A taxi driver told a Japanese passenger travelling from Suvarnabhumi airport that the flagfall had officially increased from 35 baht to 75 baht because of rising fuel prices.

The passenger argued with the driver in Thai and also recorded the conversation, which was posted on social media and started to go viral on Tuesday.

The video clip of the conversation was first posted on Thailand's popular webboard Pantip.com by Pantip user MySpiration.

According to MySpiration, he knew the Japanese passenger, a businessman, who told him he took the taxi from Suvarnabhumi airport. The driver asked the passenger for his taxi queue ticket.

When he got in the cab he could not see the numbers on the meter as a piece of cloth was covering it.

The Japanese man asked the driver to show the meter. As the driver reluctantly removed the cloth, the metre was already at 75 baht.

The passenger asked the driver why the meter did not start at ther regular flagfall of 35 baht. The driver told him that the Land Transport Department had officially approved an increase in taxi fares last December because the price of compressed natural gas (CNG) had continually risen.

The driver also said he was a military-police officer when the passenger told him that he will ask police about the fare increase.

The original poster added that the fare did not include the 50-baht surcharge when catching a taxi at the airport. He wrote that the Japanese man started recording the conversation with the driver when the cab almost reached his destination, because he was asking his friends about the 75-baht starting fare.

His friends advised him to take photos of the vehicle and its licence plate and record a conversation with the driver, for use as evidence.

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Taxi operators at Suvaranabhumi airport have denied that the start-up fare is 75 baht.

The Suvarnabhumi Taxi Centre said drivers at the airport cannot ask for additional charges from passengers, apart from the 50-baht surcharge, and that passengers must keep the taxi queue tickets themselves at all times.

Passengers can make complaints to the Land Transport Department's 1584 hotline and call the Suvarnabhumi Taxi Centre at 02-132-9199 for assistance.