Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver feared he would die as back-seat passenger grabbed him around the neck

A taxi driver was grabbed around the neck in an horrific attack by a back-seat passenger as he drove from a pub in the Scunthorpe area, a court heard.

Fortunately the driver was able to bring the taxi to a halt, but the passenger then punched him in the face as he left the car.

Adrian Downs, a 31-year-old engineer, admitted assaulting the driver after he had picked him up from The Reindeer pub in Sandtoft.

Prosecuting at Grimsby Crown Court, Ben Hammersley told how the driver could see a commotion from inside the pub when he arrived to pick up Downs at around midnight on April 9 last year. Downs got into the taxi and asked the driver to follow another vehicle.

Downs sat behind the driver. After travelling a short distance, during which the two men chatted, the passenger suddenly unbuckled his seatbelt and grabbed the taxi driver from behind. He put his arm around his neck.

"Fortunately [the driver] was able to pull over," Mr Hammersley said. "The defendant opened his door, before punching the driver in the face," told the prosecutor.

The car they were following pulled over and one of the people from the car in front got out. The taxi driver was able to drive away, said Mr Hammersley. He was later treated in hospital for a cut lip and suspected fracture of his cheek bone.

Downs was later arrested and said he had no recollection of the incident due to intoxication from alcohol.

For Downs, Craig Lowe said the incident was "impulsive, spontaneous and short-lived". He said his client was remorseful and ashamed of what he did and appalled by his behaviour.

His client was going through a relationship breakdown and was under financial pressures, Mr Lowe added. The defence barrister said Downs, from Wordsworth Avenue, Sheffield, had significantly reduced his alcohol consumption.

Sentencing Downs, Judge Michael Fanning said: "He [the taxi driver] had no idea what you were going to do. He thought you were going to kill him."

It was a "wholly unprovoked attack." on a taxi driver, driving alone at night and vulnerable, the judge added. It was "an horrific attack".

Judge Fanning sentenced Downs to nine months in prison suspended for 12 months and 120 hours of unpaid work. He also ordered £1,000 compensation to the taxi driver.

He said he had been minded to send Downs to prison immediately, but was aware of Sentencing Council guidelines to suspend sentences where possible due to overcrowded prisons.

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IDFIMH

good some proper compensation !


that said the description of the incident sounds like the other car was acting in conjunction with the criminal so maybe the driver getting away may have saved his life.

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector