Thailand & Pattaya LATEST NEWS from Fabulous 103fm (16 January 2023)

Thailand & Pattaya LATEST NEWS from Fabulous 103fm (16 January 2023)

Thailand’s plans to set up a house committee to review the feasibility of casinos here have seen many different reactions among local nationals. With several citing the dangers of legal gambling on the population as a whole, and others seeing it as an increase in national revenue. The study will incorporate views on casino opening in the capital and/or the eastern corridor which includes Chonburi and Rayong. For decades the decision has always been a firm NO, but it’s well known that several hotel operations DO have space allocated since construction that would accommodate casinos if allowed.

As Chinese tourists begin to arrive again in Thailand, more and more Thais are reverting to mask wearing especially in tourist driven regions. With China itself finally confirming some 60K covid related deaths in December , it’s also believed that the rise in cases there has begun to wane and numbers are falling dramatically. Chinese returning to their own country do, however, have to complete pre-flight covid checks and are required by Thailand to have travel insurance which would cover them in the event that they need medical assistance.

A scam aimed at expats and long term tourists has been highlighted this weekend. Social media in several tourist areas, including Pattaya, has been awash with the promise of Drivers licences for people, at low prices AND where applicants DON’T have to go to the licensing offices for any testing. This is totally impossible, and is being addressed by authorities this week by police and the land transport office. The online advertising features photographs of supposed customers holding up their driving licences, a ploy used by most so called agents who offer to hold your hand at the transportation office for a fee. But.. REALITY is though, in these cases, it’s now been revealed that even the photographs have been stolen from innocent fb posters. One is of an autistic expat who makes youtube videos, the other a Thai woman, for some bizarre reason, in government uniform holding hers to the camera. Neither of those people are involved in the scam which is aimed at relieving people of 3 to 5K baht online, and complaints have been filed with police. The advisory is that NO agency can bi pass the required personal visit of applicants to the dept of land transport for the application for, or renewal of a driving licence. Some agents offer the hold your hand treatment BUT that too is often misleading as, apart from setting up an appointment, which you can do for yourself in 5 minutes, they can only ferry you to and from the centre. Staff at the Dept of Land transport are mostly multilingual and the process flows at a set speed, regardless of whether you pay an agent and consider yourself to be a VIP. Non Thais are separated from Thai applicants to ensure that you get the best of service.. and that is all FREE, except for the standard fee for the licence itself. Transferring money to anyone advertising on social media without meeting in real life and deciding that they are trustworthy is seriously not recommended.

K Suthat, the errant Bentley driver, successful businessman and brother to a high ranking politician, who also rammed a Mitsusbishi carrying a family of 6, causing it to flip over on the highway earlier this month.. Well, his troubles haven’t gone away. Seems he now faces enquiries regarding illegal substances found in his blood testing. Suthat is said to have walked away from the accident, and tried to hail a taxi after the accident, refusing a breath test. Numerous tales of this event , along with excuses HAVEN’T seen him let off charges of DUI for which he is now on bail.

An American, 54 year old Peter Coker Jnr has been arrested on Phuket following an FBI request to Thai authorities. Coker, a resident of St Kitts and Nevis, is wanted on charges of manipulating shares on the US stock exchange along with multiple fraud charges and is likely to be deported to join his family, including father also facing similar charges.

In the capital, 5 pakistanis were nabbed working at a so called taiwanese based FOUNDATION after locals reported them to police. With most on in excess of NINE years overstay, and obviously no work permits, they face deportation, fines and blacklisting. Most are young enough to have lived here since their early teens and the foundation faces investigation too.

Politicians, like armies, march on their stomachs according to 176 MPs from all parties who have petitioned for an inquiry into their lunches. Seems the grub served to parliamentarians isn’t up to scratch and portions have shrunk too. They want the caters to be changed quickly, and also report on several small fires which occurred in the catering area.

Meanwhile at home and with the re-emergence of the Chinese tourism business being hailed as a boost for trade here, hotels look forward to extra custom AND even the much beleaguered New Nordic Group, currently fighting to avoid bankruptcy believe that the return could see their situation reversed. Previously accommodating coach loads of Chinese, New Nordic hopes to see bookings rise quickly AND to be able to show this improvement as it battles to avoid full bankruptcy.

It may well be that city hall will call a halt to parking along the beach side of beach road this month. Originally launched to increase business AND based on low traffic counts most days, the clearance of parking would AFFORD THE NOW OFTEN CONGESTED frontage road and full extra lane. That in itself is seen as a good plan, but with the bottleneck at the walking end, it’s unlikely to reduce the traffic jams on busy days.

City hall did a magnificent job of organizing its annual childrens day party at the weekend, with numerous other businesses offering free entertainment , city hall’s annual party, returning after the covid era, was as always the best, and saw the north road closed temporarily at points to ensure safety.

For more of the latest local & national video news updates, subscribe to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqqv5O_uGcm-BdVXfgrZyWg
For more news: https://alwayspattaya.com/news/
Listen to the radio online from our homepage!: http://www.alwayspattaya.com

EXCLUSIVE… Expat license SCAM exposed!