Taxi Driver Online

By the standards of these things, nothing particularly noteworthy here except the fact stated in my thread title about the lack of facts


Taxi driver's terrifying ordeal after picking up gang of lads near Piccadilly station

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... k-28630450

'My leg was shaking... I didn't know what to do'


Connor Fearnley, left, and Aiden Taylor (Image: GMP/MEN)

A taxi driver was robbed at knifepoint by a group of masked teenagers during a terrifying early hours attack. He picked up Aiden Taylor, Connor Fearnley and two youths near Piccadilly station.

They asked him to drive to a cash machine, before putting balaclavas on and ordering him out of the car. One pulled a kitchen knife from his bag and waved it at the driver before demanding his keys, Manchester Crown Court.

They stole the car, before leading cops on a high-speed chase. They were arrested after crashing.

In a separate incident months later, Taylor, 18, and Warren Mandarin, also 18, robbed a man of his e-scooter at knifepoint as he made his way home from work. All five - including two youths who cannot be named for legal reasons - have faced justice.

The court heard that around 2am on July 7 last year, a taxi driver picked up Taylor, Fearnley, 20, and the two youths, who were under 18.

They said they didn't have enough cash for the trip, so they went to the Shell petrol station on Oldham Road. Taylor got out of the front passenger seat and walked to the driver's side of the car.

The others, who were wearing balaclavas, got out of the vehicle. One of the youths pulled out a large kitchen knife from his rucksack and pointed it towards the driver.

"You told him to get out of the car and give you the key," Judge Timothy Smith said. "You then got into the car and drove off."

Taylor drove the taxi, despite being 'highly intoxicated'. A police chase ended when the car crashed on Culceth Lane.

"In that moment I felt very scared," the driver said in a statement. "My leg was shaking, I didn't know what to do. I felt like I just needed to save my life. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before."

At around 6.30pm on October 12, a man was riding home from work on an e-scooter. Taylor and Mandarin set upon him and grabbed the scooter. A blade - described by a witness as a 'large machete' - was then pulled out.

When Mandarin was later arrested, police found the knife in his bedroom. "The incident has frightened me," the victim said in a statement. "I do not feel safe in the area where I live. I'm scared to go out and I'm scared to travel to and from work."

Taylor, of no fixed address, was said to have had an 'unsettled childhood' and had seen two of his friends 'stabbed and killed'. He was locked up in a young offender institution for three years.

Fearnley, of Morrowfield Avenue, Cheetham Hill, was said to have acted 'out of character'. He was locked up in a young offender institution for three years and five months.

Mandarin, of Barn Walk, Openshaw, said he had fallen in with the 'wrong crowd'. He was locked up in a young offender institution for two years and two months.

The youths were made the subjects of two-year rehabilitation orders, with unpaid work requirements.

Judge Smith told the gang: "The carrying and use of knives is regrettably only too common. There is a risk of danger to others, of causing serious and fatal injuries."