Taxi Driver Online

Pair charged over separate knifepoint robberies against taxi drivers are locked up

https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/new ... rs-locked/

TWO men charged with committing separate knifepoint robberies against taxi drivers within minutes of each other have been locked up.

Michael Glancy and Lee Gray are accused of carrying out the alleged hold-ups in Port Glasgow on Saturday April 18.

Detectives were hunting suspects following raids on two cabs at around 4am in different parts of the town.

Police said that the drivers of the vehicles had been left 'badly shaken' following the incidents.

Glancy, 35, and Gray, 37 — both of Port Glasgow — appeared separately in private on petition at Paisley Sheriff Court and made no plea.

It's alleged that a man wearing a black and white Halloween-type mask threatened one cabbie with a knife and grabbed a two-figure sum of money in Grampian Road at 3.50am.

In the other reported incident, police say the driver was robbed after taking a man from an address in Greenock to the Port.

A knifeman is alleged to have pulled a blade on the driver and then fled with the taxi's keys and a piece of equipment from the vehicle following a physical struggle.

Accused Gray appeared in court charged with two counts of alleged robbery and one of possession of a sharply pointed or bladed item.

Glancy is facing one charge of robbery, one of blade possession and another of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.

Sheriff Sukwhinder Gill has remanded both men in custody and has continued their cases for further examination.

They are both due to be back in the dock this next week.

This is almost certainly the same pair. So they robbed the pensioner yesterday (Monday) morning, but appeared in court the next day (Tuesday) charged with two knifepoint robberies on drivers just over a week previously. Possibly thought they'd gotten away with the two previous robberies, so got cocky with this pensioner.

But not charged with the robbery on the pensioner, yet, so could conceviably be an unrelated pair. But just too much of a coincidence. Port Glasgow nothing to do with the city of Glasgow, and population less than 20,000.


Pensioner Robbed In Port Glasgow By Men Who ‘Befriended’ Her At Bus Stop

https://www.inverclydenow.com/pensioner ... -bus-stop/

AN elderly woman was robbed of a two-figure sum of cash in Port Glasgow today (Monday) by men who shared a taxi with her into the town centre.

The woman, aged 74, was not injured but has been left shaken by the incident which happened just before 9am.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Young said: “The lady was ‘befriended’ by two men at the bus stop in Arran Avenue, Port Glasgow, and they agreed to share a taxi into the town centre rather than wait for a bus, however, after alighting from the taxi, one of the men grabbed her bag, removed the purse and then managed to get money from it before they both ran off.

“The suspects are both white, one is of a heavy build wearing dark clothing and was carrying a rucksack and the other was of slim build, wearing light clothing.

“Officers are currently checking CCTV in the area, however, would appeal to anyone who saw what happened or have any information that will help the enquiry to get in touch.”

Witnesses should contact Greenock detectives via 101 quoting reference number 0575 of 27 April or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 in confidence.

I wonder if this is the same Michael Glancy? Can't be many Michael Glancys in a small town like Port Glasgow.

Problem is the ages don't match. This was from 2012, so this Glancy would be around 60 now, as opposed to the Glancy in his mid-thirties who appeared in court today. Of course, the age reported today could be an error, of it could be his daftie son, or whatever.

But the modus fits - cack-handed robberies, knifepoint or fake gun, also wore a mask on one of the previous robberies, and the suspect for the latest taxi robbery wore a mask.


Michael Glancy jailed for robbing Port Glasgow bookies while on parole

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... t-19491680

A man who robbed a bookmakers at knifepoint while on parole from a previous armed robbery sentence has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

Michael Glancy, 51, raided a branch of Ladbrokes in Princes Street, Port Glasgow, in January.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard he held a knife towards a cashier's stomach before escaping with £518.

Glancy was jailed for 54 months for the robbery and three years for committing the offence while on parole.

Glancy was jailed for five years at the same court in 2008 over a bungled armed robbery attempt at a post office in Inverclyde.

'Hazy' memory

He pleaded guilty to threatening staff at Inverkip post office with a fake gun in October 2007.

The court heard that during his latest offence, Glancy wore a mask and threatened staff with a knife before escaping with cash.

Police were called and Glancy, from Port Glasgow, was arrested shortly afterwards. The cash was found in nearby woodland.

His defence advocate Louise Arrol said he had been drinking on the day of the robbery and his recollection of the events was "somewhat hazy".

Temporary judge Kenneth Maciver said he had no other option but to send Glancy to prison.

"I was told how the female employee was transfixed with fear during the incident," the judge said.

"This happened when you were on parole for a similar offence. I have no other option but to impose an extended sentence on you.

"You are a threat to the public and it would be unthinkable for me anything other than an extended sentence."
----------------------------------------------------

There was also this reported about the earlier botched robbery

Michael Glancy, from Port Glasgow, fled empty-handed from the premises after his gunpoint demands for cash went unanswered.

