Taxi Driver Online

26 January 2008

Jailed Chef Claims Assault Victim Faked Injury

An out of work chef who claimed a taxi driver took a football-style dive
and made up an assault allegation, has been jailed.

District Judge Tim Gascoyne heard Ben Walster punched County Cars
driver Anwar Tumi inside his taxi.

The incident took place in Lincoln on June 10 last year after a dispute over
a fare.

But giving evidence, Walster said he had no physical contact with the
driver and that Mr Anwar had faked a facial injury, holding his face and
complaining to the police he had been punched.

The court heard the pair had argued over a fare from Christopher's pub in
Newland, Lincoln, to Hermit Street - five minutes away.

During the journey Mr Tumi said that as the trip was after midnight, it
would cost £6.

The judge heard Walster was aggressive and swore as he refused to
accept this, offering to pay £3.

Mr Anwar said Walster had punched him inside the taxi.

Mr Walster (22), a former head chef at the Royal William in Brayford
Wharf, Lincoln, agreed that a dispute had taken place, but denied the
racial slur and hitting Mr Anwar.

District Judge Tim Gascoyne jailed Walster, of Hermit Street, Lincoln, for
90 days for assault by beating and 10 days for two breaches of a
community order, to run consecutively.

Source: Lincolnshire Echo

The rate 2 fare for the same journey in a Hackney Carriage in Lincoln would be £4 not £6. So, did the driver overcharge? The distance involved is about half a mile. Why do I feel there may well have been a misscarriage of justice?

_________________
Former taxi driver

I was wondering if the job had been pre booked? If it wasn't then the passenger had no need to pay the fare. However he was sent to prison for the assault and not for non payment. The passenger may well be right and he thought he was the victim of the crime of overcharging it will be interesting to read if this private hire firm have a different tariff after midnight?

Regards

JD

_________________
Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

If you get down that way in the next few days Jimbo do us a favour and clock the fare and mileage from the pub to Hermit street.

It appears the private hire firm in question doesn't have a set fare tarrif and it charges what it wants.

Regards

JD

_________________
Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

Having got to the bottom of this incident, it appears that the passenger did phone for the private hire vehicle but he thought that being told the fare would be six pounds halfway through the journey and before he had reached his destination, was a rip off. The police said when they arrived that the driver had red markings on his face which would no doubt go some way in substantiating the accusation that the driver had been punched.

The judge believed the private hire drivers story over the passenger.

The rest is history but at least we shed some more light on the incident.

Regards

JD

_________________
Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

The distance from Christophers to Hermit Street is 6/10ths of one mile.

I just clocked it at rate two at £4:00

Another PH Company just quoted £4:70

The driver almost certainly overcharged.

All PH tariffs MUST be registered at city hall.

If he lied about the fare, why should his evidence be given any credence?

_________________
Former taxi driver

He should simply have refused to pay the fare and let the driver justify the price if he called the police. It's hardly an excuse for violence.

It doesn't seem like Mr Walster's first brush with the law either, does it?



I wonder what those were about?

There seem to be a few unanswered questions here.

Do we know if he stopped off on the way home - kebab/cashpoint or whatever?
Were there witnesses to the incident?
What was the defendant's behavior like when the police turned up?

There may be more to this than we have so far heard.

_________________

http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Well that's the way I looked at it but the passenger didn't help his cause by trying to run away. Which is not mentioned in the article. At the end of the day it came down to who the district judge and magistrates believed. The passenger had been drinking and I suppose that doesn't help matters either.

Regards

JD

_________________
Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

He was in breach of one or two orders. Probably in respect of behaving himself.



As far as i was informed he never stopped on the way home.



None



As I understand it the police woman tried to help him in court but he ended up calling her a liar, I suppose that didn't go down too well?

Anyway I'm satisfied that we probably all know what might have happened and that is the passenger had had a drink, he didn't like paying six pounds for a journey that normally costs him a lot less and there is every possibility that he may have punched the driver.

At the end of the day it was a case of who the bench believed.

Regards

JD

_________________
Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

It doesn't sound like he did himself any favours.

_________________

http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Sorry to interject, but which part of which act says that?

_________________
IDFIMH

it is standard practise with most councils in Lincolnshire ours also requires that all tables of fares are preregistered with the council both hackney and PH

Unless a meter is fitted in a private hire vehicle there is no requirement in law for the fares of any private hire company to be registered.

Regards

JD

_________________
Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

I spoke to a member of the Licencing section today, and was told that it is a condition of licence for all PH operators to lodge a fare table with them. That is what I was told. I could not give a flying fridge whether or not it is in any act or not. That is what the Council require.

_________________
Former taxi driver

Your prejudice is showing through amply here jimbo - you show contempt for the law here, yet when you deem a driver to be overcharging by a pound or so then you think that's sufficient to call into question his evidence re an assault.

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