Taxi Driver Online

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, UK)

October 19, 2007 Friday

Stabbed Cabbie Tells Of Attack

STABBED taxi driver Tony Giblin told today how he fought back against robbers who threatened to blind him.

The 31-year-old dad-of-three was left with a punctured lung in the early-hours attack by two hoodie-wearing passengers.

Blue Line driver Tony was released from Newcastle General Hospital after treatment yesterday.

He tried to fend off one of his assailants when they turned on him as he dropped them off in Newcastle's East End in the early hours of yesterday. Despite being punched and kicked in the head, and then stabbed with a suspected screwdriver by one of the men, Mr Giblin fought back.

One had threatened to stab him in the eyes if he didn't hand over money.

With his wife, Anne-Marie, by his side as he left hospital, Mr Giblin, of North Tyneside, said: "This had to be pre-planned. I went out to a routine call to a house but it was derelict and four people, two men and two women, walked over from fields and said a name which had been given as the caller.

"The two lads put up their hoods and so did the girls.

"They said they wanted to drop off the girls first at Byker, and then go on elsewhere.

"When we pulled up in Whickham Gardens after the girls had gone, one of the men came from behind and threatened to stab me, while the other was in the front seat and had a knife."

One of the men had what is believed to be a screwdriver. He demanded the cabbie's cash. But Mr Giblin, a driver for more than eight years, burst out of the car to get away.

One of the attackers tripped him up and Mr Giblin was attacked. He managed to fight one of them off and punched back when they threatened to stab him in the eyes.

"He kept asking for the cash notes and the other went back to the car to search for the money," he said.

"I managed to get away but the bloke came at me again. I was pushed up against a wall.

"He stole my wallet, containing about £90 and pictures of my family, along with credit cards."

Mr Giblin hadn't realised the stab wound to right side of his chest had punctured his lung.

He ran to Clifford Street Police Station, Byker, and alerted police on an outside phone as the station was closed at 2am.

As the hunt for the attacker and his accomplice was stepped up today, Mr Giblin and his wife appealed for witnesses to contact police.

Anne-Marie said: "I thought he had died when police came to my door at 4.20am. It was sickening."

The robber who stabbed him had a distinctive scar on his face and wore a blue Berghaus jacket with a white baseball cap. The other, the one with a knife, wore a dark baseball cap and jacket.
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