My Thailand holiday hell: I was robbed, beaten up by police, handcuffed to the bars of a cell and left to lie in a puddle of my own urine… all because I walked into a road sign

A British tourist’s dream getaway to Thailand spiraled into a living nightmare after a bizarre chain of events saw him assaulted, jailed twice, and stripped of his belongings – all for accidentally damaging an entrance sign.

Andrew Hopkins, 55, was staying in an Airbnb in sunny Pattaya when he decided to take a late-night stroll through the neighbourhood.

But it turned into the beginning of a harrowing ordeal that would follow him back home to the UK and haunt him for months.

Speaking to the MailOnline, Andrew recalled the horrors of his southeast Asian holiday from hell after we last week showed footage of him handcuffed to his prison cell.

As Andrew made his way out of his apartment he mistakenly knocked into the entrance sign of the neighbours’ residence.

At 21st 8lbs, the tourist admitted to damaging the sign after walking into it, but nothing could have prepared him for the consequences he would face as a result of his innocent accident.

Before Andrew could process what had happened, two furious security guards arrived and began shouting at him in Thai. 

Unable to understand, he made the universal gesture of submission, apologised, and even offered to pay for the damage. But that wasn’t enough. 

Moments later, the local police arrived at the scene – and things took a violent turn.

‘They threw me onto the back of a pick-up truck and locked me in a cell for around 36 hours,’ Andrew told the MailOnline. 

‘An English guy in there told me to just do what they say, and they’d let me go. Eventually, an Italian man arrived and told me I had to pay 15,000 baht [£360] in cash to be released.’ 

The holidaymaker was marched to an ATM where he withdrew the money as officers menacingly peered over his shoulder.

After taking out the cash in a panic, Andrew was taken to Pattaya’s central police station, where two senior officers took the money before setting him free. 

But if he thought his troubles were over, he was wrong. 

A video circulating online captured the inside of a Pattaya prison which horrifically saw fire ants and cockroaches roaming the dirty floors, 130 inmates stuffed into one room, and pregnant women handcuffed to cell bars.

Upon returning to his Airbnb, Andrew claims he was met with hostility.

The wife of the host was waiting at the front desk, furiously waving his key in his face while yelling at him that he had to leave.

‘She told me they’d cancelled my booking and that I had to leave immediately,’ he said. 

‘I was stunned, but I asked if I could at least take a shower and collect my things. They agreed.’

But stepping into his apartment, Andrew noticed something was very wrong.

‘There was a funny chemical smell – I’m sure they tried to drug me. Someone had been inside, stripped the beds, and tossed my belongings into my suitcase. But worse, my money and valuables had vanished.’

He claims his Cooperative Bank debit card, MBNA credit card, phone chargers, and a hidden stash of £1,230 in cash, had all been stolen.

Confronting the woman only made things worse.

‘She started screaming at me about smoking on the balcony. There was an ashtray out there – and I even had a video proving it.’ 

Before long, the Thai police showed up once again – and this time, they were even more brutal.

‘They attacked me, handcuffed me to the back of a pickup, and hauled me off to jail again. This time, they stripped me of all my belongings and handcuffed me to the bars of my cell.’ 

Left lying on a grimy floor with his arm raised and bound to the bars if his prison cell, Andrew was forced to urinate over himself.

‘I’m lying on the floor on my back in a pool of water. I need the toilet. I shouted for help, no one came,’ he said.

‘Eventually I had to urinate adding to the pool of liquid I was lying in. It was disgusting and there was no way to treat a human being’.

Recalling the experience, he said it was the most harrowing and dehumanising moment of his life – ‘being stripped of my dignity having to lie in my own body fluids and being beaten up for no other reason than questioning where my money and valuables were’.

In desperation for his circumstances to change, Andrew began singing Country Roads, God Save the King and Half the World Away at the top of his voice.

Eventually, police officers released him, but his nightmare was far from over. 

His Thai phone – a Galaxy s21, his bank cards, and more cash had all disappeared.

Worse still, his debit card had been used fraudulently to the tune of £450 – and his bank refused to refund him. 

‘When I told them to check CCTV from the 7-Eleven where it was used, they said they couldn’t. So I’m just out of pocket,’ he said. 

And if Andrew’s ordeal could not get any more dire, the £480 he had stashed in his pocket had also disappeared.

‘My charger had gone missing, and to cap it all off my trainers and flip flops were missing, so I was in my bare feet,’ the disgruntled traveller said. 

‘The police gave me a pair of the most uncomfortable Adda flip flops – the one with the bit between the toes that I hate – but beggars can’t be choosers’.

Andrew was ‘strangely’ handed £120 in cash before being, what he described as, booted out into the night. 

‘I was never formally arrested, never given a phone call,’ he said.   

Now back in the UK, he is still suffering from the fallout of the ordeal.

‘I had to book a business-class flight home with Emirates for [£1,800 because I was in too much pain to sit down properly,’ he said. 

‘I’ve had infections, muscle pain, and PTSD from what happened.’

He is now pursuing claims with Airbnb’s insurers and his own travel insurance, while the UK Home Office has lodged a formal complaint with Thai authorities.

‘Tourist’s to Thailand have zero rights in Thailand, Thais honour other Thais, Tourist’s are seen as marks to be fleeced and robbed at every opportunity,’ he warned.

His final verdict on Thailand?

‘They call it the Land of Smiles, but my experience is that they’re only friendly while you’re paying. Tourists are seen as easy targets to be fleeced and robbed.

‘If you ever find yourself in trouble there – stay calm, don’t raise your voice, and do not, under any circumstances, question their authority.’