Taxi Driver Online

YOU MUST WATCH THE VIDEO
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... ck-2845405

Boy joyriding taxi with PASSENGER in the back caught on hair-raising dashcam
Taxi driver said it was 'a miracle nobody was killed or injured' during incident, which he has compared to a terrorist attack
ByCarl EveCrime Reporter
15:39, 8 MAY 2019UPDATED16:38, 8 MAY 2019
SHOCKING CCTV FOOTAGE OF STOLEN TAXI DRIVEN AROUND PLYMOUTH
This is the shocking dashcam footage from a taxi which was taken by a reveller and driven at speed into oncoming traffic, narrowly missing pedestrians and mounting kerbs - while a terrified passenger was still on-board.
Police say officers were alerted to an incident at about 11.20pm on Sunday, May 5 where a black Mercedes taxi was taken without the driver's consent from outside the Co-operative store in Notte Street.
Taxi driver Corneliu Croiala told Plymouth Live he had stopped his black cab after being flagged down by two fares. A destination was agreed but one of the passengers asked to go to the nearby ATM to get cash while the other got into the cab.
However, 38-year-old Corneliu - who has been a taxi driver for 10 years and prides himself on saying he is a British citizen - said he became aware of a group of "about 10 to 20 kids" on the pavement who were trying to get into the already taken taxi.
Watch the hair-raising dash cam video above to see what happened
Can you help police identify this man shown in a still from the taxi's dashcam? (Image: Jon Bishop / Plymouth Live)
He said: "They were in and out, even climbing over the passenger, pulling on the automatic door, closing and opening it. It's an electric door and it doesn't slide manually so them forcing it can cause it damage.
"I had to get out and remove them, told them to walk away and to mind their own business."
As he was securing the rear door one of the laughing revellers ran around the front of his vehicle, briefly appearing on the taxi's dashcam, and leapt into the driver's seat. Cornelieu - seen in a white shirt in the dashcam footage - chased after him but by the time he arrived at the door the brake had been released and the automatic locking system had engaged.
Corneliu said: "I was struggling to open it and he drove off.
"I flagged down the first taxi coming towards me, which was one of my black cab colleagues and we rang police, then I jumped in and we headed towards Millbay to see where he went."
Dashcam footage from stolen taxi in Notte Street
The footage shows the suspect's friends leaping about, laughing and even filming him taking the cab as it then raced off along Notte Street, carrying out a series of shocking driving manouvres.

The suspect immediately overtakes a cab at speed, veering onto the other side of the road into oncoming vehicles. He then overtakes another vehicle which has pulled up at the red lights at the junction with Lockyer Street again driving towards oncoming traffic.
The Mercedes taxi then pulls a U-turn, mounting the pavement opposite The Crescent before racing back down Notte Street. Shortly before the junction with Hoe Approach the suspect overtakes another taxi, crossing onto the wrong side of the road, swerving back and forth as they cross the hashed junction.
These witnesses are still being sought by police as they carry out their investigation into the kidnapping of a passenger and taking of the taxi (Image: Jon Bishop / Plymouth Live)
Turning left at speed into Buckwell Street, the taxi again crosses over onto the wrong side of the road, briefly mounting the pavement before travelling along it for around a hundred yards and again carrying out a U-turn, mounting the pavement yet again.
Racing back down Buckwell Street, the suspect turned right without pausing to wait for oncoming vehicles which were travelling east along Vauxhall Street.
The dashcam footage shows the cab racing back past the Co-operative store, again overtaking a vehicle using the opposite lane - but this time into the path of a police carrier van.
The cab continues to speed along the road accelerating towards a pedestrian who his still walking across the carriageway. The vehicle finally comes to rest on the pedestrian crossing which leads to the Hoe.
Kidnap suspect raced into path of police carrier along Notte Street before pulling back into correct lane (Image: Jon Bishop / Plymouth Live)
Corneliu said the passenger, who he estimated was in his mid 20s, was clearly terrified throughout the incident.
He explained: "I've had to change the format from the original dashcam footage which has taken the sound off. On the original you can hear [the passenger] screaming, crying, begging the driver to stop all along the way.
"It was a miracle he didn't pass out, you can hear how frightening it was. It was really really scary. It was very lucky this person [the suspect] didn't kill anyone. There's two near head-on crashes - one with a police van and one with another vehicle. It's just luck he didn't crash head-on."
This taxi was left damaged after suspect stole it in Notte Street while a passenger was still on board (Image: Corneliu)
Corneliu said he has been left with an estimated repair bill of around £5,000 with his cab suffering a broken rear right door, broken rear right wing, damage to a front wheel after the suspect repeatedly mounted the kerb, a broken window mechanism and damage to the automatic sliding door mechanism.
He said he'd continue to use the cab for a few more days but expects to lose it for up to a week while it was being repaired - causing him to lose much-needed business.

