab passengers.
Police summoned Jamnong and questioned him, but did not fine him or lay criminal charges for his actions. Instead, police said they would further investigate and make a recommendation to the Chonburi Land Transport Department to prevent future incidents.
