UPDATE: Kamala Police Chief Pol Col Somsak Thongkliang later confirmed that a Thai tourist whom he named only as "Mr Prasopchok", 39, had been charged with reckless driving and fined B1,000 for the incident.
Prasopchok owned a convenience store in Bangkok and was holidaying in Phuket with his family, Pol Col Somsak said.
Mr Prasopchok told police that he thought driving on the beach was allowed, reported the Bangkok Post. He went to Phuket with his two children and wanted them to get a close-up view of the sea at Kamala Beach.
Some reports said Mr Prasopchok claimed that he saw a truck taking jet-skis onto the beach and thought it was permitted to drive along it. So he did.
A 30-second video of the incident circulated online yesterday, prompting a slew of negative comments and criticisms online.
The video showed the car, a black sedan, being driven on the sand and even onto the wet sand near the water.
A lifeguard approached and signalled for the driver to leave the area, but was ignored.
The comments posted online criticised the dangerous behaviour, with some pointing out that a local resident would not do this with his/her own car due to the damage the saltwater would do to the vehicle, hence the driver must had been a tourist in a rental car, commenters deduced.
Police and local authorities have yet to comment publicly on the incident.
Early last month, police were called to the beach after a driver left a Jeep stranded in wet sand as the high tide approached. Officials were able to have the Jeep recovered safely before the vehicle became stuck in the beachfront water.