A Thalang traffic police officer on duty last night explained to The Phuket News that the truck driver had issues with four pedestrian bridges in total on Thepkrasattri Rd.
The officer, who asked not to be named, received his first call from the truck driver seeking assistance at about 8pm.
The boat, a Prestige 500 measuring 50 feet long, was unable to make it under the pedestrian bridge near Baan Tha Reua School on Thepkrasattri Rd.
Traffic Police arrived to make sure no cars or motorbikes tried to pass the boat while the problem was being sorted out.
Then the driver had issues getting the boat safely under the pedestrian bridge near Provincial Electricity Authority Thalang branch just north of the Heroines Monument.
After about half an hour, and letting some air out of the trailer tyres, the boat was safely taken under the bridge.
At 11pm, the driver arrived at Thalang Police Station in person to ask for help, as this time the boat was unable to make it safely under the pedestrian bridge in front of Baan Lipon School in Srisoonthorn.
This time the officer asked the driver to sort the problem out himself.
“I told him to try to resolve the problem by himself first. If he really needed help, to please call us again,” the officer said.
Before ending his shift, the traffic police officer went to check on the progress in getting the boat clear, and the driver told him that he will take the boat back to Boat Lagoon Marina in Koh Kaew.
“The driver said the radar on the boat had broken during the efforts to get under the bridge,” the officer said.
The Phuket News later confirmed that the boat has been returned to Boat Lagoon.
The clearance of the pedestrian bridges is supposed to be five metres.
However, one bystander noted that repeated resurfacing of the road may have left the height clearance notices inaccurate.
Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub