Driving License Error

[Dannie Boy]

Not sure whether this should be in Motoring or Legal so mods please move if appropriate

I had an interesting experience today at the Cha Am license centre. I am taking a trip to the UK next month and have arranged a hire car and decided to use my Thai driving license for the first time. As part of the registration process, the UK hire Company asked me to forward a copy of my passport and driving license to speed up collection. In doing so, I noticed that my Thai driving license shows the year of birth, one year different than my passport. Not sure whether it will be a problem, but I thought better to try and get my license changed to avoid any potential issues.

The lady at the license office was most unhelpful, asking via my wife, when did I notice it was wrong. When she was told only recently, she quickly pulled out a form from her desk which I assume you complete when applying, highlighting where it says something like “check to make sure all details are correctly”. Ok I accept that I obviously didn’t check it very carefully so it’s my mistake for not picking up their error. So I asked could it be renewed with the correct details and she said I need to provide a copy of my passport, visa, Thabian Bahn (yellow book) and a letter from Immigration confirming that I live there - ok I can accept all of this, but she then went on to tell me that I only pay the same price as a Thai national for the license, and I don’t pay any taxes!! I thought, there’s no point in trying to argue with her, but in terms of customer service, it was 1 out of 10.

[Nereus]

Not sure whether this should be in Motoring or Legal so mods please move if appropriate

The lady at the license office was most unhelpful, asking via my wife, when did I notice it was wrong. When she was told only recently, she quickly pulled out a form from her desk which I assume you complete when applying, highlighting where it says something like “check to make sure all details are correctly”. Ok I accept that I obviously didn’t check it very carefully so it’s my mistake for not picking up their error. So I asked could it be renewed with the correct details and she said I need to provide a copy of my passport, visa, Thabian Bahn (yellow book) and a letter from Immigration confirming that I live there - ok I can accept all of this, but she then went on to tell me that I only pay the same price as a Thai national for the license, and I don’t pay any taxes!! I thought, there’s no point in trying to argue with her, but in terms of customer service, it was 1 out of 10.

That sounds like the same arrogant witch that I posted about with my last renewal at that centre. A bit surprised that somebody hasn't waylaid her on her way home from work and taught her a few manners!

edit: add link, viewtopic.php?f=44&t=25973&p=333588&hil ... ce#p333588

[Dannie Boy]

I thought I’d follow up with the conclusion of getting my replacement driving license. Armed with all of my documents, I headed to the Cha Am DLC this morning, presented everything to the same “charming lady” that I dealt with the day before, and she reluctantly took everything, after about 15 minutes called me over to check a form she had produced, demanding I check everything to ensure it was correct. I hasten to add that all of the conversation was in Thai - fortunately my wife was with me to translate and help check the form, which was largely in Thai. Satisfied that all was correct, I duly signed in the box, handed over 155 Baht and then had to get a new photo done. I’m sure it would have been finished within 10 minutes, however they had an IT system crash, so it was probably 45 minutes, but at least by then I had my replacement license with the correct DOB.