I think you made a good call. I've got an overstay in my pp - not actually don to me but TIT. And I really don't want another - with all its implications.
That's not actually true. Unbeknown to me, a CM immigration person failed to stamp the new visa date in my passport. When I got to BKK, all hell broke loose and I was shouted at and threatened. There was a distinct absence of a Thai smile. And I had the CM receipt etc. I got fined and an overstay stamped in my pp. On another occasion I went to Hong Kong. When I got into CM, I was told to get on a plane back to HK. The assumption was that I was working as I had so many stamps in my pp. I was not. They made it clear that I had to pay a bribe. There were 5 of them. And this has happened to many, many people. (The bribe they like is about 2000 I believe. I didn't know that as I've never had to pay a bribe in my life and so ended up paying 4.
'From 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, British passport holders arriving by air or land can enter Thailand for 45days without a visa (a ‘visa exemption’).'