Taxi Driver Online

South Lakes men William Grimshaw and Richard Gibson sentenced after taxi driver assaulted and racially abused

TWO South Lakeland men were sentenced after a taxi driver was assaulted and racially abused.

South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court, Barrow, heard how 67-year-old William Grimshaw asked Amin Nourozi-Dizaj: “What are you doing in this country?”

Grimshaw, of Howe Bank Close, Kendal, was fined £538, uplifted from £323.

Another man, 46-year-old Richard Gibson, of Bleaswood Road, Oxenholme, was also involved in the incident, which occurred in Oxenholme on November 17, 2019.

Gibson, who showed his fist to Mr Nourozi-Dizaj, pleaded guilty to assault and was fined £307.

He also had to pay a surcharge to fund victim services of £32 and costs of £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The full charge that was brought against Grimshaw, to which he pleaded guilty, was: ‘On November 17, 2019 at Kendal in the county of Cumbria with intent to cause Amin Nourozi-Dizaj harassment, alarm or distress used threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress.’

The court found Grimshaw’s offence was racially-aggravated.

On top of his £538 fine, Grimshaw had to pay a surcharge to fund victim services of £54 and costs of £85 to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The defendants’ guilty pleas were taken into account when sentences were imposed at the magistrates’ court.

_________________
IDFIMH

Am I missing something again?

The defendant said:

“What are you doing in this country?”

Which cost him nearly £700, and for which the charge was:


And that the offence was racially-aggravated?

One fella pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment.

One fella pleaded guilty to assault.

_________________
IDFIMH

I think it is likely the guttersnipe writing the article was selective in his quotes to make it look less menacing and nasty than it actually was.

I very much doubt that if that was all that was said this would have been taken seriously by the police

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

That's certainly a possibility - these things are often a lot worse in reality than in terms of how they're summarised in a brief press report of court proceedings.

But, as portrayed, it doesn't seem like much. I'm all for zero tolerance, but it's not the kind of thing I think I would report personally, because I think there's a fair chance police wouldn't be particularly interested, so I'd end up feeling worse than I did at the outset.

But all this kind of stuff is as much to do with politics than policing.

Also, I don't see how you can conclude from the press report that the journalist is a 'guttersnipe'

in my experience they are all trained to be. They don't last long otherwise !

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector