They argued that driving a taxi should be reserved for local people, and said the setting-up of a taxi rank by Pol Lt Col Anan Kobkiatthawin – originally from Patthalung – had caused resentment among local drivers.
Worse, they said, Col Anan’s taxi company – set up in front of a restaurant he owns next to Kamala Beach and close to the police station – employed drivers from Bangkok and other provinces. This, they said, was “vocation snatching”.
The protest was sparked by five local drivers based in the same area, who called on colleagues from Kamala to back them in their protest against the policeman’s temerity.
Officers spent more than four hours conducting negotiations, at the end of which Col Anan agreed to suspend his taxi service.
The Superintendent of Kamala Police Station, Pol Col Natthapakin Kwanchaipruk said today that he felt the local drivers were making a mountain out of a molehill.
He said that Col Anan was not operating a taxi rank; just one cab was based at the restaurant, operated by one of Col Anan’s relatives.
Col Natthapakin also denied a report that Col Anan would be transferred to another police station. The dispute had arisen from a “tiny matter” he explained, and was not grounds for a transfer.
“I don’t say [Col Anan] is right,” he said. “But it’s not fair to judge one person who is trying to make an honest living when there were so many unlicensed taxis out there.”
Pol Col Natthapakin said he suspected that the local drivers’ anger might have had a quite different root cause: a police raid last week on a cockfighting pit behind Phuket FantaSea. Some local drivers were reportedly involve in gambling on fights.
In addition, he said, Col Anan is close friends with some former officials of the Kamala Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor), who apparently have conflicts with a group of local taxi drivers.