Tourist court opens in Phuket
Thailand’s second tourist court has opened in Phuket. The first opened recently in Pattaya.
Similar courts are due to open in Bangkok, Samui, Chiang Mai and at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
It is hoped the courts will quickly settles minor disputes and are not a replacement for the criminal court system.
In Phuket, the court will hear mostly accident cases, or scams involving false claims against tourists for damage to rented motorcycles or jet skies.
The court is located at the tourism division of the Phuket provincial court where staff told local media, Phuket Gazette, they would fast-track justice settling cases in a day of the accident or crime.
The travel industry has welcomed the move, if only to build confidence and show that visitors do have recourse when they are a victim of a crime or scram while on holiday.
A Ministry of Tourism and Sports spokesman said that the Phuket court could help improve the image of the island in the longer term.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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