Fight over BMW repair bill
Prawet Jarubon (middle) inspects the smashed-up BMW.
Prawet Jarubon, 55, who has gained notoriety in the media as the son of the last executioner at Bang Kwang prison, took the owner of the BMW 320i, a friend of his who was not identified, and who offered the car to him as surety for a loan, to see Bang Bua Thong police.
Mr Prawet said he and his mate took the car to be pawned for 40,000 baht in an arrangement stitched together by Chang Pol Service garage in August.
The garage head helped arrange the loan for the car’s owner after a mutual friend asked him to help. He called another mate, “B”, who introduced them to a man who provided the cash, and later picked up the vehicle.
The trouble started the following month when a staff member of B’s stole the car keys and took the car out for an unauthorised spin, hitting a pickup, news reports said.
The impact was so bad that both airbags deployed, news reports said. The accident, which occurred in the Bang Sri Muang area, left the front windscreen was smashed, the front of the car crushed, and one side badly dented.
The complainant said when he took the damage to be appraised, the insurer told him the repairs would cost almost 570,000 baht. However, the owner has insurance cover worth just 200,000 baht, which leaves a potential outstanding bill of 370,000 baht.
“I have been asking for the money since September, but the garage keeps saying I have to chase down the guy who crashed the car,” Mr Prawet said.
He claimed the garage did not tell him about the damage until he found out from someone else. He felt sorry for his friend, the BMW owner, who had tried to help him with the loan, but whose car had now been smashed up.
News images showed the vehicle laid up at another garage where it sits idle, as the two sides cannot reach an agreement.
The staff member was jailed three weeks ago on a drugs offence. He offered to pay what he can by instalment, but the owner, who wants a lump sum, rejected the offer, reports said.
Mr Prawet said he asked police to investigate the garage, which he claims charged 10 per cent a month for the loan. He said if the garage is still unwilling to accept responsibility, he would ask his lawyer to start a damages claim.
The tangled saga offers a salutary lesson in how Thais trying to help each other out of financial difficulty can themselves end up in grief.
Reporters spoke to “Chang Pol” (no surname given), 40, owner of the garage on Bang Kruai-Sai Noi Road in Bang Bua Thong district which helped arrange the financing.
He said he was drinking with a mate, “Somsak” (no surname given), in August, who had often helped him out in the past.
Somsak, he said, told him he knew a friend who had over-committed himself and wanted to pawn the BMW to raise some cash.
“I said I had no money either, so I called a friend, B. He introduced us to a man who sells old stuff. He had the money transferred, and later sent someone to pick up the vehicle,” he said.
“They reached an agreement as friends. Neither I nor Somsak lent any money; I merely contacted a friend on Somsak’s behalf.”
Chang Pol no doubt feels he has been unfairly blamed for his part in the saga. “I have learnt my lesson. I will think twice about offering to help anyone again,” he said.
However, he has still tried to do what he can. He claims the BMW was actually worth 300,000 baht. “The insurer will pay 200,000 baht, but the owner wants 500,000 baht. I own a garage, so I know how much it is worth,” he grumbled.
Chang Pol said CCTV showed the complainant turning up and abusing his staff after the accident. He also had a forklift turn up to take away the vehicle.
“I offered to take responsibility by repairing the car, but the owner wouldn’t agree,” he said. “I have spoken to all sides, and was happy to hand over money from the guy who smashed the car, but the problem is he doesn’t have a lump sum big enough.”
He had warned the staff member against taking the car out for a spin, as had Mr Prawet himself, to no avail.
Mr Prawet said he and the owner took the car to be pawned with Somsak and Chang Pol on Aug 23. He claimed he charged 10 per cent a month on the loan, which the pair dispute.
On Sept 18, he heard from Somsak that the car had been involved in an accident. “I had seen the car parked without its registration plates in Pak Kret, which was odd. The garage told me a staff member was driving it and had parked it there. However, they had warned him against taking it out,” he said.
Police were planning to call in those involved to see if the loan was in fact offered at extortionate rates.
At least he asked first
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| The teen steals a bird cage. |
Another case of a “polite thief” has emerged when a man in Nonthaburi asked permission to steal two bird cages.
CCTV images taken show the man eyeing two wooden bird cages at a store in Bang Bua Thong late on Nov 25 before taking them. “P, I will ask for this (if u don’t mind),” he calls out for the benefit of the CCTV camera before lifting the goods.
He turned up with a friend on a motorcycle to rob the store, where the cages were hanging out front as decorative items. When the two women who own the shop opened for business the next day, they noticed the items missing.
They took a look at their CCTV vision from the night before, which showed the young thief looking about furtively. He picked up and rejected an iron cage before settling on the two wooden equivalents.
His friend on the motorcycle is heard telling him to get a move on, which hastened his depature, but not before he asked for permission to steal.
The owners acknowledged the thief seemed a polite type, but alerted police anyway, as next time he could steal something bigger. “He also did it in flagrant disregard for the law, as he knew the shop has CCTV,” one owner said. Police were looking for the offender.
Another tale of a well-mannered thief emerged in Samut Sakhon last month. A gold shop thief took off his shoes before entering the store because a sign told him to do so.
Somlak Chanthongthae, 32, snatched two necklaces worth four baht in gold weight, or 171,600 baht from a shop in Muang district, near Wat Ketmadi Sriwararam.
Mr Somlak, described in news reports as a “well-mannered thief” for taking off his shoes, left his footwear behind in his haste to leave, police say. They caught him later the same day on an inter-provincial bus bound for Phichit.
As police took Mr Somlak back to the store for a crime reconstruction, he gave staff a wai by way of apology. “I took my shoes off at the door because ther sign told me to,” he said matter-of-factly.
Earlier, in May, a gold shop robber in Sakhon Nakhon distinguished himself with his good manners by giving staff a wai first, but nonetheless brought two guns.
Nopparat “Mo” Rompho, 22, robbed the Hang Thong Yaowarat Krungthep goldstore at Big C Mahachai 2 in Muang district. He took off on a motorcycle with five gold necklaces worth three baht weight in gold, but was caught three days later.
As he walked in, wearing a crash helmet over his head and the green livery of a delivery man to help disguise his identity, the young man gave staff a wai and said, “Please give me permission to rob you.”
That was an unusually polite opening for a robbery, and must have taken staff by surprise. It was to be followed by: “Please grab your necklaces worth three and five baht, and put them in the bag if you don’t want to get shot.” Mr Nopparat lifted up his shift to reveal two guns on his waist to show he meant business. “And please do it quickly, too,” he added.
Funnily enough, the gold thieves in both cases say they did the deed to raise money for their girlfriend’s hand in marriage.
Unusual car roof feature
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| The body on the car after police stopped the driver |
A driver in Surin travelled for 30km with the body of a man on the roof of his sedan before being flagged over by police.
Tha Thum police stopped driver Teerapat Leeran, 46, after a good samaritan contacted Chom Phra station to say they had witnessed a vehicle travelling along the road with a body stuck on its roof.
The car was travelling on the Chom Phra-Tha Thum Road when police and rescue workers stopped it, 30km from where the driver hit a man crossing the road.
Mr Teerapat said he was driving in poor visibility but was aware he had hit someone. The victim was identified as Weerapong (no surname given), 46, in news reports.
Mr Teerapat, who evidently saw fit not to stop, said he was on his way to see relatives at hospital. He claimed he did not know Weerapong’s body landed on his roof, despite blood spatter trailing after his vehicle. Police took him in. No word was to hand on what charges he will face.
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