Still none the wiser as regards what this was all about, and who precisely was involved. But I'm still guessing that at 6am it wasn't aggressive drunks up for a ruck on their way home after a night on the beer.
But looking at the size of the office (aka 'rank'), no surprise that the whole thing ended up outside
Three men in dock after early morning Darwen taxi rank brawlhttps://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/n ... ank-brawl/
Image: Google/Lancashire TelegraphAn early morning brawl outside of a taxi rank saw a worker, who brandished a weapon himself, left with a fractured skull.
Following the incident on December 27, 2021, outside Rapid and Chippys Taxis in Darwen, taxi drivers held a strike on New Year’s Eve.
Stephen Parker, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said Lewis Goulden, 22, Jamshed Ahmed, 23, and Rizwan Munir, 36, were each heavily involved in the brawl on Railway Road.
The fight broke out at about 6am at the taxi rank in Railway Road, with an altercation beginning inside before a 10-minute brawl in the street.
Mr Parker said: “The whole thing started when staff came out into the street after an altercation in the taxi office.
“Goulden retaliated, hitting Ahmed in the head.
“Ahmed brandished a brush and was swinging it at people.
“Munir came out brandishing a wooden stick or pole – it’s understood he was working at the taxi office as the operations manager.”
During the brawl, Goulden threw a brick at Ahmed, who was working at the rank, which left him with a fractured skull.
Ahmed was also attacking people with his wooden brush, and Munir came out brandishing another wooden weapon.
A woman trying to break it up managed to get a weapon off one of the men, and a man who was also trying to break it up was hit twice in the legs by Ahmed.
The fight calmed down shortly after and Goulden walked away before being followed by Ahmed and Munir. It was at that point police arrived.
Judge Darren Preston said each of the men were just as much to blame as each other for their involvement in the fight, but accepted Goulden played a more significant role due to the injury sustained by Ahmed.
Mitigating for Goulden, of Bonsall Street, Blackburn, Niamh Ingham, said her client was of previous good character and he is very remorseful about his actions.
She added he was not the first to brandish a weapon and he has not been in any trouble since the fight.
Mitigating for Munir, of Richmond Terrace, Darwen, Saleema Mahmood said her client was going to ‘protect Ahmed’ who is his nephew.
She added he only used the weapon ‘two or three times’, but accepted he was brandishing it even when not using it.
Mitigating for Ahmed, also of Richmond Terrace, Darwen, Clare Thomas said he suffered a fractured skull as a result of Goulden throwing a brick at him and was the only person to suffer a significant injury as a result of the affray.
Ms Thomas added Ahmed was also of previous good character and he was unable to go back to work at the family business for six months after the incident.
Judge Darren Preston called the fight an ‘extremely ugly incidence of violence’.
While sentencing the men, he said: “A large group used violence against one another for nearly 10 minutes with multiple items being used as weapons on both sides.
“This was a disgraceful incident which you all participated in enthusiastically.
“It matters very little who started this incident.”
Goulden received a 13-month sentence, suspended for 12 months. He must complete 140 hours of unpaid work and is subject to a curfew from 9pm until 6am for three months.
Ahmed was handed a nine-month sentence, suspended for 12 months. He must complete 100 hours of unpaid work.
Munir was handed a seven-month sentence, suspended for 12 months. He must also complete 100 hours of unpaid work.
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ostracised Does that have anything to do with Bums and big Feathers 
