Leeds taxi driver in horror attack
Stephen Cuthbertson.
A taxi driver has said he will never be able to smile again after having his face slashed to the bone by a bottle-wielding thug.
Stephen Cuthbertson, 51, suffered irreparable nerve damage to the left side of his face after standing up to the yob who had attacked his car.
The injury had a stroke-like effect, impairing the movement in the left corner of his mouth and affecting his ability to close his left eye fully. Despite surgery, doctors have told him the damage is permanent.
Mr Cuthbertson, whose arm was also slashed, said: “I won’t ever be able to smile properly. I’m just a normal bloke. I can’t believe someone could do something like this to another person.”
The cabbie, who set up his own firm, Lakeside, with wife Adele just last year, was on his way back to his base in Hunslet, Leeds, when the youth stepped in front of his car, forcing him to stop. He got out after the teenager smacked his wing mirror, but was then surrounded by a gang.
Mr Cuthbertson, of Cross Green, said: “I’m not a violent person – I just wanted to tell them off.
“The next thing I knew there was a bright shining light and I could see my legs going.”
Mr Cuthbertson had been hit from behind.
But as he tried to return to his car he was attacked again.
“Someone was running towards me screaming,” he said.
“The next thing I knew he leaned back and, with his full force, smashed the bottle into my face. All I could see was red.”
The incident happened outside the Engine pub, near the junction of Moor Road and Old Run Road at about 10.30pm on Friday.
Mr Cuthbertson, whose brother and sister-in-law run the pub, stumbled inside for help.
His brother chased the gang but was attacked himself and the group escaped.
Adele, 38, who was working in the taxi office behind the pub, said she feared the worst when she saw her husband.
“There was so much blood,” she said. “I honestly thought I was going to lose him.”
Mr Cuthbertson, who has been a cabbie for 12 years, is now recovering after having 18 stitches to his face and 15 in his arm but said he had considered giving up work.
“We’ve put everything into it, but you wonder if it’s worth it,” he said.
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