Taxi Driver Online

Policeman guilty of racial abuse

A SOUTH Yorkshire Police officer is facing a misconduct hearing after being found guilty of racially abusing a Sheffield taxi driver who refused to take him home after a night out. PC Paul Dawson, aged 28, was convicted by magistrates of using racially threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour following a trial.

He was fined £250 at Rotherham Magistrates' Court and ordered to pay £400 in costs. PC Dawson was charged by South Yorkshire Police after Sheffield taxi driver Abdul Rafiq filed an official complaint about his behaviour.

Mr Rafiq, aged 30, of Ecclesall, contacted the police to complain he had been racially abused when he stopped to pick up the officer and some pals from Carver Street in Sheffield city centre.

He claimed the PC, of Chaffinch Mews, Gateford, near Worksop, used offensive racist language when he refused to take him home without receiving a payment first.

Mr Rafiq said he asked the passengers to pay the £30 fare upfront before he would set off to drive the 20 miles to Worksop, but claimed they would not hand any money over and racially abused him. The taxi driver told The Star: "I was furious and did not want him to be able to get away with talking to me like that."

Mr Rafiq later discovered a mobile in his cab, which he identified as belonging to PC Dawson after finding a picture of the officer in his uniform stored on the handset. The PC later rang his missing telephone and left a voicemail message on it for the cab driver, which was examined by his bosses.

He denied the allegations when quizzed by police, but was charged after an investigation involving the professional standards department. PC Dawson has been suspended from work on full pay since the complaint was made in May last year.

A police spokeswoman said: "PC Dawson remains suspended from duty and will face a misconduct hearing in due course. The full range of disciplinary sanctions would be available at any hearing."

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IDFIMH

Is there many things better than when a piece of scum leaves his nice expensive mobile in the cab.

Like winning the pools.

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IDFIMH

It looks like his nice long holiday on full pay will soon be over

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!