Barry Kenyon, the previous Pattaya honorary consul and consular correspondent from 1997 to 2010, said he was deeply shocked by the foreign office’s decision. “Like me, Howard has a varied background in police work and the local media and he showed every sign of becoming an exceptionally successful consular officer.”
Meanwhile, the British embassy in Bangkok has announced that, until the new year when the newly appointed staff arrive, the Pattaya consulate will be open only once a week on Thursday mornings (9.30 am until 12.30 lunchtime) to deal with notarial services. At all other times, British nationals requesting any kind of assistance must telephone the embassy in Bangkok on 02 305 8333.
The embassy on its website apologized for the inconvenience in Pattaya which is likely to be substantial. The Pattaya consulate regularly takes 300,000 baht a month in notarial fees and has a heavy caseload of “Distressed British Nationals”, both expats and tourists with all manner of problems besetting them.
Britain’s London based foreign office in Pattaya consulate was to be raised by the appointment of a new full time vice consul on a salary of 47,000 baht a month. Howard applied but was not appointed. The new staffing structure, which includes a new full time clerical officer as well as the vice consul position, leaves the position of honorary consul potentially redundant.
Thus Howard resigned on the spot. He said he had enormously enjoyed helping Brits during his short tenure of office but did feel very let down by his exclusion from the enhanced structure. A former leader of the Pattaya foreign tourist police assistants and managing director of his own Pattaya-based media company, Howard has a reputation for being very hard-working and keen to help sort out people’s problems.