Forty-eight food shop-owners in Hua Hin seaside resort town signed a memorandum of understanding today with local authorities promising not to overcharge their customers, especially for seafoods.

The 48 food shop-owners who represented seafood street shops at the Hua Hin night market and 22 beach-front food shops were invited to a meeting with officials of Hua Hin municipal, consumers’ protection network, police and the provincial commerce office by Mr Thanont Panpeepart, the district chief officer, to discuss the price overcharging problem.

Allegations of price overcharging, especially on seafoods, have been going on for a long time from both Thai and foreign tourists, but without any action being taken by authorities concerned to resolve the problem until recently when a SeaWrite author wrote a comment in the social media complaining of an unpleasant experience two months ago when he visited a street food vendor with some friends and was charged 1,000 baht for each of the prawn he ordered.

Thanont said price overcharging, especially on seafoods, has tarnished the reputation of Hua Hin.

After the signing of the MoU today, he said officials would regularly visit street food vendors and food shops to check if they overcharge customers or not.

He added that the officials would also go under cover and disguise as customers to check food prices, adding that violators would face harsh legal actions.

Tags:  street food vendors, food shop-owners, price overcharging, seafood