UPDATE: British Tourist Who Ate Traffic Ticket in Pattaya Charged for Destroying Official Government Document

Pattaya —

A British tourist who ate a traffic ticket in front of police in Pattaya is facing several charges, including “Destroying an official document, which is government property.”

First our previous story:

A foreign tourist shocked police in Pattaya by swallowing his traffic ticket during a traffic stop.

Now for our update:

On the evening of December 22nd, Pol. Col. Navin Teerawit, Chief of Pattaya Police Station, summoned the suspect identified only as Mr. Emmanuel, a 34-year-old British tourist, to inform him of legal charges after he made headlines after swallowing a traffic ticket that traffic police from Pattaya Police Station gave him for not wearing a helmet or shirt while riding a motorcycle and for not having a driver’s license and other legal documentation required to drive a motorbike.

According to Pol. Col. Navin, Mr. Emmanuel entered Thailand on a tourist visa on December 10th, 2024. The police chief noted that unlike his behavior earlier, Mr. Emmanuel arrived at the station calmly. He wore a black tank top, white patterned shorts, and a gray headscarf, as he waited to hear the charges against him.

Following the incident, Pol. Col. Navin revealed that officers from Chonburi Immigration visited Mr. Emmanuel to educate him about Thai laws and how he should behave in Thailand. Mr. Emmanuel cooperated. He also expressed his willingness to understand and change his behavior during his stay to avoid any sort of deportation, although police said that would be up to Immigration.

The Pattaya News notes that destruction of government property in Thailand is considered a VERY serious offense and can occasionally carry penalities of up to hundreds of thousands of Baht and years in jail, although it is unlikely to happen in this case.

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Aim Tanakorn
The local news translator and writer at The Pattaya News. Tanakorn "Aim" Panyadee is a twenty-five year old who currently lives in Bangkok. Interested in English translation, story-telling, and entrepreneurship, he believes that hard-working is an indispensable component of every success in this world.