Taxi Driver Online

Banned: Novice minicab driver who crashed minicab into tram in Manchester city centre

Magistrates heard Graham Slater, 51, ignored two stop signs at the junction of Nicholas Street and Mosley Street and drove into the path of a tram

A minicab driver who caused a horrific city centre tram smash has been banned from the road.

Magistrates heard Graham Slater, 51, ignored two stop signs at the junction of Nicholas Street and Mosley Street and drove into the path of a tram.

Firemen had to cut the roof off the private hire vehicle to rescue the two male and two female passengers.

All four were injured, and one of the women spent two days in the Manchester Royal Infirmary with fractures to her collar bone.

She was off work for six weeks prosecutor Matthew Siddall told Manchester magistrates.

After the lunchtime smash, in June, the taxi spun out of control and ended up embedded in a glass building on Mosley Street causing an estimated £5,000 of damage.

Mr Siddall said the driver of the tram slammed on his brakes but was unable to avoid the rear nearside of the cab.

Nobody in the tram was injured but several people were left shocked.

Slater, of Eastway, Flixton, admitted driving without due care and attention and failing to comply with a traffic sign.

He was fined £110 and disqualified from driving for six months under the totting up procedure after receiving seven penalty points.

District Judge Khalid Qureshi told Slater: “There is high culpability in this case. Passengers in the taxi were considerably injured and there was considerable damage.”

Solicitor James Street, defending, said Slater was extremely sorry for the injury caused to his passengers.

Mr Street said: “He saw the tram late and tried to get out of the way.

“He was totally unfamiliar with the area and misjudged the markings on the road indicating a traffic crossing.”

The court heard that he had only been with the taxi firm for three months after his estate agency business collapsed, and was now on benefits.

source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Yeah, easy to miss the signs
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Mosley ... 46,,0,4.82

they have the same problems anywhere there are trams there is always a few idiots that fail to appreciate the size and mass of a tram a car will always come off a lot worse !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector