Taxi Driver Online

Not the most violent episode you're likely to see, and video not great quality, but according to this piece the whole incident lasted six minutes


Glasgow taxi driver and woman get into violent fight near George Square in shocking video

https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/175 ... ing-video/

THIS is the shocking moment a Glasgow taxi driver and a woman got involved in a violent fight in the street.

The incident took place on South Frederick Street, just off George Square.

With the city’s huge ‘People Make Glasgow’ slogan in the background, a raging woman is seen repeatedly kicking the cab driver’s door.

He then gets out of his car and they both exchange kicks and blows. The male driver then pins the woman against a wall.

A passer-by in a yellow jacket pleads with the pair to stop. She can be heard shouting: “Stop it!”

One man behind the camera can be heard saying: “Friggin’ Glasgow.” Another man with an American accent adds: “That’s not good.”

The video has been circulating and shared widely across social media this week. As of yet, the source of the video and when it was taken are unknown.

The fight lasts for around six minutes before two police officers finally approach the pair.

Glasgow Taxis, Glasgow City Council and Police Scotland did not provide comment when approached by the Evening Times.

If someone has a fight for 6 minutes, then usually one of them ends up in hospital, if not dead.

Methinks it's a slight exaggeration.

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IDFIMH

another video of this is doing the rounds here,this one has sound which suggests the "woman" in the video might not have always been a "woman"

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i started out with nothing and ive still got most of it left

well looks like "she" defo was the one being aggressive but it clearly shows the driver throwing a punch back and that's what the council will look at he shouldn't have retaliated just reported her to the police for criminal damage

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

Would be interesting to view the video of this incident in view of the committee's decision (I'm assuming this is the same incident), but it seems to have been removed from the original linked article above.

Only trace of it I can find is on this Glasgow news commentary video, which I well recall annoying the hell out of me first time round, but you can find the most important part from around the 3.00 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2cKqEJr37E

(Among the smart alec remarks on the video is along the lines of 'there was no provocation until the driver stepped out of the cab' - like someone repeatedly kicking the side of the cab isn't provocation? And, of course, that also ignores the wider context of the spitting and aggression inside the cab, and the rest of it leading up to the actual punching incident.

And the driver didn't actually use any physical aggression until the woman lunged towards him.)


Glasgow taxi driver who punched passenger suspended

https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/178 ... suspended/

A TAXI driver who punched a female passenger, who was kicking the outside of his vehicle, has been suspended from driving for six months.

Kenneth Clark picked the woman up outside Glasgow Central Station who asked to be taken to the bank. On realising the driver was going to the wrong branch the woman became aggressive and started spitting at the visor.

Mr Clark stopped the vehicle and the woman got out and started punching and kicking the car before attacking her driver.

Clark, who retaliated in self defence, was brought before the licensing committee this week to explain himself.

He said: “I recall this incident. The woman said she was going to Santander and I assumed she meant the branch on St Vincent Street.

“She then told me it was the one in Springburn and informed me that I was going the wrong way.

“I started to make a U-turn on the road but the passenger became aggressive. She exited the vehicle and started kicking my car. I got out the car and asked her to stop before getting back inside.

“She continued to punch the vehicle so I got back out to try and stop her but she smashed my window and hit me on the face with a cable.

“I felt I had no other choice to defend myself so I retaliated. Three people had to restrain her."

Members retired to watch video footage of the assault filmed by a member of the public.

After the viewing councillor John Kane said: “This video does not make for good watching. What would you do differently if a similar situation were to arise again?”

Mr Clark said: “I don’t think I could have done anything differently. I wanted to stop her from damaging my taxi.

“I pushed her away from the vehicle and she started hitting me. I don’t think anyone should be assaulted at work.”

It then emerged from councillor Rhiannon Spear that Clark and another man grabbed the ladies handbag to stop her from leaving.

Councillor Spear said: ”In the video I saw you and another man take the woman’s handbag to stop her from leaving the scene of the crime.

“I just don’t understand why you didn’t remove yourself from the situation and stay in your car until the police arrived.”

Following the discussions councillors suspended his licence.

I find that a bit harsh.

She was a nutter and committed criminal offences in his cab, and against his cab.

Clearly no cabby should go and punch anyone without good reason, and the self defence defence is weakened when he got out of the cab to deal with her.

But I still believe he has been hard done by.

Maybe they should ask all new recruits to the trade what they would do under these circumstances.

If they did then I suspect many of those drivers would get it wrong, and some would tell the council to stick their license.

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IDFIMH

Not so sure about that - he would have been on his way out of the cab while she was kicking it, which seems a reasonable action to take in the circumstances.

He then stood a reasonable distance from her - not close enough so that he could make any physical contact. It was only when she lunged towards him that he got physical, thus to that extent self-defence.

Of course, it was arguably a bad idea to get out of the vehicle at all, but in the circumstances I don't think simply getting out of it detracts from the self-defence aspect.

That's not self defence.

At no time was he is danger, he had every chance to remove himself from the situation.

Now I'm not saying people shouldn't protect their property, but that's not self defence.

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IDFIMH

Can't see how him getting out of the cab is relevant to the self-defence aspect - seems he only got out of the vehicle to stop her kicking it, which doesn't seem unreasonable.

