Taxi Driver Online

Taxi Feud Link To Attack On Belfast Pastor

An attack on the home of a west Belfast pastor and community worker is directly linked to an ongoing loyalist paramilitary taxi feud in the area.

Pastor Jack McKee opened his Christianbased taxi firm Liberty with a fleet of 16 cars, three weeks ago.

He has no doubt the latest attack - which, he said, could have killed his family - is due to the fact his fledgling firm has been doing well.

Last week, a Liberty taxi driver had concrete slabs dropped on the roof and bonnet of his car. The following morning, telephone and radio cables at the pastor's taxi base were slashed.

Last Friday, the day Mr McKee buried his late mother, he was warned by police that loyalist paramilitaries were preparing to launch a campaign of intimidation against his firm. "The problem is that the taxi firm has been going too well.

"If ours is going so well, it is obviously hurting someone out there," he said.

The front windows of Mr McKee's house in the Shankill area were smashed around 3.30am yesterday and his Ford Mondeo car was destroyed by a petrol bomb.

Mr McKee said he has no plans to shut the firm or move home.

"There was a letter put throughout the Shankill yesterday alleging I had gone into business with Jackie Mahood and was using his equipment.

'I have no relationship with Jackie Mahood."

Last night, when the News Letter contacted Jackie Mahood, former owner of Call-A-Cab taxis which was closed earlier this year as a result of intimidation and attacks on the drivers, he denied any connection with Mr McKee. "I have no connection with Liberty taxis," he said.

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