Thai News

Police have said that the points system for driving offences will definitely be introduced in 2019.

In total drivers and riders have 12 points to play with each year before getting a ban.

• Category one:  Minor 1 point offences such as no helmet or non-wearing of seat belts. That's one point.
• Category two: Medium 2 point offences that includes going through red lights and going the wrong way on roads.
• Category three is described as serious and includes drink driving, driving under the influence of drugs, speeding and fleeing the scene of an accident. For that you will get three points.

Collect 12 points in a year and you will suffer a 3 month ban.

Get 3 bans and you will be banned from driving for a year.

Get 12 points in a year again after that and you lose your licence for three years and have to make a new one thereafter.

The measures were announced by Pol Maj Gen Ekkarak Limsangkat who chairs a committee looking into changes in the traffic laws. A consultative meeting was attended by 500 members of the public in which the points system was revealed by the Maj Gen who said it would definitely come in next year, reported Daily News.

A new train station in Bangkok is set to be the largest in Southeast Asia. Construction of Bang Sue Central Station is in progress and is scheduled to open in 2020.

The station, which is located near Bang Sue intersection on Thoet Damri road, will become the hub for Thailand's high speed rail links, from Bangkok to Nong Khai and Bangkok to Chiang Mai.

It will also be used for the proposed Eastern Economic Corridor high-speed rail line which will link three airports - Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao in Rayong, and which promises travel from Pattaya to Bangkok in less than one hour.

The new station will eventually replace the Hua Lamphong station, which has been Bangkok's primary train station since it opened in 1916.

The Thai authorities seem to be taking on people who offer short term lets on rooms, condos, or house, of less than a month. It is legal to privately rent property for periods of over a month but less than a month are only allowed in officially licensed hotels. Of course the licensing of hotels is very onerous and so is widely ignored.

The issue has perhaps been brought to a head by AirBnB as it provides a straightforward way for people to rent out their properties. hotels feel a bit challenged by the competition and so have been complaining to the authorities.

As is often the case in Thailand, these laws have been in existence for some time but the law has been loosely enforced with some condo developments around the country acting as defacto hotels and listing in many online booking websites.

This week says a court in Hua Hin ruled it was illegal for people to rent out their condos or rooms on a daily or weekly basis. While AirBnB was not specifically mentioned in the Hua Hin court case, the home-share system has grown to the point where Thailand's legally registered hotels are calling foul.

Earlier this month, authorities in Pattaya arrested seven individuals for operating what were described as illegal hotels (lacking permits or failure to abide reporting laws). Just one of the properties was an apartment building.

AirBnB in Thailand claims its service is legal but have been less than helpful when one a property owner posted on its website's community page a request for clarification. A year passed and no response.

The Immigration Department also have specific requirements of hotels to report any foreign guest's arrival. The unregistered properties fall through this reporting system making them a target of Thailand's strict Immigration requirements.