Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver broke Hull man's neck with metal bar


A MAN has told how his neck was broken by a taxi driver in a savage attack.

Les Bowes was beaten with a metal bar by the black-cab driver, breaking two bones in his neck and three in his face.

Doctors said he could have been killed or paralysed.

Mr Bowes, 57, said: "I know I have been very lucky. I could have died or been in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.

"The doctors said I was very seriously injured."

The taxi driver, Pishtiwan Hamed, has admitted unlawfully wounding Mr Bowes and is due to be sentenced next month.

Mr Bowes spent two weeks in hospital, undergoing surgery to fit a 4in screw in his neck to hold his bones in place.

He was also fitted with a halo brace for several weeks and underwent traction to move his bones.

Mr Bowes had been out in the city centre with his sister Judith and her husband Tony when they got into a black cab from a rank in Ferensway. He said the driver became confused about where he was going close to Mr Bowes's home off Anlaby Road, west Hull.

"My sister was supposed to be going to Market Weighton after I had been dropped off," said Mr Bowes.

"He didn't know where he was going and kept asking us for directions. We couldn't understand him very well, so my sister decided to get out with me and get her son to pick her up.

"She told him we all wanted to get out because he didn't seem to know where he was going. We got out and, as Tony was about to pay him, the driver got out of the car and hit me across the neck with a metal bar.

"I fell to the ground. I can't remember much after that."

Mr Bowes has been told he will suffer pain and stiffness in his neck for the rest of his life after the attack.

He currently takes 18 painkillers every day, including prescription-only drug Tramadol.

After the attack in April, Mr Bowes spent three months living with his sister as he was unable to look after himself.

Mr Bowes said he has been told Hamed, 31, has been warned to expect a jail term of four years.

He said: "If that is what he gets, he will be out in two years. I have been given a life sentence of pain. The doctors said I was very lucky to even be alive and not be paralysed.

"I hope when he is in jail he suffers, like I will have to for the rest of my life.

"My neck is very stiff and I can't turn it. I often can't get out of bed and when I do I have to do it really slowly."

Mr Bowes said he believes taxi drivers should undergo stricter tests before being licensed by Hull City Council.

"There should be better vetting for taxi drivers before they allowed to have a black cab," he said.

"This man didn't know his way around, he couldn't understand us very well and he had a metal bar in his taxi."

Hamed, of New George Street, west Hull, will be sentenced next month at Hull Crown Court.

Keith Fenner, Hull City Council's licensing manager, said: "Mr Hamed does not currently have a taxi driver licence as it was suspended pending the conclusion of the prosecution.

"We can confirm Mr Hamed has not applied for it to be renewed for the current year."

http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.u ... story.html

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

Just what sort of standards do they have in Hull?

_________________

http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

They dropped their knowlege test a few years ago and have now brought it back.........they have a high standard of metal bar though.

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

Any reason why ?

http://www.national-taxi-association.co.uk/?p=3416

No, the attached report says it was dropped in 2007, but doesnt cite any reason why.

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

Councillors heard this week that some customers also have to input their own address details into taxi sat-navs because drivers are unable to understand them or work the technology properly.

Every LA should have knowledge test in place and, Sat navs should be banned from every Hackney vehicle nationwide.

Bloody EU !

tx_op: While I wouldn't call that a stupid remark, I would suggest that you made it without much forethought.

Hacks go between towns as well as roundabout their own. Trips to Glasgow and Edinburgh are not uncommon, also would you really expect me to know the Street layout of every Village in the area, and Stirling. After all it's only 110 miles away.

If one examines my Log Book, for an average Saturday Night, you will find that of the 25 to 30 Hires that I will have done, I visit at least 8, maybe more, Villages and Towns in the surrounding 25 miles or so.

_________________
Don't dream it ~ Be it.

I wouldn't expect someone to know every street in every village, but would it be too much to expect a driver to know where all the villages are his licensed area and the shortest routes between them?
A conversational level of English, the ability to count the right change or a checkable criminal record is hardly draconian either.

While I wouldn't go as far as tx-op, I'd like to see their use banned within the licensed area and a definite no-no to asking punters for a postcode, unless they are leaving the district.
Apart from showing instantly how poor the driver's knowledge is, it's damn unprofessional.

_________________

http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

did you open the above link ?? how can a so called taxi driver need a sat nav to show him that he is sitting in ferensway and being asked to convey his passengers to Beverley Road when, it's half a mile away and, a continuation of the road he's sitting in..ETA 1min

Clearly rather sh** ones.

_________________
IDFIMH

We've got the same problem round here, one chap can make a £3 job into a £5 job.

Mr Hamed prepare you're anus.

That's a month of Saturday nights' work in Brum.

FFS, you've got it real good where you work.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Brummie: The bulk of that is £3.00 to £5.00 Hires, during the early part of the evening.

The longer trips come later on, or into the early morning. My normal Shift is 12 hours on the Rank, 4.30pm until 4.30 am.

The rest of the week is rubbish, but the shift is a little shorter, as the Fares usually dry up between 3.00am and 4.00am.

_________________
Don't dream it ~ Be it.