I was driving on Sukhumvit Road (dual carriageway) just south of Na Jomtien heading for my home in Sattahip, when I saw in the distance a police car in hard shoulder, and a policeman waving cars to pull in. I had been stopped at the same point before, when I was asked for my licence(I have a Thai licence) which I showed and was allowed on my way. So this time I moved into the left hand lane, quite happy that if pulled in, I was not speeding, or breaking any traffic law. I had all my documents with me.
I stopped and waited for the nice thai policeman to approach my window. I kept my seat belt on, so no problem there.
I presented the officer with my licence. He said I would have to go to Pattaya police station, or I could give him 200 baht. I said "What for?". His face lit up, and he exclaimed in delight "Four?". To his disappointment, I was not offering him 400 baht, and I changed my question to "Why?'. He then said in broken English, "You drive left lane." I said "Yes". He said, "You have to drive right lane."

I am sitting open mouthed pointing to a dozen cars that have passed us in the left lane. He repeatedf "you have to drive right lane." I replied in thai'" Mai khow jai." He then repeated a request for 200baht. I said " I not do wrong". He said, at last explaining his claims, "You have to overtake right lane." I now understood he was trying to claim I had been overtaking on the inside, which I had not been doing, and I had actually stopped on the hard shoulder behind 2 other cars.
Now getting rather fed up, I said "OK, we go Pattaya Police Station. I don't understand." Officer now getting worn out and missing lots of other cars he could be stopping, said 'OK you go now', and I was eventually on my way.

The moral of this story,for me, is don't go into a situation overconfident. I almost voluntarily pulled over at this police stop. Unless I am waved in, individually, I will not be stopping again.

I had the same thing when driving through Bangkok.
My crime was to have a box of Chang blocking my view out of the the rear windscreen
Didn't matter that wagons were zooming by us with 20 Thais in the back and a couple of pigs blocking their drivers view.
It was either 150 in his hand or 400 through the books.
As we were in a rush we paid the 150 and got on our way.
It's that week before the "Fathers" get paid, that's the worst time to drive

Tony,

You should have stood your ground. To date I have been stopped about 4 times for nothing and each time I have offered to go to the police station, offer declined and sent on my way - much the same as ddwjg.

I very much doubt that there is any law regarding your rear windscreen being blocked, think about it - what about vans? That's why we have door mirrors.

It's not the measly 150 baht - its the principle. As long as we keep rolling over to these con artists, they will keep it up. Don't get me wrong, if I've done something wrong, 150 baht is much better than a real fine but I refuse to pay just because I'm a farang.

I suspect the Thais will have the equivalent of the Construction and Use Regulations,Flip. I doubt you could convincingly argue in thai,or indeed English,that your battery was indeed secure,your windows below a certain % tintedness or your tyres not the correct pressure if they decided to press the point. You will have done something wrong and it won't just be farang tax.

I do take your point though.

Although my experience in this area is limited (I refuse to drive in bangkok. I believe it can be dangerous to do anything which would make them lose face. Personally, I wouldn't play the outraged put-upon farang card, but rather try a couple of good lies/excuses ! e.g. We were stopped by the police because Pook was not wearing her seat belt. She told him her breasts were really sore, and we were on the way to the hospital to get them checked out - and she got away with it