Taxi Driver Online

Chef 'left for dead' after being mowed down in hit-and-run by taxi on Christmas Day

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... g-23006130

Darren, 37, suffered severe fractures to his leg and memory loss caused by a serious head injury


Image: Manchester Evening News

A chef says he was 'left for dead' after he was hit by a taxi on the way home from a works night out in Chorlton on Christmas Day.

Darren Gill had been out to the pub with a few colleagues on Christmas Eve last year, and claims on his walk home in the early hours, a black car hit them and knocked the pair unconscious.

However instead of stopping at the scene and calling the police, he says the driver sped off.

The tragic incident left him in a 'critical condition' needing urgent hospital treatment, with him suffering a bleed to the brain, multiple skull fractures and requiring a titanium bolt through his leg.

He has still not recovered from the ordeal, which he says also broke his leg in eight different places and left him with severe memory loss.

Speaking to the M.E.N , 37-year-old Darren said: "Me and my colleagues had decided to go for a few drinks and a game of pool at the Spread Eagle pub after a long day.

"We had a few pints in there and stayed until quite late.

"As the pub closed, we started walking home and got to where the Royal Oak pub is. It is not far, only a couple of minutes down the road.

"When we got there, my friend suggested it would be a good place to cross the road.

"I remember taking my first step into the road, just seeing lights and hearing shouting, and the next thing I know, I am waking up in hospital.

"We did have a few drinks, but the driver should still have stopped at the scene to help.

"I was just left for dead. He just drove off and didn't stop. I completely blacked out."

Darren said that he worries this could happen again to another person or even a child at the usually busy junction with Wilbraham Road.

He spent all of Christmas day in a hospital bed instead of with his family - and remained there for three weeks as doctors operated on his injuries.

He is still struggling to walk and has difficulty remembering things.

He added: "I am desperate for anyone who may have any information or who may have seen this to come forward and help with the police investigation.

"I spent weeks in hospital and needed two surgeries on my leg and a scaffold around my leg too. I have a titanium rod in my lower leg and ankle.

"I have not been right since. I suffered a severe head injury and still get awful headaches and memory loss from it."

Darren's work colleague had discharged himself from the ambulance at the scene.

Greater Manchester Police are still investigating the incident and that no arrests have yet been made.

A spokesperson for the force said: "We were called at 12.35am on Saturday 25 December to a report of a fail-to-stop collision involving a taxi and two pedestrians outside a pub on Barlow Moor Road, Manchester.

"A man was taken to hospital with serious injuries and a second man discharged himself from the ambulance treating him at the scene.

"No arrests have been made and anyone with information should contact us online or via 101 quoting incident 107 of 25/12/2021.

"Details can be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."

Well this doesn't make total sense for a start.


Sounds like precisely the kind of conversation you'd expect in that scenario. Not.

Who was his friend - the Green Cross Code Man?


Well if he was the Green Cross Code man, then obviously not a very good Green Cross Code Man.


And? Yes, it probably would happen if a child walked out in front of a moving car, but...

Obviously the driver broke the law by not stopping, but I suspect the content of this article gives some indication as to why he didn't stop.

This is the pub on the left where they were drinking:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4426052 ... 384!8i8192

This below is where they crossed the road, a few hundred yards from the pub. This is the direction they were walking in, and looks like they wanted to cross over to around where the NatWest bank is.

The Royal Oak pub mentioned in the article is the building to the left of the bank.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/NatWe ... -2.2771034

So doesn't look like a particularly dangerous place to cross, especially late at night, unless...

Maybe this case from Ireland demonstrates the kind of reasons the driver didn't stop - no real evidence presented that the driver was careless, but was prosecuted anyway.

The trial collapsed for slightly different reasons, but interesting nonetheless:


Taxi driver’s careless driving trial collapses

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-a ... -1.4797131

Woman hit by Sinéad Roche’s car in Crumlin in 2016 now has dementia and could not testify

The trial of a taxi driver who hit an elderly woman who was crossing the road has collapsed after a judge ruled there was a lack of evidence to convict her of careless driving.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Sinéad Roche (43) continued to drive after she heard a bang on her car and dropped a passenger off nearby before driving back to the scene and speaking to gardaí.

The passenger told the trial that Ms Roche was driving normally before they heard the bang, but “panicked” after that.

Ms Roche, of Rutland Grove, Crumlin, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to careless driving causing serious bodily harm to Margaret Rooney at Sundrive Road, Crumlin on December 4th, 2016. She also pleaded not guilty to three related charges – failing to offer assistance after her car was involved in causing an injury, failing to stay at the scene and failing to report to gardaí.

The trial has heard that Ms Rooney, who was 77 at the time, suffered serious injuries to her head and ankle and was hospitalised. She now suffers from dementia and was not in a position to give evidence during the trial.

During legal argument in the absence of the jury, Ms Roche’s counsel Philip Sheahan SC submitted to Judge Elma Sheahan that there was no evidence that his client was driving carelessly and that the charge should be withdrawn.

“The circumstances of the accident are completely unclear on the evidence, we have no idea if she was crossing the road, or indeed if she was adjacent to the footpath on the left hand side, in circumstances of darkness,” he said.

‘Eyes on the road’

He said there was no evidence that Ms Roche “failed to pay proper attention and failed to see someone crossing the road” and said in fact that “there is evidence that Ms Roche had her eyes on the road”.

Counsel said there was “no evidence of any element of careless driving, no crossing white lines, no evidence of someone being asleep at the wheel, or on their phone, or driving while intoxicated”.

Ruling on the defence application, Judge Sheahan said there was no evidence of where Ms Rooney was at the moment of impact or prior to it. She said that without more evidence of the circumstances of the collision, the court would be inviting the jury to speculate on “whether there was carelessness” on Ms Roche’s part.

Judge Sheahan noted that Ms Rooney was not in a position to give evidence and nobody else was in a position to give evidence on her behalf about her position on the road. She ruled that she would direct the jury to find Ms Roche not guilty of the careless driving charge.

As a result of further legal applications it emerged that the return for trial to the circuit court was invalid and that Judge Sheahan did not have jurisdiction to make any orders in the case.

Accordingly she brought the jury back out and informed jurors that the case could no longer proceed.