Taxi Driver Online

Cabbie attacked with bricks while mum and baby in taxi says drivers too ‘scared’ to enter Swarcliffe

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/ ... -1-9680850


Image: Yorkshire Evening Post

A taxi driver whose car was bricked and smashed by a gang in Swarcliffe said that taxis are too scared to go into certain areas in Leeds because of antisocial teenagers.

Mr Zulfakar Hussain, 40, a taxi driver at Roadrunners cars, was driving a mother and her two-year-old child to their home in Swarcliffe when his car was bricked by a large group of teenagers.

It happened on Swarcliffe Avenue on Thursday, March 21 and the stone only narrowly missed the young woman and her child, instead smashing the side quarter glass window.

After the attack, the group of teenagers, aged between 12 and 15, fled from outside Swarcliffe Working Men’s Club where they had been standing, to neighbouring streets.

Mr Hussain, from Bradford, said: “There was no warning, we were just driving and the next minute a rock struck my car window and it smashed.

“It was a big shock and I could have easily lost control of the car. The baby was crying and the woman screamed.

“The gang ran off and hid before I could see them but, to be honest, I was more interested in making sure my passengers were okay.”

Police confirmed that an incident of criminal damage took place at about 8.30pm and a blue Toyota Prius was involved.

They confirmed that the window was damaged and no one was injured.

Mr Hussain said attacks like this on taxis and buses are becoming more common and putting taxi drivers off from working in certain areas, like Swarcliffe.

He said: “I don’t know why they did what they did. It’s dangerous, people could die. What are the parents teaching them?

“Now taxi drivers are scared to go in certain areas because of this kind of thing. We are just doing our jobs, that’s all, but they keep doing this. They just aren’t bothered.”

West Yorkshire Police would welcome anyone with information about the incident to call them no 101 referencing crime number 13190148085.