Taxi Driver Online

Another mid-morning incident in Dundee

Used to sit on this rank back in the 1990s...

Even back then you'd have to guess that the pair here had just come out of the chemist after being fast-tracked past the queuing pensioners etc to get their methadone fix

Of course, there's nothing like that in this piece (which is a rearranged Police Scotland news release), but by some coincidence Google Streetview shows a ranking yellow Leaf just opposite the Lloyd's Pharmacy

Wonder what that pair standing in the doorway might be up to?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Bet ... ?entry=ttu

Anyway, perps here probably thought the old guy was an easy target, but they didn't get his money bag, and he was unhurt


Taxi driver assaulted in failed robbery on Lochee High Street

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/du ... gh-street/

The 79-year-old driver was assaulted after picking up two men around 9.30am on Tuesday.

Police are appealing for information after a taxi driver was assaulted in a failed robbery attempt on Lochee High Street.

The 79-year-old driver was assaulted after picking up two men from the taxi rank around 9.30am on Tuesday.

The men also attempted to rob the driver of his moneybag.

They subsequently left the area on foot in an unknown direction empty-handed.

Officers say the taxi driver was unhurt but was left “extremely shocked” by the incident.

He was driving a yellow Nissan Leaf car.

Appeal for information

Police are now appealing for any witnesses to come forward with information.

Police Constable Mark Reid of Downfield Police Station said: “We are appealing to anyone in the area who witnessed the incident or the two men fleeing the taxi to get in touch with us.

“I would ask motorists who were in the area at the time and have dash-cam to contact us; you may have captured something that can assist our investigation.

“Anyone with information should call Police Scotland on 101, quoting reference number 1117 of Tuesday, 6 June, 2023.”

Anyway, possibly more interesting is that the rank in question is close to where the driver who eventually died was assaulted over the cigarette incident.

In fact, the back of the feeder part of the rank is literally about 80 yards from where the fatal assault took place.

Which has got me thinking about another theory regarding how the deceased driver and his assailant came into contact - I thought he might have been charging his EV, but maybe he was ranking about 100 yards away. And maybe, as Sussex suggested back then, he was outside his car smoking, which was maybe why his eventual killer asked him for a cigarette...

the victim sadly eventually died of his injuries and a person might eventually go on to kill someone so sentence perhaps could be re-worded ?

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

I don't understand what you mean.

Well this is interesting. So either police are treating an assault as not criminal, or the driver was lying?

Anyway, not much to go on here. Apart from the words 'no', 'criminality' and 'established', there's nothing else to see.

More interesting that the article is simply rehash apart from the 'no criminality established' stuff. And in an attempt to string it all out, the words 'no', 'criminality' and 'established' are repeated five times each


‘No criminality’ established after taxi driver reportedly assaulted in failed robbery on Lochee High Street

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/du ... gh-street/

Police were called to the area around 9.30am on Tuesday

Police in Dundee say no criminality has been established after a taxi driver was reportedly assaulted in a failed robbery on Lochee High Street.

Officers were called to the area around 9.30am on Tuesday following reports the 79-year-old driver had been assaulted after picking up two men from the taxi rank.

In appeal for information, police said the men also attempted to rob the driver of his moneybag but subsequently left the area on foot in an unknown direction empty-handed.

It was reported the taxi driver was unhurt but was left “extremely shocked” by the incident.

‘No criminality’ established

However in an update on Wednesday, Tayside Police say following the appeal, they have established no criminality took place.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Following our appeal for information that a taxi driver was the victim of an attempted robbery and assault in Lochee High Street, Dundee, on Tuesday, we have now established that no criminality took place.”

Are they saying the cabby was lying?

I get the confusion about attempted robbery and maybe the individuals were larking about, but you can't assault someone without there being criminality.

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IDFIMH

His word against theirs ? without the proof criminality cannot be established reliably.

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

When I read the phrase 'no criminality established' I usually think it means there is criminality, but for whatever reasons police decide not to prosecute.

In this case I'd guess it was either because there was insufficient proof, or maybe the driver decided he didn't want a prosecution, and police went along with that and just said 'no criminality established' for PR reasons.

I mean, the driver's nearly 80-years-old, so might not want the ordeal of a prosecution and possible trial etc. And, in a goldfish bowl like Lochee High Street, he might not want to risk coming across the pair again, especially after the death of a younger driver just months ago.

In fact, if he's genuinely telling the truth, then at that age he's maybe decided to call it a day because of the incident, and would prefer to avoid the stress of a prosecution and possible trial.

But the original Police Scotland witness appeal (since deleted from their website) was quite definite about there being an assault. On the other hand, it was presumably quite a minor assault if the driver wasn't injured, particularly at nearly 80-years-old

It just doesn’t sound right to me.

Robbery/attempted robbery is an incredibly serious offence.

If the driver decided he didn’t want the police to pursue matters that’s what the police would have said to the press.

But even then I suspect the police would still continue with their investigations or at least leave the case open.

The wording from the police suggests to me that the incident didn’t happen.

_________________
IDFIMH

Interesting, Sussex

And Police Scotland news releases of this kind actually published on their website are relatively few in number considering the force covers the whole country, which suggests both that they considered it a serious incident, and that there was compelling evidence that the incident happened as described.

And, as discussed at length previously, there was a slight air of mystery about the nearby incident that lead to the fatality, at least from the trade perspective. But, of course, I'm always cynical about this kind of thing...

The Police Scotland webpage is now a '404 - Page not found' link, so the page has obviously been removed.

But it's still in the Google cache, and this is the actual text below. Not that it's much different from the Courier's rehash at the top of the thread, but just to demonstrate that police seemed fairly certainly that an assault and attempted robbery had taken place:


Appeal for information after a taxi driver was the victim of an attempted robbery and assault in High Street, Lochee, Dundee

https://www.scotland.police.uk/what-s-h ... ee-dundee/

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/ ... clnk&gl=uk

https://archive.is/wip/W5mQj

Police Scotland is appealing for information after a taxi driver was the victim of an attempted robbery and assault in Dundee.

The 79-year-old male taxi driver picked up two men from the taxi rank in Lochee High Street at around 9.30 am on Tuesday, 6 June, 2023. He was driving a yellow Nissan Leaf car.

He was thereafter assaulted and attempts made to rob him of his moneybag.

The taxi driver was unhurt but extremely shocked by the incident.

Officers are keen to trace two men who got into the taxi. They then left on foot in an unknown direction empty-handed.

Police Constable Mark Reid of Downfield Police Station said: “We are appealing to anyone in the area who witnessed the incident or the two men fleeing the taxi to get in touch with us.

“I would ask motorists who were in the area at the time and have dash-cam to contact us; you may have captured something that can assist our investigation.

“Anyone with information should call Police Scotland on 101, quoting reference number 1117 of Tuesday, 6 June, 2023.”