Handsacre Taxi Driver Attack
Thursday, July 30, 2009
A taxi driver has described his horror at being subjected to a racist attack and having his cab battered with bricks by a group of youths who refused to pay their fare.
Neshad Hussain was left shaken when missiles rained down on his £40,000 Hackney cab early on Saturday morning in Handsacre.
"My life was put in danger – I was terrified and did not know what to do," said Mr Hussain, aged 32.
"Fortunately I got out of there without being hurt."
Mr Hussain, who lives in Small Heath and has worked as a taxi driver in the Lichfield area for seven years, said he picked four young men and two young women up from the taxi rank at The Friary in Lichfield after 2am.
After telling his passengers the fare would be between £15 and £17 Mr Hussain drove to Handsacre.
He said there was no incident during the journey and no indication that there would be trouble.
"I did notice two lads whispering in the back but did not take much notice," he said.
After stopping near to the village one of the girls offered £5 towards the fare but the young men and other woman had got out of the car and were on the other side of the road.
When Mr Hussain said to the girl that £10 was still owing he says he received a torrent of racial abuse.
One of the men then reached in and stole his car keys and ran off forcing Mr Hussain to give chase.
Mr Hussain managed to recover his keys as they were thrown back at him but after returning to his car and taking a few moments to gather himself the attack started.
"My passenger door window exploded," said Mr Hussain. "Then I panicked."
Another driver stopped to see if he was injured and they both tried to find the attackers, who had disappeared, and called the police.
Mr Hussain's car was badly damaged and he has lost work as a result.
"The windscreen is cracked, the passenger side back window is broken and the bodywork is damaged," he explained.
Mr Hussain said he was particularly keen to speak out following the murder of Birmingham cab driver, Mohammed Arshad last week.
"This has never happened to me before but I want other drivers to be aware of what can happen," said Mr Hussain.
"My customers were not all that drunk so I was not suspicious.
"I had no idea they were going to behave like this."
"It is not right to attack a driver over a fare."
A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said: "Taxi drivers provide a valuable service to the community and they should be able to go about their business without fear of being attacked in any way or having their vehicles damaged.
"They often have to deal with people who are intoxicated though incidents of abuse are quite rare.
"But that is no excuse for such appalling behaviour.
"Anyone who knows who the six passengers in this incident are is asked to contact Staffordshire Police on 0300 123 4455 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."
Source; thisislichfield.co.uk
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