Glancy, 47, had driven his own vehicle to Inverkip, in Renfrewshire, to use as a getaway car.

But he parked it next to two CCTV cameras and was caught on footage.

Note also that although the original report at the top of the thread says the two 4am robberies were separate incidents in different parts of town, one of the accused was charged with two counts of robbery, suggesting he took part in both incidents?

Possibly a father and son coincidence, and the scum son is following in the footsteps of the scum dad.

_________________
IDFIMH

Well it's certainly not the father, because he died in prison a few years ago due to a haemorrage caused by terminal cancer. (Found that while looking for updates on the current taxi robbery.)

There was a Fatal Accident Inquiry conducted (pretty routine, I suspect, for a sudden death in prison - a bit like coroner's inquiry in England) and couldn't help notice this:


https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-ju ... 0000d74aa7

So his brother was doing time in the same prison

But which maybe suggest it runs in the family, so likely that the Michael Glancy involved in the taxi robbery is a relative.

There's also another Michael Glancy in that neck of the woods, who's done time for several assaults involving bottlings and baseball bats, including a couple of attacks on women, and looks like he'll have about 50 convictions in total. One of the reports says he "was struggling to cope with the death of his father", which ties in with the date the older Michael Glancy died in prison. His age doesn't match the alleged taxi robber, though, but again he may be a relative.

Another report from a few days ago mentions yet another bus stop robbery at around the same time as the taxi robberies. Sounds almost identical to the robbery during the taxi share (elderly woman waiting for a bus, also involved a mask) although this one happened while simply waiting at the bus stop.


So maybe that's the second robbery that one of the males who appeared in court was charged with.

So in total two robberies on taxi drivers, and two robberies on pensioners in the same small town within days. And the several streets mentioned in the various robberies are just a few minutes' walk from each other

Someone in the comments section on one of the websites mentioned that a lot of 'lags' have been released from prison because of Covid-19, so that would make sense

Thankfully very few have, and the ones that have would have been released soon anyway.

_________________
IDFIMH

Same old, same old. But not clear from this whether council simply won't allow cameras at present, or perhaps the trade is hoping here that the council will pay to install them. But article not wholly clear either way.

Of course, the screens thing is the latest manifestation of this kind of regulatory mess and inconsistency, so, who knows, Covid-19 and the public health dimension might bring the whole thing more into the public and political consciousness.

Have my doubts, though


Knifepoint robberies of taxi drivers have sparked a call for cabs to be fitted with CCTV cameras

https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/new ... v-cameras/

KNIFEPOINT robberies of taxi drivers have sparked a call for cabs to be fitted with CCTV cameras — with council chiefs ready to explore the idea.

Cabbies approached the Telegraph as part of a move to lobby the local authority to assess the feasibility of installing surveillance equipment as a safety measure.

Councils elsewhere — including in South Lanarkshire — have already launched pilot schemes with cameras in cars in response to concerns about attacks on drivers.

Now Inverclyde Council says it is ready to look at the possibility of having a similar project here if 'sufficient demand' is shown from within the trade.

One taxi driver told the Telegraph: "Nationally we have an epidemic, namely COVID-19, but locally we have another epidemic with taxi drivers being threatened with knives and also passengers fleeing from the cab to avoid paying the fare.

"Local cabs need fitted with CCTV immediately."

Another driver said: "We are already taking risks every day just by being out and trying to earn a crust during coronavirus, but we're also facing the risk of being attacked.

"But I think it might take someone being hurt, or worse, before anything is done to give us some added protection and peace of mind."

The Tele reported last month how two separate early hours knifepoint robberies were carried out against cabbies in Port Glasgow.

Two men, Michael Glancy, 35, and Lee Gray, 37, have been charged with committing them and have been locked up following court appearances.

The drivers involved were left 'badly shaken' by their ordeals.

South Lanarkshire Council launched its pilot taxi CCTV scheme in March.

An Inverclyde taxi driver said: "Other local authorities have cabs fitted with CCTV, so why has Inverclyde Council not given the green light for local cabs to be fitted with cameras?"

The local authority says that a consultation about taxi CCTV was carried out in 2018 but the policy was not developed 'due to a lack of interest and demand'.

A council spokesman said: "Just one response was received.

“We have not had any recent requests about the use of CCTV to prompt re-evaluating the issue.

"Should CCTV be introduced in taxis in future, the onus would be on taxi operators to register with the Information Commissioner to ensure the system and any footage collected adheres to data protection laws and respects people's privacy.

"The council takes the safety of drivers extremely seriously and is open to revisiting the idea of CCTV in taxis should anyone wish to raise the matter and if there is sufficient demand."

To me it looks like the trade are merely requesting permission to install CCTV.

