This morning at Mo Chit – a motorcycle taxi driver in Pattaya was seen confronting an uncle driving a taxi in front of the North Pattaya Bus Station. The altercation arose from a dispute over passengers.
The dashcam of a concerned citizen captured the scene as the taxi, marked with a white color and yellow plate, waited to pick up a foreign male passenger outside the North Pattaya Bus Station in Bang Lamung district, Chonburi province. However, a motorcycle taxi driver approached and tapped on the passenger window, causing the taxi driver, approximately 60 years old, to step out with a golf club in hand, gesturing as if to strike several times but not following through. As a group of motorcycle taxi friends arrived, the taxi driver stepped back to return to his vehicle, but was pushed until he fell, before another motorcycle taxi driver used a coconut broom handle to strike the taxi driver multiple times and threatened him aggressively, causing alarm among tourists and locals in the vicinity. This incident occurred in the late afternoon of March 10.
The cause of the altercation stems from the fact that the taxi in question had come from Bangkok to pick up passengers, but on its return trip, it stopped to pick up additional passengers, irking the local motorcycle taxi drivers. Tensions regarding passenger disputes have been ongoing in the area.
Upon investigation, the head of the local motorcycle taxi group involved in the altercation explained that their rule is to allow taxis to pick up passengers but to maintain a distance. However, when someone from their group went to warn the taxi driver, he allegedly brandished a golf club, escalating the situation into a verbal altercation. Assistant Police Commissioner Nawin Theerawit stated that while no official complaints have been filed yet, authorities are taking the matter seriously, dispatching officers to the scene for investigation and profiling the involved motorcycle taxi group. Responsibility for oversight falls on the Department of Land Transport, which, in coordination with local police and transport agencies, has been working to address such incidents, yet they persist.
