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What happened?THE DEVASTATED family of a young mum-of-three fighting for life after falling from a cab today defended her over claims she had refused to pay the taxi fare.
A taxi driver claims 27-year-old Zoe Searl jumped from his cab as he took her and friend to West Bar police station after a row over the fare.
But relatives of Zoe today insisted she would never try to dodge paying her fare and demanded to know exactly how the accident happened.
The mum, whose children are aged 18 months, five and seven, was still in the Northern General Hospital today with life threatening injuries after smashing her head on the road when she fell.
Zoe, of Foster Way, High Green, was travelling along Bracken Hill, Burncross, in the early hours of Wednesday.
The taxi driver told police he was on his way to West Bar police station after claiming Zoe and her friend had refused to pay their fare after he picked them up outside the Leadmill nightclub in Sheffield and took them to High Green.
But today Zoe's family hit back at the allegation saying she would not try to avoid paying a taxi fare and that the claims were a slur on the young woman's reputation.
Her mum Julia, 47, of Beaumont Crescent, Manor, said she wanted to speak up for her daughter.
"The police have heard one side of the story from the taxi driver, but Zoe is lying unconscious in a hospital bed unable to give her side.
"We cannot believe that Zoe would have refused to pay her fare because she always uses black cabs and has an arrangement with her boyfriend where she always leaves her taxi money at home with him so she always has enough.
"Her boyfriend has already told the police that he was waiting for Zoe and had the money, so it just doesn't make sense."
Mrs Searle said her family also want police to find out how the black cab's door could open when the vehicle was moving.
"We don't understand how the door could be open when the cab was travelling because everyone knows that the doors are always locked," she said.
Zoe's boyfriend Jonathan Cockings, 23, said the couple were due to get engaged in May. "I cannot believe that this has happened. We are all devastated. We just don't know if she will pull through - the doctors have told us it is touch and go," he said. "We were supposed to be getting engaged in May - now I don't know what the future holds."
Det Sgt Jim McGuinness, who is investigating, said: "Inquiries are continuing into the incident and all aspects of it are being considered."
Police want to hear from anyone who saw the accident, at around 2.42am, or anyone who remembers Zoe and her friend getting into the cab. Call 0114 2202970.
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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