Man jailed after punching minicab driver in face - causing him to crash into lamppost Dad-of-three Nabeel Fazal says his children now want him to get another job :: 31-year-old Steven Charlton jailed for 12 months
A shaken minicab driver has told how an unprovoked attack by a passenger has left his children begging him to quit his job.
Dad-of-three, Nabeel Fazal, was left temporarily blinded after being punched in the face and head - causing him to lose control of his minicab and crash into a lamppost.
Now the 29-year-old - who has been a cabbie for three and a half years - says his children and wife fear for him when he goes to work.
Nabeel, from Middlesbrough, said: “I am still working as a minicab driver but I am looking for another job.
“I have three young children so I need to work but being a minicab driver is just not safe.
“We put ourselves out for other people and this is how we are treated.
“My children are scared and keep asking me not to go into work and my parents and wife worry for me as well.”
Nabeel’s nightmare pickup began after collecting a woman from the Park End pub in Middlesbrough at about 5am on October 12 last year.
She and a man - Steven Charlton - were arguing before getting into the minicab and continued as it drove them away from the pub.
As Nabeel drove along Overdale Road the woman started slapping Charlton in the face.
Concerned that things were getting out of control, he tried to intervene by suggesting he would drop off one passenger and then the other.
Things went quiet for a few minutes before Charlton launched his vicious attack, Teesside Crown Court heard last week.
Nabeel, who lives in the town centre, said: “While I was driving he has attacked me from behind.
“He was hitting me in the face and hit me in the eyes.
“I could not see anything so I lost control and the car hit a lamppost.
“I got out of the car and he came out and started following me so I crossed the road.
“It was very scary and he was acting like an animal.”
Nabeel was left stranded as Charlton made off with his cab, which was later found by police officers having been dumped on Penistone Road in Berwick Hills.
The family man, who suffered blurred vision, swelling to his eye and face and shock, said: “I don’t expect to be assaulted when I am simply doing my job.
“I am glad all I hit was a lamppost. There were a lot of parked cars on the road, I could have hit one of them or even a person.
“He had no concern for mine or the female’s safety when he assaulted me.”
Officers found Charlton, - who was not over the alcohol limit during the incident - and his girlfriend at an address in Balmoral Road in Ormesby, where he was arrested.
He appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Friday and pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, taking a vehicle without consent and driving without insurance.
Defending him, Uzma Khan said the 31-year-old, of Bradhope Road, Berwick Hills, said he had approached his GP over his “anger management issues”.
“He is incredibly remorseful and offers an apology to the complainant,” she added.
Judge Peter Bowers jailed him for 12 months and told him: “I am worried that you have such a short fuse.”
source:
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... on-8470152
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