Maybe he should get a start along the road in Darlington - it's only 14 miles away, and it's all sweetness and light across there
Funnily enough, absolutely no mention of police here. Which is maybe why he felt the need to police it himself
Taxi driver grabbed youth in Thornaby after shortened golf club hurled at cabhttps://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... n-33656614The motorist said he regretted the incident, which was 'not one of his greatest moments', and Stockton Council lifted a suspension on his taxi licenceA cabbie who grabbed a youth in Thornaby town centre after having a shortened golf club hurled at his car has had his taxi licence restored. The motorist, a family man with no convictions, used a taxi rank which had been plagued for months with anti-social behaviour before youths threw the shortened golf club, damaging his car. He put the club in his taxi.
He saw the youths he believed were responsible almost an hour later. He got out of his taxi and "got hold of one of the youths by the arm", say minutes of a meeting of Stockton Council's general licensing committee.
Councillors heard that he "held on to the youth for over a minute". The unnamed driver "agreed that with hindsight this was not one of his greatest moments and was regretful", the committee was told.
His representative David Wilson said the driver did this as he thought a nearby supermarket security guard would help him apprehend the youths. He went back to his car and appeared to use his phone to record the youths, who then pushed a shopping trolley at him twice.
He was seen chasing one of the children and lifting his arms in the air, the committee was told. He retrieved the shortened golf club from the boot and walked back towards the youths in the town centre, then went in and out of an Asda store still carrying the club.
'Youths seen throwing objects'The licensing committee was shown CCTV footage. "The youths were seen on the footage throwing objects at (the) combined hackney carriage and private hire driver," say the meeting minutes.
The taxi driver said the same group of youths had thrown big stones at his car about two months earlier, which he reported to the security centre and was confirmed on the council's systems. The committee heard how a number of anti-social behaviour incidents had been reported around Thornaby town centre and the taxi rank in the previous few months, and a former councillor gave a history of related issues in the town centre.
The driver's hackney carriage and private hire licence was suspended following the incident. The committee members, who saw written warnings previously given to the driver, found him to be "a fit and proper person to hold a licence".
They agreed to lift his suspension and reinstate his licence as a hackney carriage and private hire driver, with "a strong warning as to his future conduct".