Taxi Driver Online

Yet another taxi-related incident just outside the Courier's office - handy for the photos, etc


Sheriff notes ‘fault all round’ as taxi driver hit pedestrian in Dundee city centre

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/co ... edestrian/

Ross McWalter ran into the man who, it was claimed, should not have been crossing the road at the time.


Image: Andrew Robson/DC Thomson/LinkedIn

A former taxi driver has been fined £1,000 after running down a pedestrian in Dundee city centre.

Richard Hutton was left needing a shoulder replacement and spent more than a week in hospital after being struck by Ross McWalter’s taxi.

The incident occurred just before 3.40pm on November 30 last year, beside DC Thomson’s Meadowside headquarters.

CCTV footage played to Dundee Sheriff Court showed McWalter’s white taxi driving through a green light, making a right turn towards the Howff and striking Mr Hutton, who was crossing the road.

Fiscal depute Sam Craib said: “The complainer was taken to hospital after police and paramedics attended the scene.

“He suffered from multiple fractures in his shoulder, one on the ball joint and one on the joint attached to the actual shoulder.

“They initially tried to reset it but due to the fractures, they were unable to do so.

“The complainer had to undergo surgery and was given a complete shoulder replacement.”

Mr Hutton was described as a “keen golfer” and now suffers from restricted mobility in his arm.

McWalter, 39, of Carnoustie, pled guilty to causing serious injury by careless driving on the day he was due to stand trial.

Solicitor Doug McConnell said: “There was another pedestrian just to the right of him.

“He was making sure he did not hit that pedestrian. He simply didn’t take as good a look-out.

“He apologises. He stopped, dealt with the matter and is really sorry for the incident.

“The pedestrian shouldn’t have been crossing at the time but that’s no reason to hit him.”

The lawyer revealed how McWalter has since given up his taxi licence, which he held for almost 15 years, and now works offshore.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael fined him £1,000 and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.

He said: “There’s fault all round. Your lapse is momentary but had bad consequences.”


Image: Archive.is/LinkedIn

He would have been turning right (presumably after exiting the rank) in the direction of the rust(?) coloured car at the bottom of that video from a few weeks ago

Watch the video to the end, and after stopping at the lights it seems to stop again for some reason almost immediately. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a pedestrian on the road, ironically

The taxi accident would have happened a few yards further up - the photo at the top of the article above would have been taken from about the same point where the rust coloured car disappears from view in the video - ie the photo and video are taken from a similar position, but the video is obviously from an elevated position (from the brown coloured building on the right in the photo, which is the Courier/DC Thomson's HQ), and facing in the opposite direction.

https://content.jwplatform.com/previews/1b1QsVUX

But, aye, reads like another 'strict-liability' sort of scenario where the driver is deemed to have been able to stop for the ped irrespective of the circumstances.

Ironically, not long after I'd started in the Dundee trade, I well remember a pedestrian launching himself out from between parked cars, and this was just along the road past the traffic lights visible in the photo above

(For anyone who knows Dundee, it was on the Private Eyes/No 1 bar side of Ward Road, probably between No 1s and Rattray Street, or thereabouts.)

Luckily, he just seemed to bounce of the side of the car, and walked (or staggered) off

But if he'd been a second or two earlier I'd have almost certainly hit him front on

And, of course, had plenty of other close shaves over the years, particularly late-night/early hours (the one above was actually Saturday at about 6pm, but in the winter so it was dark).

Higher-res photo here of the image at the top of the page:

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 40x564.jpg

The number on the rooflight reads like 0800 123 444.

Which seems to be a Tele Taxis number, but doesn't seem to be used on their website, and in fact it's difficult to find it online at all.

Did find it on this list of Dundee taxi firms on a website of something called (ironically enough) the Public Defence Solicitors' Office which, going by the numbers and firms on there, looks at least ten years out of date

https://www.pdso.org.uk/where-we-are/dundee/

Another irony is that the address of their Dundee office (1 Courthouse Square) is on the right of the above photo several hundred yards along. And, as the address would suggest, not far from the Sheriff Court where the driver above appeared for sentencing

I wonder if anything in Dundee happens away from the offices of the Courier?

Or is it that the journalists just never leave their office?

_________________
IDFIMH

Sussex, this is Courier/DC Thomson HQ here, which just happens to overlook one of Dundee's main ranks

And there are quite a few pubs in the area.

So if anything kicks off at or near the rank, the Courier's journos have a bird's eye view of what's happening.

Presumably some of the photos/video were taken from some of the higher up floors.

The rank is obviously on the right, and the incident at the top of the thread must have happened on or just after the crossing where the ped can be seen below.

(And presumably there was no 'green man' at the time.)

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@56.46215 ... FQAw%3D%3D

Another convenient one for the Courier - but they must have come down the stairs to take the photo rather than going for the bird's eye view from upstairs

No word of any trade angle, though, so no point posting the whole article here, and the photos and headline speak for themselves...


Chairs thrown during ‘rammy’ outside Dundee pub as police remove plank of wood from scene

Onlookers were left stunned by the city centre melee.

(Second and third photos too big to render on here...)



https://archive.is/34CyP/a70e697ae4f7b4 ... ac3904.jpg

https://archive.is/34CyP/93b95dacf56f51 ... 128fb6.jpg

No word of any trade involvement, but like in the earlier video things must have gotten pretty close to the front of the rank.

This is the view from a different angle, which shows the empty rank to the left. The Courier building is the big brown one to the right. The article says they came down from the direction of Dundee High School, which is behind the tree to the right. So they must have come down past that van, and crossed over to the pub on the street corner to the centre-right of the StreetView. Thus passing the front of the rank on the way

(Both the StreetViews in the thread looks strangely quiet as regards both traffic and pedestrians, as if they were taken on Sunday morning, or whatever, but who knows? )

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@56.46259 ... FQAw%3D%3D

It's probably just because if these things weren't happening right by the Courier's office then they wouldn't be in the press at all