He only got physical when the woman lunged towards him, which to me seems the relevant context to consider whether what he did was self-defence.

The court will ask if the driver was in imminent danger of being assaulted before he got out of the cab. The answer is no.

The court will ask what was the point of the driver getting out of the cab? If it was merely to stop the woman kicking the cab then he could have done that by pulling off.

Once he got out of the cab he would be deemed as the aggressor, as he knew she was a nutter from his interactions with her in the cab.

She is the one who could claim self defence even though it hurts us in the trade to say so.

She would tell a court she saw a big fella coming at her unsure what he was going to do.

His defence in court would be to claim provocation, but that is not a defence against an assault charge, merely a mitigating factor.

Clearly in the clear light of day it’s easy for me to pontificate and say he did this that and the other wrong, but it’s a lesson to us all we as licensed folk have to be squeaky clean, and at times have to leave a situation even though we think we shouldn’t.

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IDFIMH

He got out of the cab to carry out a citizens arrest which he is entitled to do as an act of criminal damage had taken place, he is entitled to use reasonable force to detain the offender until a constable arrives.
Had he driven off the offender could have escaped.

No one has a right to punch someone whilst they arrest them, including taxi drivers.

No one said he should drive off and forget about it, but he could have removed himself from the vicinity and observed from a safe distance until the police arrive.

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IDFIMH

Woman charged over ‘assault’ on Glasgow cabbie Kenny Clark who was suspended by council

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/4 ... n-charged/

A WOMAN has been charged for allegedly attacking a taxi driver who took her to the 'wrong' bank.

The 29-year-old is accused of assault on the driver as well as vandalism.

Video footage had circulated showing a 'disturbance' between the woman and taxi driver Kenny Clark.

The cabbie was suspended for six months by council chiefs, but police did not pursue any action against him.

A petition has been launched to have him reinstated and has so far collected 1,600 signatures since Monday.

Well known Glasgow cabbie Stef Shaw is among those who have shared the petition on social media, branding the suspension “badly wrong”.

He wrote: “Kenny Clark is a Glasgow taxi driver who has just had his taxi licence suspended for six months.

“I know Kenny Clark to be a good decent citizen of Glasgow and the man is distraught at this decision against him.

“I’ve signed this petition because I believe that GCC [Glasgow City Council] licensing authority have called this decision badly wrong.”

Online users were furious with the Council’s decision, commenting on Stef’s post and the petition itself.

However, Councillors decided to suspend his licence.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: "Police were made aware of an incident on South Frederick Street, Glasgow in March 2019.

"Extensive enquiries were carried out and a 28 year-old woman was arrested, charged and reported to the Procurator Fiscal for assault and vandalism."

A spokesman for the council said: “Based on all of the information presented at the hearing on this case, the committee felt it was necessary and appropriate to suspend the driver’s licence with immediate effect.

“The committee concluded that the licence holder’s conduct had fallen short of what is expected of a taxi driver.

“The licence holder has the right to appeal the decision in the Sheriff Court.”

This is the text of the petition, and a link to it:

https://www.change.org/p/glasgow-city-c ... nd%3EExact

Note that the highlighted claim about the woman punching, slapping and kicking the driver 'over 20 times' isn't included in the Sun's article above, but is repeated in pieces on this incident on at least two other news sources.





Also, the other day I said that the video on the original news article in March seemed to have been taken down. In fact I think it's still there, but when I tried to view it again suspect my browser just gave up (as is often the case with these bloated news sites) and simply didn't load it

Don't doubt your analysis of the *legal* minutiae, but if that's the law then I disagree with it.

Take your argument to its logical conclusion, and effectively the law says that even if she'd pulled a knife on him then he couldn't claim self-defence if she'd brandished the knife and lunged towards him?

Likewise, while it's often ill-advised to get out of the vehicle in a confrontation scenario, to me it seems wrong if by dint of getting out of the vehicle then any self-defence defence can't therefore apply?

What about the Brum driver blinded by the stiletto-wielding female, for example? As I recall it, he didn't need to get out of the car, but he did, and to that degree he couldn't claim self-defence if he'd right-hooked her when she came at him with the stiletto?

Certainly, if the law was up to me then the relevant points in the video are as follows:

- The driver was on his way out of the cab when the woman was repeatedly kicking the side of it.

- He stopped and stood far enough from the woman not to pose any obvious physical threat to her.

- He only became physical when she violently lunged towards him.

As far as my common sense interpretation of self-defence is concerned (as opposed to the strict legal position), the only real question mark is whether the level of violence he used was disproportionate, ie was he was a bit too 'physical'?

But, as I was going to say in response last week (but never got round to it), perhaps instructive that the police didn't take any action against the driver and left it to the committee?

Of course, it wasn't clear then whether or not police were to take action against the driver, but obviously the news since then makes it clear that they won't, and in fact it's the woman in the frame.

(And it's not necessary to consider the wider context that's been claimed in the press this week - that she'd spat and abused him in the cab, and had also struck him numerous times apart from what we saw in the video. We don't know the facts in that regard, and my analysis above is based purely on what's in the video.)