He told Plymouth Live: "Nothing like this has ever happened before to me. I know people will say, 'Why didn't you take your keys out?', but no cab driver does that when they are attending a passenger. If you get out of your car to help your mum into the vehicle with her shopping, you don't take your keys. I wanted to secure my passenger, secure my door while waiting for my second passenger.
"Then this little idiot does this.
These witnesses are still being sought by police as they carry out their investigation into the kidnapping of a passenger and taking of the taxi (Image: Jon Bishop / Plymouth Live)
"I'm just mainly happy that he didn't kill anyone.
"You see those incidents where a terrorist steals a vehicle and drives it at people, not caring - this was like that.
"His friends were all cheering him on and recording him. I think his adrenaline built up and he probably thought it would be funny. But he was nearly killing people - it's just so bad."
This taxi was left damaged after suspect stole it in Notte Street while a passenger was still on board (Image: Corneliu Corneliu)
Detectives have told Plymouth Live they were aware there were a number of people present at the time the taxi was taken and they are keen to hear from them. The lead investigator has revealed they are still hunting for the suspect who is wanted on suspicion of kidnap and of aggravated vehicle taking.
If you recognise anyone from the images showing either the suspect or a number of witnesses who were at the scene - some of whom may have video or photographic evidence of the incident - contact police on 101 or email 101@dc.police.uk or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 quoting crime reference number CR/039673/19.

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

Scary driving!

Have to say, though, that when I look back at this kind of footage of my *own* driving it always looks that bit faster than it seems in reality.

Good quality footage, though, and suspect this girl at least will be easily traced:



Bet they're regretting fishing their camera phones out now, though, especially as *their* photos now on several websites, including The Sun's and Daily Mail's

WHY was it left with no driver a passenger sat in the back and the keys in the ignition !!!!!

I think an appearance before the licensing committee might be looming

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

Do not believe Council will allow the use of that vehicle to carry fare paying passengers until the repairs and test have been done.

I think you didn't read the article Edders.

Quote:
Taxi driver Corneliu Croiala told Plymouth Live he had stopped his black cab after being flagged down by two fares. A destination was agreed but one of the passengers asked to go to the nearby ATM to get cash while the other got into the cab.
However, 38-year-old Corneliu - who has been a taxi driver for 10 years and prides himself on saying he is a British citizen - said he became aware of a group of "about 10 to 20 kids" on the pavement who were trying to get into the already taken taxi.
He said: "They were in and out, even climbing over the passenger, pulling on the automatic door, closing and opening it. It's an electric door and it doesn't slide manually so them forcing it can cause it damage.
"I had to get out and remove them, told them to walk away and to mind their own business."
As he was securing the rear door one of the laughing revellers ran around the front of his vehicle, briefly appearing on the taxi's dashcam, and leapt into the driver's seat. Cornelieu - seen in a white shirt in the dashcam footage - chased after him but by the time he arrived at the door the brake had been released and the automatic locking system had engaged.
End Quote.

_________________
Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

mt first instinct would be to remove the ignition key and put it in pocket whilst dealing with the situation

_________________
Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

Difficult one - I've certainly left my car in a position where if a passer-by was so-minded then they could be off with it, but I'm sure every driver has done likewise. Of course, it depends on the precise circumstances - I'd be less worried in a posh housing estate than outside a nightclub, say, but of course it could potentially happen anywhere.

First instinct here was to say that I'd have done the same as the driver, but on rereading the thing it does sound a bit full on, so maybe he should have removed the keys, but easy enough to say with hindsight, and we can't know the precise circumstances.

