PHUKET: Police have arrested a British tourist accused of assaulting a Phuket taxi driver after a payment dispute.
The incident happened after two tourists hired the 26-year-old taxi driver to take them to a hotel in tambon Karon at about 4am on Saturday.
The driver demanded a 400-baht fare but at the destination, he said, the tourists gave him only 100 baht.
However, one of the tourists insisted that he had paid 1,000 baht and wanted change.
An argument ensued and the tourist attacked the driver by reportedly slapping his face and squeezing his throat.
The driver was slightly injured and filed a complaint with Karon police right away.
Police went to the hotel but the tourist’s companion told officers that the man had already left for Krabi province.
Police obtained a warrant for the man’s arrest and eventually found him at a hotel on the Phi Phi islands in Krabi, where he was arrested on Tuesday morning.
The 31-year-old man, identified only as Graham, was brought to the Karon police station and then taken to the Phuket court for arraignment on Wednesday. He was being detained there.