A PERTH taxi driver has suffered three heart attacks after a terrifying incident in his car early on New Year’s Day.
Cabbie James Melville was driving a fare up Rannoch Road when the passenger suddenly reached forward and pulled on the handbrake, causing the vehicle to skid across the road in the treacherous icy conditions.
The car came to a halt with its front half on the opposite side of the carriageway.
As 23-year-old Michael Urquhart got out and attempted to leg it, Mr Melville, although extremely shaken, tried to take hold of him.
But callous Urquhart, of May Place, North Muirton, brutally head butted him in the face and made good his escape.
But he was later traced – and was jailed for seven months at Perth Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to culpable and reckless conduct. He also admitted viciously attacking Mr Melville on January 1, 2010.
The court was told that the taxi driver had gone to the procurator fiscal’s office to recount how his “life had changed” since the ordeal.
As well as suffering ill-health, he was still out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of pounds – and Urquhart had made no effort to reimburse him.
There was £522 damage done to his car, his spectacles would cost £58 to repair and an ear piece, over which he received taxi messages, would have to be replaced at a cost of around £60.
In addition, there was the unpaid taxi fare of £8.
Depute fiscal Katie Pacholek said that the taxi driver had picked up Urquhart and a female at the rank in Perth’s Murray Street at 8.10am on January 1.
He was asked to drive to Logie Crescent but when he got there he was told it was not the correct address. An argument then developed in the back of the car between the passengers.
“The accused instructed him to drive around the block – and he did so,” added the fiscal.
“He formed the impression they weren’t intending to pay for the taxi. In an effort to resolve the situation, he said he would take them to the police station.”
It was at that point that Urquhart yanked on the handbrake, the car skidded across the road and the assault took place.
Solicitor Paul Ralph said that the accused, who had been celebrating the New Year, had met the girl earlier and she had supplied the Logie Crescent address.
But when they got there, she said it was the wrong place and an argument broke out.
“Then it’s sheer nonsense regarding the handbrake,” he added. “The next thing, the taxi skidded.”
Noting that parts of the road must have been like a “skating rink” at that time of the year, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said background reports on the accused didn’t make particularly positive reading as far as community-based disposals were concerned.
“This is the third time you have been before this court on charges of assault. You were on bail and what was going through your mind to start this off – taking into account the conditions at the beginning of January – defeats me.
“You have got to get your act in gear or you are going to spend longer and longer in custody. It’s as simple as that.”
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