Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver Mehdi Masoudi 'stabbed Chelmsford Tesco worker with car tool after parking dispute'

A cabbie stabbed a Tesco worker with an eight-inch metal car tool after a dispute over parking escalated out of control, a court heard.

Isaac Carter, 24, kicked Mehdi Masoudi’s people carrier and punched him around the face in the Viaduct Road taxi rank in Chelmsford. Jurors at Chelmsford Crown Court were told how 31-year-old taxi driver Masoudi reacted by grabbing a car towing eye from his cab, chasing Mr Carter up a flight of stairs, before stabbing him in the back “three times”. Giving evidence yesterday (September 2), Mr Carter said: “He was going f***ing mad at me.”

Mr Carter said that on the evening of Wednesday, June 12 last year, he walked from his flat in Wells Crescent to the ground floor in Viaduct Road to collect £10 his cousin owed him. Yet his cousin pulled up on double yellow lines, blocking the taxi rank in front, and provoking Masoudi to flash his lights. “He was also shouting, swearing and being aggressive to my cousin’s young family which is threatening,” said Mr Carter.

“I told him to stop shouting and swearing because there were children in the car. “He said ‘this is part of a taxi rank’ and moved towards me in an aggressive manner and I kicked his taxi which I admit I shouldn’t have done. “I lost my temper and I admit that was stupid.”

After his cousin had driven away, the pair allegedly continued a shouting match before Mr Carter is seen on CCTV swinging a left hook at Masoudi, who had stepped out of the taxi. “I hit him with a left hook and he sort of wobbled and that’s when he ran back towards his taxi,” said Mr Carter.

Masoudi is indeed seen grabbing an implement from the car, before allegedly stabbing him in the back in Mr Carter’s doorway upstairs. “It was more than three times, maybe five,” said Mr Carter. “It really hurt but I was quite adrenalin filled so I didn’t feel much.

“He then pushed me over so he was on top of me on the floor and I put my arms around the outside of his and squeezed him so he couldn’t gouge my back full power. “He was also trying to headbutt me and was shouting at me. “I didn’t know what he had in his hands so I potentially thought I could die.”

Masoudi then drove away but was tracked and arrested by police, while Mr Carter was taken to hospital with bruising and gashes to his back. While cross examining Mr Carter’s evidence, Masoudi’s barrister Sasha Bailey singled out the store assistant’s grudge against taxi drivers’ behaviour in Viaduct Road.

Mr Carter has complained to Chelmsford City Council and British Transport Police, arguing that cabbies are treating part of Viaduct Road, outside of the designated taxi rank, as a collection point. The court also heard that taxis had blocked an ambulance that was taking Mr Carter to hospital with second degree burns on a previous occasion.

He said: “I don’t hate all taxi drivers. If they followed the rules like everyone else I wouldn’t have lots of arguments with them.” Masoudi, formerly of Taylor Avenue, Chelmsford, denies one count of causing actual bodily harm and one count of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place. Mr Carter does not face any charges.

The trial continues.

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IDFIMH

Fine figure of a man.

Well, it makes a welcome change from abusing women and children or blowing themselves up.

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

'For goodness sake, be man enough to admit it': Judge slams taxi driver for not guilty plea over fight with Chelmsford Tesco worker




A judge has criticised a taxi driver - convicted after attacking another man with a car towing eye - for wasting taxpayers’ money.

Mehdi Masoudi, once of Taylor Avenue, Chelmsford, was found guilty today (September 5) at Chelmsford Crown Court of causing actual bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place after a four-day trial.

The 31-year-old Iranian had denied attacking Tesco worker Isaac Carter after chasing him into his flats in Wells Crescent on June 12 last year following a dispute in Viaduct Road, before stabbing him in the back at least three times with the tool.

At the beginning of the trial, costing around £4,000, he refused to change his plea. Yet after the jury returned their verdicts in little over four hours, judge Christopher Ball QC ordered him to pay £1,500 in court costs.

He also sentenced him to a four-month prison term, suspended for two years, and 140 hours in unpaid work.

Judge Ball said: “We’ve wasted time on this case because you would not admit you got it wrong.

“You were not man enough to realise that you had over stepped the mark so we have wasted time and public money on this.

“There shouldn’t have been a trial and if you get in trouble again for goodness sake be man enough to admit it.”

Mr Carter, who sustained three puncture wounds, however is seen on CCTV first kicking Masoudi’s taxi in a dispute over parking and then punching him around the face.

“This is a case in which you and Mr Carter both behaved disgracefully,” said Judge Ball.

“It was a nasty assault but it flowed from an incident in which you were provoked causing you to lose your temper and behave in the way you would not normally behave.”

Mr Carter however faced no police action or criminal charges.

Judge Ball added: “Mr Carter had some leniency extended to him.”

After the trial Iranian expatriate Masoudi, who now lives in Birmingham as a part-time takeaway worker, said: “I am happy with the judge.”


Read more: http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/goodnes ... z3CXsrJXGs

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

Once the fight moved from the cab to the address, the cab driver overstepped the legal mark.

He is a knob.

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IDFIMH