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Tourist Police Chief enforces license checks at Phuket car, bike rentals

Tourist Police Chief enforces license checks at Phuket car, bike rentals

PHUKET: Patong-based car and motorbike rentals were given a memorable reminder to check tourists’ driving licenses when the national Tourist Police Commander visited them in person on Saturday (Apr 20) as part of an effort to regulate the booming vehicle rental business in Phuket.

tourismtransportSafetypolice
By The Phuket News

Monday 22 April 2024 08:00 AM

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam personally visited several car and bike rental businesses in Phuket to remind them that they can also be fined if their clients are caught driving without valid licenses. Photo: Phuket Tourist Police

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National Tourist Police Commander Lt Gen Saksira Phueakam embarked on a tour around Patong at 11am on Saturday, a day after the visit to Phuket by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Royal Thai Police Acting Commissioner Gen Kitirath Panphet.

Accompanying Lt Gen Saksira were top-ranking officers from the Tourist Police Region 3 Command, including Col Yutthaphum Panlainak, Col Phisit Sawatthaworn, Lt Col Wachirapisak Na Songkhla, and Lt Col Channarong Rodthongdee.

According to a press release by the Phuket Tourist Police, Lt Gen Saksira and fellow officers “went out to inspect vehicle rental shops to build public relations and distribute stickers with information on regulations and laws regarding renting out vehicles to foreigners.”

Patong rental business operators were instructed to comply with the laws for the safety of tourists, Phuket Tourist Police added.

Photos from the inspection show some rental shop operators placing Tourist Police stickers on their premises in the presence of Lt Gen Saksira and his entourage.

The first sticker is a reminder of penalties for driving a vehicle without a driving license and allowing another person to drive your vehicle without them having a driving license:

  1. The owner or driver of a motor vehicle who lets anyone without a proper driver’s license drive the vehicle shall be fined up to B2,000.
  2. A person driving the vehicle without a valid driver’s license shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one month or fined up to B1,000, or both.

The second sticker explains which driving licenses are recognised in Thailand, besides the Thai driving license issued by the Department of Land Transport (DLT):

  1. Foreign driving licenses issued by the relevant authorities of ASEAN countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
  2. International Driving Permits (IDPs) issued by foreign states under the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic of 1949 (101 signatory countries, the IDP is valid for 1 year) or the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968 (84 signatory countries, the IDP is valid for 3 years).

Holding any other document, including a US, UK, Russian, or Australian driving license without an accompanying IDP, effectively means not having a valid driving license in Thailand. The IDP is valid only when accompanied by an original foreign driving license.