Two foreign men were seen abandoning rental motorcycles outside the passenger terminal at Phuket International Airport despite signs banning motorcycles and parking, drawing criticism online.
The Phuket Times Facebook page shared photos of the men and the two rental motorcycles today, April 22, with the caption, “Foreign tourists rode rental motorcycles to the second-floor of Phuket airport despite no entry and no parking signs.”
The images showed both men in a hurry as they removed belongings from under the motorcycle seats and placed them onto airport trolleys.
According to the report, the men then left the motorcycles unattended and walked into the terminal to continue check-in.
The incident prompted criticism from Thai netizens. Many questioned where security guards were, saying officers are usually stationed outside the terminal. Some accused security staff of acting more quickly against Thai offenders only.
In the comments, a Thai woman who said she owns a car rental business shared a similar experience. She claimed a Swedish customer had once left one of her rental cars outside the airport terminal and called her to collect it herself.
One foreign commenter said he had previously seen Thai people do the same thing and urged witnesses to warn the men politely rather than post the incident on social media.
Thai users rejected that claim, saying they had not seen Thai motorists break airport parking rules because security guards are strict in enforcing them. Some asked the commenter to provide evidence.
As of the report, police and airport officials had not issued any statement on whether the two men would face legal penalties. It was believed that no legal action would follow because the two men may already have left Thailand.
There was also no update on whether the owner of the rental motorcycles had retrieved the vehicles.
In a similar case in Krabi in July last year, two foreigners rode stolen rental motorcycles to Phuket and failed to return them on schedule. They were later arrested in Phuket and prosecuted.
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