Pitiful fine for taxi co-op which allowed rapist to drive a cab
Re: ‘Taxi firm fined for putting alleged rapist behind the wheel’, Breaking News, April 27.
It seems like greed and selfishness of Thana Siam Taxi Cooperative, who just collected a car rent for its rental income and let the suspect, who allegedly raped a Brazilian tourist last Tuesday, easily commit a crime. This was despite him having no driving licence for public transport vehicles and the fact he was also found
to have committed at least two rapes
previously.
That is very scary - a social danger that a criminal can easily be a cabbie and easily assault and rape a female passenger.
The taxi cooperative was fined a total of Bt3,000 - Bt2,000 for allowing the suspect to drive without a driving licence for a public transport vehicle and an additional fine of Bt1,000 for failing to send the suspect's record to the registrar of the Department of Land Transport (DLT).
Is this little fine of Bt3,000 enough to make a taxi cooperative be afraid of making such a mistake again? Because it is just equivalent to collecting the daily rent from three taxis.
How much damage have taxi service businesses done to the country's tourism reputation, which has been affected by this case? For the victim, she has been severely affected, both bodily and mentally.
Operators of both of taxi cooperatives and taxi garages are important for renting numerous cars, and must coordinate with the DLT to strictly check driving licences for public transport vehicles, plus send the background for people who want to be a taxi driver to the DLT registrar for a check of ‘blacklists’ and criminal records.
Installing GPS - a Global Positioning System - on taxis, it could effectively
prevent and help track down criminals.
And this case came from an airport [Don Mueang].
There should be a clear and thorough publicity of registered taxi service points - where they are, so that tourists will not be victims of an illegal cabdriver who grabs female tourists from an airport taxi rank.
Relevant agencies: When will Thailand not be blamed for such a crime if “anyone can be a cabbie by just paying to rent a taxi, and even a criminal can easily be a cabbie too”?
Sutipunt Bongsununt
