Jail for taxi driver who ran over traffic warden so hard he broke the windscreen
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A taxi driver who ploughed into a traffic warden who gave him a ticket has been jailed for six months.
Martin Sadler, 56, slammed into John Tamele-Ssali, catapulting the parking attendant onto the bonnet of his VW Passat in Shoreditch.
Mr Tamele-Ssali, 54, hit the windscreen with such force that it cracked, and he rolled on to the bonnet before falling to the ground when Sadler finally came to halt after 15 yards.
Witness Aaron Rudd, who was working on a nearby pub, heard Sadler say: "He deserves it, the c*** gave me a ticket." However, moments later Sadler was seen repeatedly banging his head on the steering wheel, crying: "What have I done?"
Mr Tamele-Ssali escaped serious injury but in a statement he said he continued to suffer flashbacks and nightmares.
Jailing Sadler for six months, Judge Tudor Owen said: "However irritating - justifiable or otherwise depending on the circumstances - motorists may find traffic wardens to be, they have a public duty to perform.
"It is always regrettable to send someone of your age to prison but what you did was so serious you leave me with no alternative."
Snaresbrook crown court heard yesterday how Mr Tamele-Ssali had put a £90 fixed penalty on Sadler's car in Haberdasher Street.
Sadler hurled abuse at Mr Tamele-Ssali and drove off but moments later mowed down the warden as he crossed nearby Bache's Street. Workman Mr Rudd described the cab as being driven "directly at the traffic warden".
Prosecutor David Radcliffe said: "The Passat hit the traffic warden, it took out his legs first. The traffic warden then hit the windscreen of the Passat."
Mr Rudd said the vehicle drove on for about 15 yards with Mr Tamele-Ssali on the bonnet before he was dumped on the road.
"Mr Rudd describes the driver of the Passat as being very angry," said the barrister. Francis O'Toole, defending, said Sadler was the sole carer for his 83-year-old mother with whom he lived and there was no one else to look after her. The barrister said Sadler had given up driving to take up the role of a radio controller in several cab offices since the October 2007 attack.
Judge Owen also disqualified Sadler from driving for 12 months and ordered him to sit an extended test to regain his licence.
Sadler, of Hackney, admitted dangerous driving and unlawful wounding on 29 October 2007.
Mr Tamele-Ssali said he had returned to work but was now nervous when issuing tickets for fear of being assaulted.
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