Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver attacked over £5 tip




A TAXI driver was beaten up on Boxing Day during an argument over a £5 tip.


Javed Akhtar is now having to take time off work after he was left battered and bruised by the attack.

Mr Akhtar, 50, picked up a group of three men and a woman from the Little Bull in Middlestown, Wakefield, at around 8pm on Monday.

He dropped off the woman and one of the men in Cross Road, Thornhill, and was given a £5 tip for Christmas as the pair left.

But one of the men left in the back seat behind Mr Akhtar became angry and demanded the money back.

Mr Akhtar said: “He said, ‘that’s not your money,’ and I said, ‘they gave that tip to me for Christmas’.

“Then he said, ‘it’s not your Christmas’ and was using bad language.”

The man in the back said he would refuse to pay for the rest of the journey.

When the other passenger, who was in the front seat, said he would pay instead, the man in the back started swearing again.

“Then he grabbed hold of my neck and started punching me in the eyes and above the eyes,” Mr Akhtar said.

The attacker ran off and Mr Akhtar called his rank to ask the operator to ring the police.

He was looked after by the remaining passenger until officers arrived and took him to Dewsbury and District Hospital, where he was put in a neck brace and given x-rays.

Now Mr Akhtar, who has been a taxi driver for eight years, will have to spend two or three weeks recovering before he can return to work for Village Cars.

He said: “I worry because I can’t run my family without the money I make, and this is a busy time of year for taxi drivers.

“But it’s a very risky job. You don’t know who you are going to pick up and who is going to do what to you.”

A police spokesman said enquiries were ongoing and any witnesses should contact Dewsbury CID by calling 101.

http://www.mirfieldreporter.co.uk/news/ ... _1_4097828

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Can be a dodgy business, different people paying at different points in the journey.

For example, the first out give more than their fair share it's often not clear whether they're putting more towards the final fare for the benefit of the remaining passengers or whether it's a tip to the driver.

Obviously in this case the numpty in the back decided it was the former rather than the latter.

I have had something similar on a few ocassions, never been assaulted over it though.
Dropped boyfriend off at first stop, instructed me to take girlfriend to next stop. Quoted £10 for journey, he gave me £15, happy days!
Got to girlfriends house " I will have that £5 back, he's drunk and can't afford it!"
"Err... no, it's not your £5, it's mine"

After an argument she said she would report me to LA for "taking advantage of drunk people".

(Edit> He said here's a £5 tip. Not £15 by mistake.)

We have a nightly job of £12 for three old dears. The first two always give £5 each for their share thinking the third will do the same so I get a £3 tip. But when you drop the third off she asks for the discount (of the £12 fare) bringing it down to £10.80. As the first two have already given a tenner it means she only pays 80p for her share and I get no tip !

Happened to get the first two on their own one night, and after they paid their usual £10 I happened to mention it was nice to get a tip for a change and after being asked explained what usually happens with their 'friend'. Since then 'friend' gets dropped off first and pays their £5 share, it's one of those jobs where the fares the same whichever order you drop them off in.

and there are the ones where the first passenger gives you enough to cover the whole journey and the last passenger out insists on being given the change even though they've paid nothing towards the fare !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Clearly the scumbag left over didn't have any money and wanted the £5 himself.

Maybe his mates knew he was a pounce and that's why they gave the money to the driver direct.

That said it should be quite an easy case to solve.

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IDFIMH