Police did not confirm how much the fine was, but said the issuing of the fine was a warning to other tuk-tuk drivers to not allow the same behaviour. Tourists were likewise warned to not engage in any similar dangerous antics.
The tuk-tuk driver, Yongyut Hasan, explained to reporters yesterday (Feb 11) that he felt he had little control over the incident.
He had picked up tourists in Kata and was taking them to Bangla Rd. en route, the tourists asked to play their own music through Bluetooth, and one of the tourists was standing on the back of the tuk-tuk while the tuk-tuk was in motion. Mr Yongyut told the tourist to get back inside the cab.
Then when the tuk-tuk became stuck in traffic on Thaweewong Rd (the beach road), one of the tourists climbed on top of the tuk-tuk and danced while the tuk-tuk was not in motion.
Mr Yongtyut told the tourist to get down and get back inside the tuk-tuk, which the tourist did as the traffic had eased a little and the tuk-tuk was not inching its way forward along the road.
Then when tuk-tuk stopped in the traffic again, the tourist climbed back out and danced on the vehicle’s roof again.
Mr Yongyut told the tourist to get down and scolded him for dancing on the roof of his tuk-tuk. The tourist apologised for his behaviour and the group and Mr Yongyut parted ways as they were already close to Bangla Rd by that time, but by then someone had recorded the dancing on a phone and posted it to social media, he said.
“I wanted to ask the police what am I was supposed to do after I had already warned the tourist. Sometimes we warn them and they don’t listen. They don’t care. They assume they hired us,” Mr Yongyut said.
“No one wants tourists to ride on the back and bounce the car or climb onto the roof. The tuk-tuk is our livelihood. Every driver loves his or her car. No one will let a passenger go up and dance on the roof causing damage. It’s not worth the cost,” Mr Yongyut continued.
“I’d like to ask people to think carefully before commenting on anything they see posted. Sometimes seeing only 10-20 seconds of a clip can’t be used to judge anything at all,” Mr Yongyut said.