The Thai man who made the news yesterday after offering to take the wheel from his “sleepy” taxi driver, has spoken — and he thinks people should show more compassion for the cabbie.
After his Facebook post dubbed “a whole new dimension to riding in a taxi” went viral yesterday, Santiphap “Tay” Khunchanmee said he was not angry at the driver at all. In fact, he empathized with how tired the working man must have been and was happy that the driver switched places with him for safety.
Santiphap told local media that the incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon, when he hailed the cab near Ramkhamhaeng National Housing Authority in Bang Kapi district to go to Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Khlong Toei — 18 kilometers away.
Apart from constantly munching on candy and snacks, nothing was particularly unusual about this driver’s behavior, Santiphap said.
However, when they hit the heavy traffic on Rama IX Road, the cabbie told Santiphap that he needed to take a nap during the red light and even asked Santiphap to wake him up when the light turned green.
“I told him, ‘No, we can’t do that’. So I offered to drive for him,” explained Santiphap in an interview with Amarin TV. “We switched seats at a nearby gas station.”
Upon arrival, the cabbie, reportedly, gave Santiphap a whole THB1 (not even half a cent) off his fare.
Better than nothing, we guess…
Santiphap said transport officials have contacted him for the driver’s details, but he said he didn’t take notes of the sleepy cabbie’s name or the license plate. After all, Santiphap said he had no intention of reporting the driver.
Given that no direct action is likely to be taken, Director of Land Transport Department Sukri Jarupoom simply issued a gentle reminder that the fine for putting passengers at risk is THB5,000 (US$150) — while the one for driving a cab without a public driving license, is THB1,000 (US$30).
In this case, however, our sleepy cab driver will apparently get a pass.
Reader Interactions