British tourist ‘left with nothing’ after terrifying Thailand scooter crash

A Brit tourist’s volunteer trip to help sick animals turned into a nightmare when he was knocked off his scooter – and lost two teeth. Paul McDonald was riding to a supermarket in Koh Phangan, Thailand in November when he claims another scooter “came out of nowhere” and sent him flying over the handlebars.

The 33-year-old says he was knocked out and rushed to hospital in an ambulance to get treatment including two teeth removed and stitches on his upper lip that was “hanging off”. Despite insisting the incident wasn’t his fault and that the scooter’s brakes were “broken”, he says he was forced to cough up nearly £700 for damages and compensation to the other driver.

On top of around £800 medical bills not covered by his travel insurance the care worker now has ‘nothing left’ and is having to borrow money from his sister. The Scottish former care worker, who had arrived in Thailand just two weeks before the crash, admitted he’s spent around £1,500 in one week despite hoping it would fund his entire two-month trip.

Paul captured the collision on a TikTok live while his phone was in the holder. Chaotic crash footage shows him riding the scooter before shrieking as he and the phone plummet to the ground.

Other clips and images show despairing Paul in hospital covered in bandages and with a heavily cut face as he waits for dental and wound treatment that’s still ongoing.

The dog lover has revealed he hoped volunteering at an animal shelter would heal the heartbreak caused by the death of his beloved 13-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, Lola.

But the skint traveller claims he’ll now have to cut his trip short once his treatment has finished. Paul, who still has to visit the hospital daily to get his wounds cleaned, has vowed never to ride a scooter in Thailand again.

He shared footage of the crash on TikTok with the caption ‘this is your sign not to get a scooter in Thailand’ and it’s been viewed more than 5,000 times. Paul from Edinburgh, Scotland, said: “It was meant to be a dream trip and I was planning to stay for two months but I’ve had to pay all my money out so I haven’t got anything left.

“Just 30 seconds ruined the whole trip. It’s so bad, honestly. I was actually live on TikTok when it happened because there was a phone holder on the scooter.”

He continued: “I was on that and just going to the shop then the next thing I knew I was flying over the handlebars. I don’t really remember it but a scooter came out of nowhere and I crashed into it. It was really scary. I was knocked out for a minute, they called an ambulance and then I rocked up in hospital. I was there for a couple of hours and got all bandaged up.

“I had to get stitches in my lip because it was hanging off and there were grazes around my hand, feet and knees. I’ve got a foot infection now too. Two days later I had to go to the hospital and have two teeth removed. All my teeth were cracked and they’ve still got to give me fillings.

“I was at the dentist on Monday because I’ve got a splint on my teeth and I need to get it removed in two weeks. I need to get my stitches out too. I had to go to the police station and negotiate with the people that crashed into me and the people who owned the scooter. It’s costing a fortune because it adds up so quickly. It’s devastating.

“I’ve had to get my sister to send me some money to actually pay for things. I came out here to the cat and dog rescue centres to volunteer, that was my plan. I’d just lost the dog I’d had for 13 years so it was heartbreaking being in the house and her not being there. I thought I just needed to go away and sort myself out so this is just one thing after the next.”

Paul says that along with the hefty medical costs he was forced to pay the owner of the scooter, who had his passport, and the other driver in the crash. Paul said: “I had to pay lots of money for the bike and stuff but the damage wasn’t even that bad.

“I was trying to haggle with them but there was nothing I could do. I thought, ‘if I don’t give them that, they won’t give me my passport and I’ll probably go to jail’.

They seemed fine. I asked what happened [after blacking out] and they didn’t speak English. “I think they were just happy that they were getting the money to be honest. I just wanted to get my passport back, it was hard with the language barrier.”

Paul says he regrets renting the scooter, that he claims was ‘broken’ when he hired it as the brakes didn’t work properly, which contributed to the crash. He claims he contacted the scooter owner about his vehicle’s ‘squeaky’ brakes but was reassured the noise was caused by the rain and that he could return it the next day.

The tourist encourages people to be cautious about hiring scooters due to the ‘dangerous’ roads and believes there should be more done to protect people’s safety. Paul said: “I regret getting on the scooter now because it was broken and the brakes were all squeaky. He said it was squeaky because of the rain but it wasn’t and I knew because I’ve been on scooters before and this wasn’t right in the first place.

“I’ve had a few [scooters] when I’ve been here and been fine but I’d never get one again. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

“You just don’t expect it to be you but you can’t just rely on it being you or someone else because they could be coming from anywhere. The roads are quite dangerous and people just don’t really care so there should be more safety precautions in place.

“I’m trying to get myself a bit healed first before I can figure out where I’m going. I would like to prolong [my trip] once I’ve healed but I wouldn’t be going back on a scooter.”

Tourist Police Thailand has been contacted for comment.