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Cabbie beaten up and robbed over £2.80 taxi fare
A taxi driver was brutally beaten and robbed by a passenger who refused to pay a £2.80 fare. Hasan Wahid, 29, was punched and kicked until blood ran down his face by three men after he picked up one of them from St Mary's Road, Fratton.
The attack is the third in the area in a week, and has led taxi companies to admit that violence against their drivers has become an occupational hazard.
Driving his passenger a short distance from the Kam Too Chinese takeaway to Whitcombe Gardens last Thursday at 10pm, Mr Wahid asked for the small fare, only to be hit repeatedly in the face. Moments later two more men appeared and joined in the unprovoked assault, trying to pull the Hackney Carriage driver out of his vehicle. 'I was just shocked,' said Mr Wahid, from Fratton. 'Why did they do this to me?
'When I told my passenger how much it cost, he said "that's too much, I'm not going to pay", and I responded that the meters are set by the council and I cannot change the price. That's when he punched me twice on the left side of my face, and then again on my arm.
'Then another man came out from the back of the car. He opened my door and started to punch me all over my face, and while both of them were punching and kicking me a third man tried to pull me out of my taxi. 'I could feel the blood running down my face and I just shouted at them to stop hitting me but they didn't listen.'
Luckily Mr Wahid managed to lock the door of his taxi and drive to a police station, but not before the robbers forced him to hand over £22.50 and stole his house keys. He said: 'I have worked in the UK for the last ten years, and I can't believe that someone would do this to me, especially for such a small fare.'
Glenn Madden, a manager for CityWide Taxis and a cabbie himself, said that attacks on taxi drivers are becoming more common than ever. 'We tend to be easy targets,' he said. 'Working alone, often at night and carrying money around with us means we need to be careful. 'But although we report these incidents to police they don't often manage to catch those responsible.'
The men who robbed Mr Wahid are all described as white, aged 25 to 30, and of slim builds. His passenger was 5ft 7ins tall, with short fair hair, and wearing a black jacket; while the second man was 5ft 5ins tall, with longer fair hair, and resembled Ricky Butcher from EastEnders.
Witnesses please contact DC Amanda Waite on 101.
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