A tuk-tuk driver who led a blockade of a Grab taxi at Chiang Mai International Airport on Monday has no public-transport driving licence and will face several charges following the incident, which was exposed by a foreign visitor, police said on Tuesday.
The Chiang Mai Land Transport Office and the Chiang Mai police head office on Tuesday met to plan legal actions after @Winston Vaduz posted a video clip on the Chiang Mai CM108 Facebook page to expose the incident at the airport.
The tourist made the post at 4.39pm on Monday under the topic “Welcome to Chiang Mai?”
The clip showed six male and female tuk-tuk drivers surrounding and kicking a private car, forcing a man and a woman – both foreigner visitors – to leave the vehicle.
In the clip, a man was seen pulling the car’s driver out of his seat and kicking him once.
The assailant then walked to his tuk-tuk, grabbed a stick and returned to intimidate the car driver further.
Pol Colonel Piyaphan Pattarapongsin, deputy Chiang Mai police chief, said the aggressor who attacked the Grab driver in the clip had been identified as Rungruj Jinaruan, 37.
Piyaphan said police had summoned Rungruj to face charges of causing a public disturbance, carrying a weapon in public and intimidating others.
Police will ask public prosecutors to charge the man in court.
He added that Rungroj had been arrested in August on similar charges, and he had at the time been found to be driving the tuk-tuk without a public-transport driving licence.
Phannee Pumphan, chief Chiang Mai land transport officer, said the owner of the tuk-tuk that was rented to Rungroj would also face a fine of Bt2,000 for allowing a person without such a licence to drive his public-transport vehicle.
Phannee said Rungroj will also face a charge of driving a public-transport vehicle without a proper driving licence.
She added that the driver of the Grab car involved in Tuesday’s fracas had been informed that he was being fined Bt2,000 for using a private car for public-transport purposes.
He will also be subject to an attitude-adjustment session about traffic laws, so that he does not violate the law again, the official said.