But reading the article they could have had it in 2018 if they could have been bothered to respond to the consultation properly.

Still nothing stopping the council adopting a CCTV policy even if no-one is/was interested.

_________________
IDFIMH

Sheriff refuses to release man accused of knifepoint taxi robbery

A MAN who is charged with robbing a taxi driver whilst armed with a knife has had a bid to be released on bail ahead of his trial rejected by a sheriff.

It means that Michael Glancy — who was first remanded in custody back in April — will now remain locked up until at least October, when the case is due to call in court again.

The 35-year-old is said to have been in unlawful possession of a blade as he allegedly targeted the cabbie on Oronsay Avenue in Port Glasgow.

Prosecutors say he 'lunged towards' the driver and repeatedly struggled with him over the car's keys.

It is alleged that Glancy demanded that the driver get out of the taxi before robbing him of a car key and an electronic device.

He is further accused of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner 'likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm' by repeatedly uttering offensive and racial remarks.

Glancy maintained pleas of not guilty through his lawyer at the latest calling of the case at Greenock Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

He sought bail to an address on the Port's Highholm Street but this was successfully opposed by procurator fiscal depute David Glancy.

Sheriff Joseph Hughes further remanded Glancy in custody.

The case is due to call again on October 6.

_________________
IDFIMH

can't we just round up the whole family and ship them off to somewhere hot such as stromboli

_________________
Taxis Are Public Transport too

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

Robber held up a taxi driver at knifepoint

A SKULL-masked robber who held up a taxi driver at knifepoint in a premeditated 4am ambush has been sentenced to almost four years in jail.

Lee Gray had his lower face obscured with a skeleton jaw print design hoodie as he jabbed a six-inch kitchen blade against the 'traumatised' cabbie's torso during the terrifying incident.

Gray, 37 — who has seven previous convictions for serious violence and weapons offences — demanded the 52-year-old driver's cash box before fleeing with just £41.50.

He had been released early from a previous jail term and still had more than a year of it to run when he carried out the robbery on Grampian Road in April.

Greenock Sheriff Court heard how he summoned the taxi to an address separate to his own on the street because his house had already been 'blacklisted' by cab bosses.

Gray had also been charged with robbing a 70-year-old woman of her handbag and its contents at Marloch Avenue the previous day, however, his not guilty plea to this allegation was accepted by the Crown.

Prosecutor David Glancy said: "The driver parked up and first became aware of a male approaching the vehicle and trying to open the rear door behind the driver's seat.

"However, central locking had been deployed and the accused had to come to the front passenger door.

"As he got in he stated, 'This coronavirus is murder'.

"The driver acknowledged and asked him where he wanted to go.

"The accused produced a dark-handled kitchen knife with a six-inch blade and stated, 'I want your money box'.

"The accused then began to rummage the centre console of the Skoda taxi

"As he did so the tip of the knife was pressed into the driver's torso on the left side."

The court heard how Gray then leaned across the cabbie, still holding the blade against him, and grabbed the cash box from the door pocket.

He then fled and the driver drove a short distance before alerting the police.

An extensive search yielded a now empty cash box from ground directly behind Gray's house and the skull print hoodie was found during a search of the property.

Defence lawyer Marc Chambers said: "He formed a relationship with a young woman but there was a period when he relapsed into heroin use.

"This became the main focus of his life and desperation for money took hold.

"He is currently on methadone at a rate of 70ml per day."

Sheriff Joseph Hughes told Gray: "You assaulted and robbed a defenceless taxi driver using a knife.

"The victim, I am told, was traumatised by your actions.

"Taxi drivers at this time were operating as a vital part of the key worker network during lockdown.

"You are 37 and have an appalling record, with this being your eighth indictment matter."

Sheriff Hughes returned Gray to prison for the remaining 393 days of his previous sentence and imposed a further 1,001 days on him for the April 18 robbery, giving a total of 1,394 days — or around 3.8 years.

_________________
IDFIMH

Port Glasgow taxi robbery accused locked up over Christmas

A MAN locked up since April charged with robbing a taxi driver spent Christmas in prison after being refused bail ahead of his Covid-delayed trial.

Michael Glancy, 35, is said to have committed the alleged offences at Oronsay Avenue in Port Glasgow.

Prosecutors say he 'lunged towards' the driver and repeatedly struggled with him over the car's keys.

It is alleged that Glancy demanded that the driver get out of the taxi before robbing him of a car key and an electronic device.

He is further accused of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by repeatedly uttering offensive and racial remarks.

Glancy maintained pleas of not guilty through his lawyer at the latest calling of the case at Greenock Sheriff Court.

A trial diet has been fixed for February 15.

_________________
IDFIMH

why not straight away if it's a diet

_________________
Taxis Are Public Transport too

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