The Land Transport Department and the Airports of Thailand say they are yet to find any evidence suggesting that a taxi driver dumped two foreign tourists and a baby on a Bangkok tollway.
The two agencies launched a probe into a photo of stranded tourists that went viral after being posted on the Facebook page of Surachai Hiranpraditkul.
Mr Surachai wrote that the tourists had taken the taxi from Suvarnabhumi airport to Rama IV Road but the driver missed the exit and let the passengers out on the tollway.
"My friend who is a traffic policeman found the tourists and helped them, but they couldn't remember the taxi's licence plate number," Mr Surachai wrote. "However, cameras at the airport should have captured this taxi's image."
Land Transport Department deputy director-general Suchart Klinsuwan said the agency had questioned Mr Surachai about the incident.
Mr Surachai told them a friend had taken the photo near the Asok 4 toll gate about 6pm on Monday, then helped the foreigners.
The tourists told Mr Surachai’s friend that they wanted to go to a Tourism Authority of Thailand office in the Sukhumvit area. They were then guided off the tollway down a staircase.
Mr Suchart said it was too early to reach a conclusion about whether the foreigners had really been dumped by a taxi driver, because Mr Surachai’s friend did not see the taxi at the scene.
There are many toll booths at Asok 4 gate, and a search for the taxi from CCTV footage had been unsuccessful, Mr Suchart said. Airports of Thailand deputy chief Petch Chuncharoen said CCTV footage from the airport's taxi parking areas was also being reviewed.
He said media reports about the viral image had negatively affected the airport taxi service's image. Any taxi driver found to have dumped passengers on a tollway would be punished, he said.