Police are now hunting for the tourist bus driver, who is understood to have done a runner.
The woman, who did not want to be identified as she still fears for her safety, spoke to The Phuket News today about her ordeal when the driver jumped out of his vehicle, came over to her, and pointed a pistol at her through the car window, shouting, “I’m going to kill you”.
She said she was driving her car south toward Central Festival Phuket around 2pm, when she made a U-turn at Phuket International Hospital. She then turned left into Bang Yai Rd, which runs behind Central Festival.
When she initially made the U-turn at Phuket International Hospital, she had noticed a medium-sided bus behind her with the driver honking the horn, but didn’t think anything of it except that the driver was obviously in a hurry.
As she drove down Bang Yai Rd, she noticed the same driver trying to overtake her, but the traffic was so busy he was unable to. When she reached the end of the road she turned left, and then waited at the large intersection to turn south toward Chalong.
She was waiting at the lights, slowly moving up, when the same vehicle behind her honked the horn for a long period. This frightened her and, thinking she was about to hit someone, she slammed on the brakes.
The driver behind her also slammed on his brakes. Traffic was moving up slowly and three or four cars overtook the bus driver. Then suddenly, the driver appeared beside her driver’s window and pointed a gun at her.
The woman said the man was speaking with Southern Thai accent, and shouted, “I’m going to kill you”. He hit the glass with the butt of the gun, which made a 15-centimetre scratch on the window.
“I was so scared – for this to happen to a lady when there is a child in the car, it is scary.
“There was a lot of traffic so other people saw what happened.
“I wasn’t crying – I was trying to be strong because my son was with me – but when I called the police my voice was trembling,” she told The Phuket News.
“It happened so fast. I wasn’t worried about me, but I was worried about my son – I was in shock.” By this time the traffic was flowing slowly again and she turned toward Chalong, while on the phone to the police.
They asked her for the licence plate number of the bus. She wasn’t able to see the bus behind, so asked her young son to look for the vehicle. He wrote down the licence plate number – something that proved vital in identifying the driver.
Her son also noted the bus had the “An Xin” tour company logo on the side.
She kept driving south while on the phone to police, and the bus eventually turned left toward the Naka Weekend Market.
The women then went to her uncle’s house, and the family went to the Vichit Police Station to file a complaint.
Vichit Police Station Superintendent, Pol Col Chuawalit Phetsipear, told The Phuket News that the incident was serious.
“My officers are following up on this case to try to locate the driver. We have all his information – including his name, ID card details, photo and address. He is not originally from Phuket – he is from Southern Thailand.
“We were told about this case on Saturday, and we were able to track down the bus in Kamala. He escaped and left the bus at the front of Phuket Fantasea.
“We have a warrant for his arrest and he faces multiple charges relating to attempted murder, criminal damage, carrying a gun in a public place, and issuing threats. We believe we will catch him soon.”
The General Manager of An Xin tour company, Pien Ponkam, told The Phuket News that the driver had worked for his company for six months, and had never showed any signs of being dangerous before this incident.
Mr Pien said the driver called him from Phuket Fantasea, saying “Please arrange another driver to take over the bus. I have to go.”
Mr Pien asked why, and the driver said that a woman driver had driven her car intentionally so that he had nearly hit her. “Then I used a replica gun to threaten her, because she made me angry,” he told Mr Pien.
However the Phuket woman told The Phuket News police believed that, judging from the damage to her car window, it was a real gun, not a replica.
The woman said her son was still traumatised by the incident, and spoke of it regularly.
She has lived in Phuket for around 30 years, and never had any problems before.
“This is the first time something like this has happened to me. I’m friendly to everyone, and I’ve never done anything bad to anyone. I don’t know why he said he would kill me.”
This is the second reported incidence of road rage by tourist transport drivers in recent weeks. A Phuket News reader wrote in to report a frightning ordeal when a minibus driver swerved in front of his car near SuperCheap, Phuket Town.
The reader wrote that he had avoided the swerving minibus, and had leaned on his horn.
“The driver wound down the window and spat. We kept calm and decided to be submissive,” he wrote.
“Unfortunately this only made things worse. He then tried to smash us from behind, but somehow we managed to swerve out of the way,” the reader explained.
“Once we got off the main road, he continued to pursue us, and finally he caught up and blocked our way.
“He came flying out the minibus and ran towards the car. [At this point] we decided to no longer drive away and face up to our certain demise.
“Then, the driver stopped running to reach behind his back to produce... We will never know because we fled again and this time faster.”
The reader and his family escaped.