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These two punched a Newcastle taxi driver and threw bottles at him in racially aggravated attack
A drunken former soldier and his friend have been jailed for subjecting a Tyneside taxi driver to a disgraceful racially aggravated attack. Stephen Reay and Thomas Robinson had ordered a taxi to pick them up but then got in a car from the same firm that was not meant for them. When the cabbie told them he couldn’t give them a lift, they kicked off, calling him racist names and attacking him.
A court heard the frightened driver was punched in the face and body, bottles were thrown at him and damage was done to his car in the West End of Newcastle. The victim was left injured and with £2,500 of damage to his car as a result of the sustained onslaught.
Now Reay and Robinson, both 22, have each been jailed for 25 weeks after admitting racially aggravated common assault and racially aggravated criminal damage. Judge Edward Bindloss, at Newcastle Crown Court, told them: “Taxi drivers work unsociable hours for the service of the community and deserve the protection of the courts when they are met with drunken abuse and assaults by the likes of you.”
The court heard Reay and Robinson had ordered a cab from Budget Taxis on the night of September 7 last year. On Whickham View, Benwell, they saw a car from that company and wrongly presumed it was for them and got in.
Judge Bindloss said: “He explained he was a private taxi and asked you to leave. “You refused and became troublesome. “It all blew up out of nothing into an incident where he was called a black ******* and a black ****. “He was punched to the face and body and his car was kicked and all of the doors were opened, including the boot.
“There were bottles thrown at him in the car and damage was done to the windscreen and to him. “This was a sustained and prolonged attack and at the time when the police came you were stll shouting racist abuse at him.”
The court heard the taxi driver was left with a cut lip, a lump to his head, a scar to his forehead and pain and swelling to his cheek. Some £2,500 of damage was done to his car, he had to take time off work, had to pay his £500 excess, lost his no claims discount and his premiums soared by £800 a year.
Reay, of Triangle House, Bath Lane, Newcastle and Robinson, of Benwell Lane, Benwell, both have previous convictions. Jeff Taylor, for Reay, said: “He accepts his joint responsibility and accepts the overall incident was the two of them acting together. “He now very much regrets what happened on that day. He wishes he had taken his advice and booked another taxi. “He lost his temper and acted as he did. “This is a person who does not have a large number of previous convictions.”
The court heard Reay had been in the army until 2014 and has been doing agency work on a zero hours contract. Mr Taylor added: “He didn’t set out to be involved in a racist incident. “These were the words that were uttered during the course of the incident rather than being he main motivator. “This was a drunken incident which was extremely unpleasant.”
Richard Bloomfield, for Robinson, said: “This occurred in drink and it’s clear he has a drink problem. “He has started working on a zero hours contract.”
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