But would be interesting to know what his insurers think of it

Clearly the driver should have taken the key, but we don't live in an ideal world.

His aim was to get the kids out of his motor, and I'm not going to criticize him for that.

That said I very much look forward to the scroat being caught and sentenced.

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IDFIMH

And another interesting issue, not only as regards the possibility of personal loss, but also in relation to how your insurers might see the issue if a claim is made.

I've certainly been more inclined to take risks in this regard as compared to the average driver round here, although it depends on where precisely you are, time of day, and whether there are other people about etc.

On the other hand, some drivers go to the other extreme - the ones who get my goat get out of their car, lock it up then go to stand beside the *next car* on the rank to speak to the driver

Something I'd never feel the need to do in our wee town, even when the drunks are streaming past at the end of the night. Of course, it depends on the rank etc, but for our main night time rank my rule of thumb is basically that if you feel the need to lock your car then you shouldn't be on the rank

Of course, you can never be 100% sure, and in extreme circumstances it could happen to anyone. For example, when opening the boot for luggage, when some opportunist could grab something from the front of the car (like the moneybag case in Poole the other week), or even drive off in the car

Police latest after male joyrides taxi with passenger in the back

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... es-2872505

No arrests have been made

The hunt for a young man who stole a taxi which had a passenger aboard and later crashed it continues.

Shocking dashcam footage of the incident, which took place at about 11.20pm on Sunday, May 5, was sent to Plymouth Live and showed the taxi being taken by a reveller and driven at speed into oncoming traffic, narrowly missing pedestrians and mounting kerbs.

The owner of the taxi, Corneliu, said that the black cab was flagged down by two people on Notte Street, but one passenger went to get cash and the other got into the back of the cab.

The 38-year-old said he became aware of around "10 to 20 kids" on the pavement - some of which can be clearly seen in the dashcam footage - who were trying to get into the already taken taxi.

As Corneliu was securing the rear door, one of the laughing revellers ran around the front of his vehicle, briefly appearing on the taxi's dashcam, and leapt into the driver's seat.

Ten days on, there has still been no arrests in the case.

Police say the suspect sped off along the road and it is understood the vehicle collided with a number of objects before finally coming to rest outside the Tesco store in Notte Street.


Image: Jon Bishop/Plymouth Live

Detectives have told Plymouth Live they were aware there were a number of people present at the time the taxi was taken and they are keen to hear from them.

The lead investigator has revealed they are still hunting for the suspect who is wanted on suspicion of kidnap and of aggravated vehicle taking.

Corneliu said he had been left with an estimated repair bill of around £5,000 with his cab suffering a broken rear right door, broken rear right wing, damage to a front wheel after the suspect repeatedly mounted the kerb, a broken window mechanism and damage to the automatic sliding door mechanism.

On May 8, he said he'd continue to use the cab for a few more days but expects to lose it for up to a week while it was being repaired - causing him to lose much-needed business.


Image: Corneliu/Plymouth Live

He told Plymouth Live: "Nothing like this has ever happened before to me. I know people will say, 'Why didn't you take your keys out?', but no cab driver does that when they are attending a passenger. If you get out of your car to help your mum into the vehicle with her shopping, you don't take your keys. I wanted to secure my passenger, secure my door while waiting for my second passenger.

"Then this little idiot does this.

"I'm just mainly happy that he didn't kill anyone.

"You see those incidents where a terrorist steals a vehicle and drives it at people, not caring - this was like that.

"His friends were all cheering him on and recording him. I think his adrenaline built up and he probably thought it would be funny. But he was nearly killing people - it's just so bad."

If you recognise anyone from the images showing either the suspect or a number of witnesses who were at the scene - some of whom may have video or photographic evidence of the incident - contact police on 101 or email 101@dc.police.uk or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 quoting crime reference number CR/039673/19.

The rest of this article really just repeating previous reports.

Teen arrested on suspicion of kidnap after taxi joyride

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... er-2879702

Police are currently interviewing 17-year-old after taxi was taken and driven back and forth along Notte Street as terrified passenger screamed to be released

Police have revealed they were able to identify a number of people following the release of the dashcam footage for a public appeal and as a result a 17-year-old was today arrested on suspicion of kidnap and of aggravated taking without consent.