Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver assaulted passengers after one was sick in his cab

A taxi driver assaulted two passengers during a row about a £40 cleaning charge after one of the men vomited in his cab. Gul Zeb, stopped his cab in Cutsyke, Castleford, and told Thomas Lucas and Curtis Bryan to get out, magistrates at Wakefield heard.

The court heard Zeb, 34, pushed both men in the face – causing them to fall to the floor – before driving off. Mr Lucas hit his head on the floor and was unconscious for a short time during the incident in the early hours of May 6. Mr Bryan suffered a black eye.

Prosecutor, Diane Gomersal said Mr Curtis had been sick in the back of the cab and Zeb asked for a £40 cleaning charge. Father-of-two Zeb was paid the cash, but a row started about the fee charged.

Mitigating, Paul Blanchard said Mr Bryan and Mr Lucas had drunk a “significant level of alcohol.” Mr Blanchard added: “He (Gul) accepts he did something he shouldn’t have done and has to accept the consequences for that.”

Vicky Knott, for West Yorkshire Probation Service, said: “His employment is in jeopardy. He has been suspended from his role and expects a five-year-ban from driving a taxi. “He has also been employed for 15 years as a part time youth worker with Wakefield Council. It involves working with troubled children and also the UK Youth Parliament.”

Zeb, 34, of Stanley Road, Wakefield admitted two charges of assault. Bench chair Robert Smith sentenced him to 80 hours unpaid work and ordered him to pay £200 prosecution costs plus a £60 victim surcharge.

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