Another day, another Phuket taxi driver in the news for all the wrong reasons… The Phuket News reports that a “green plate” taxi driver is in trouble for dragging a foreign woman out of his car.
In video footage circulated on Facebook, the taxi driver, named as Bunrit Torngan, from the sub-district of Koh Kaew, can be seen dragging a woman out of his taxi last Sunday, December 24. The woman was resisting his eviction and was visible unpleased about being kicked out of the taxi she’s booked.
The Phuket Tourist Police were swift to respond after the footage, captured at the Bangchak petrol station at around 8.30pm, prompted outrage among netizens. According to the report, officers apprehended Bunrit and escorted him to the woman’s home in Bangtao to apologise.
The woman has been named only as “Maria” and police have not confirmed her nationality. The footage shows the driver grabbing her by the arm and pulling her out of his taxi. On Monday, December 25, Wachirapisak Na Songkhla and other Tourist Police officers escorted Bunrit to a condo at Bangtao Beach Gardens at around 10am.
According to the driver, he picked the foreign woman up at a department store in Phuket Town after she hired him to take her to Bangtao Beach. Along the way, it seems his paying passenger complained that the aircon was too cold and she asked him to turn it off.
Bunrit says he did so, but that the woman then asked why there was still cold air coming from the front of the vehicle. The driver says she then opened a window and when he pulled into a petrol station, she opened her door and pushed it open further with her foot.
It seems this angered the driver and he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the car. An argument ensued, but the driver claims he did then drive the woman home to Bangtao. However, this has not been confirmed by police.
Yesterday, the driver returned to Bangtao Beach Gardens, in the company of police officers, to apologise to Maria. However, it’s understood she was not home at the time and her mother accepted the apology on her behalf.
SOURCE: The Phuket News
