Taxi Driver Online

The Star (Sheffield)

September 20, 2006

HEADLINE: Cabbies demand action on yobs

UNDER-siege Sheffield taxi drivers today called for an urgent meeting with police after a new spate of attacks.

A group of racist thugs punched and tried to throttle an Asian driver, another cabbie suffered racist abuse and had a window smashed and a third had his front windscreen shattered with a brick.

The incidents come after stone-throwing yobs turned the Wybourn estate into a no-go area for black cabs and private hire vehicles. Mohammed Amin told The Star he feared he was going to die when four passengers assaulted him after he overheard them plotting to rob him.

The Tinsley black cabbie had picked the three men and a woman up in South Road, Walkley, at about 3.15am, and was driving them to Stannington, when they began racially abusing him. He overheard them plotting to mug him so turned round and headed back into the city centre - but as he drove down Broad Lane one of the yobs broke the screen separating the passenger area from the driver.

Mr Amin said: "When I was driving back towards the centre they were threatening to kill me and were banging and swearing. When they broke the central panel they then tried to strangle me, then they thumped me. "I couldn't see and tried to stop the vehicle but crashed into a wall. I was in fear of my life."

Mr Amin today vowed not to be beaten by the thugs and pledged to be back on the road once his vehicle has been repaired. But he added: "Something should be done to protect taxi drivers. There should be a dedicated police team working with us, and the council should invest in better security, such as providing us with CCTV cameras."

Fellow black taxi driver Tahir Khan has spent three days off the road while a new wind- screen was fitted to his taxi after it was shattered by a brick. He said: "I was taking four men from the city centre to Mosborough when a group of youths threw a brick as we passed the entrance to the cemetery on City Road.

"It was lucky it hit the windscreen which is made of strong glass because if I had been passing a split second later the brick would have struck a side window and probably gone through it. Someone inside could have been killed." Mr Khan turned his car round to look for the yobs, aged 15 or 16 and wearing hooded tops , when one of the gang walked past.

He said: "I couldn't believe it - he had gone to look how much damage they had caused. The passengers jumped out and gave chase, but he jumped over the wall into the cemetery."

Hafeas Rehman, head of Sheffield Taxi Trade Association, said the third attack happened on Ecclesall Road. Passengers involved in a dispute over the route racially abused the Asian driver and smashed a window. Mr Rehman said: "We need a meeting with the police to discuss the problems. The number of attacks has increased. Many go unreported because you can be waiting up to 20 minutes on the phone to the police, so drivers give up."

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