A Thai woman has demanded justice after she was hit by a car driven by a woman working at the British Embassy in Bangkok and was left by the driver to pay the THB130,000 cost of her hospital treatment.
The 27-year-old woman, who asked for her name to be withheld, yesterday published an open letter on the popular Pantip forum and the Facebook page “Hot Facebook Clip,” addressed to the British authorities, including the Ambassador to Thailand.
In the letter she claimed a Volkswagen car belonging to the British embassy hit her on the morning of March 1 on Sukhumvit Road.
The woman says the car abruptly came out of Soi Pridipanomyong 20/1 and crashed into the motorcycle she was riding, flipping the bike over and sending her flying about 20 meters across the road.
She then lost consciousness and was sent to hospital by witnesses in the area. She suffered a fractured skull, shattered ankle and knee, and broken leg.
The woman’s brother was called to the scene, and he and the female driver of the Volkswagen, who did not speak Thai, reported the incident to Klongton police station, while the victim was being treated in hospital.
“My brother said he tried to talk to the driver, but she only spoke English. So he got a translator from an international school nearby,” the victim told Coconuts by phone today.
But after Klongton police later contacted both parties for questioning, the driver refused to show up and they were unable to press charges against her.
The victim, who said she lives “hand to mouth,” decided to post her story online to seek justice after several days of trying to contact the driver without success, complaining that “this embassy staff member has not visited or contacted me to offer basic humanitarian help.”
“The British Embassy’s driver did not bother to help me like a person with a normal mind would. I had to go through an operation. My bone was broken into three pieces. My skull was fractured,” she said.
The victim told Coconuts she could not leave the hospital until the driver turned up to acknowledge her responsibility and help pay the hospital bills of THB130,000.
After several days of waiting and not receiving a response from the driver, she decided to take out a loan of THB100,000, with her insurance company making up the rest, so she could finally leave the hospital yesterday.
The victim’s sister said: “We have tried everything. We sent an e-mail. We only wanted to reach out to the driver and ask her to take responsibility. After there was no response, we decided to post the story on social media.”
The victim, who works as a saleswoman and relies on daily earnings, said: “I have been emotionally affected because I have a family and a small child who relies on my earnings. I will need several months to recover, and I will lose my earnings.”
She added: “I have no channels to negotiate with the driver, so I have to use the social network to let that person know I’m in trouble and they need to take responsibility because I am seriously hurt and I cannot work to feed my family.”
A British Embassy Spokesman told Coconuts: “A member of the British Embassy Bangkok was involved in a traffic incident on March 1. Their insurance company attended the incident and the police were informed.
“This matter is now with the insurance company.”
Story by: Prae Sakaowan and Sofia Mitra-Thakur
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