The Land Transport Department has punished the driver of a passenger van found to be carrying far more passengers than it was licensed to seat.
Department director-general Sanit Promwong said on Wednesday the driver of the van running from Pichit to Kamphaeng Phet, whose name was not released, was fined the maximum 5,000 baht and suspended from work for 30 days, starting Wednesday.
Wachira Prakarn Transport Co, which operates the van, was also fined 20,000 baht and the vehicle was banned from the fleet, he said.
The driver and the company were penalised for crowding in too many passengers and neglecting public safety, he said.
The department's action followed a complaint posted on Facebook by a passenger on Tuesday.
Thiti Phopana said the van he was riding in had 20 passengers in it.
The van was registered to carry only 14 passengers, according to the department.
The long-running issue of the safety of passenger vans was further fuelled on Monday by the crash of a passenger van from Chanthaburi to Bangkok, which ran into a pickup truck in Ban Bung district in Chon Buri, killing 25 people travelling in the two vehicles.