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Snobs and Southside BID 'reported taxi rank' before rape


Snobs said the teenager was "looked after", checked by a paramedic and staff tried to find her friends

A nightclub accused by a judge of "abandoning" a drunk student who was later raped said it had raised concerns about an unofficial taxi rank outside.

Sajid Hussain, 35, a taxi marshal near Snobs nightclub in Birmingham was convicted of sexual assault and another man was jailed for rape.

The club and a business group said they previously reported the unofficial rank to the council.

Birmingham City Council is investigating but is yet to respond.

The 19-year-old was abducted in a transit van and and raped after leaving Snobs in Smallbrook Queensway in the early hours of 20 February, 2015.

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Hussain, was jailed for six years and her rapist Zaheer Abbas, 30, was jailed for 11 years earlier this month.

Judge Mary Stacy had earlier told Birmingham Crown Court: "Snobs abandoned her on the street where she was prey to the likes of Abbas and Hussain."

'Looked after'

A spokesman for Snobs and Southside Business Improvement District (BID), said Hussain was "not employed or associated" with either organisation and the "unofficial" rank he worked for had been reported to the council prior to the rape.

He said in May 2015, Southside instigated an official taxi rank outside the club "out of its own pot" due to the council's budget constraints. "Unfortunately this was too late," he said.

The BID area now has three official ranks with "CRB checked" marshals, he added.

Wayne Tracey, co-owner of Snobs, said the teenager "was found asleep in the toilet", checked by an onsite paramedic and "accompanied out of the building" into a cordoned-off area in front of the venue. Staff tried to find her friends in Snobs and a short time later she made her way to the taxi rank.

"At no point was she abandoned - she was looked after until she decided to make her own way home. Unfortunately, we are unable to compel members of the public to stay on site and no club can be expected to help visitors into taxis," he said.

Mr Tracey added: "We believe that the issue at hand is the licensing of taxi marshals and set-up of official taxi ranks in the city, which affects all clubs and bars."

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-36472613

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

ffs, when will people start taking responsibility for there own actions! why is it always someone else's fault?, the lass went out, got off her head , got raped ( shouldn't have happened mind ) but its the nightclubs fault? did the nightclub force drink down her neck? i think not , she was checked by a paramedic and staff tried to find her friends, what more do they want ffs? carry her home ? its her fault for getting lashed & wandering off ( obviously , its not her fault she was raped though ), she was found in the bogs , pi$$ed out her mind, tbh , i doubt anyone would have took her anyway in that state , well i wouldn't have anyway , could have been a spewer or anything

"accompanied out of the building" into a cordoned-off area in front of the venue"

should read
"carried out of the building pi$$ed out of her mind into a cordoned-off area in front of the venue" while we were hoping she would be dumped in a taxi then its up to the driver

The council should be held accountable for this.

sorry mate, why ??

Lack of enforcement.

still no idea how its someone elses fault this happened to her tbh

If the illegal rank hadn't have been there it wouldn't have happened. Investigations need to start at the bottom and work the way to the top.

it would have, she didn't get a taxi she was abducted in a transit van

It picked her up on the illegal rank though.

Isn't an illegal rank just a street?

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Grandad,

Is a dog a horse?

she could have lived in a small village where there are no taxi ranks at all, bottom line is she got pi$$ed off her brain & now someone else is to blame, as usual couldn't give a flying fook what some pi$$ed up lass does once she is out of my cab mind, not my problem tbh

She was raped by the Unofficial Illegal Taxi rank marshal.

yes, in a transit van, not a taxi , he could have abducted her anywhere tbh