Terror in the back of a cab
A TAXI driver who was beaten up by four passengers in a frenzied, premeditated attack has vowed never to work as a cabbie again.
Mr Miah, who refused to tell us his full name for fear of retribution, had the glass panel of his cab smashed and was punched repeatedly in the back of the head after he picked up customers in Worcester on Saturday. The cabbie, who lives in the Arboretum, Worcester, spent Sunday in hospital following the attack, which happened after he was lured into the quiet cul-de-sac in the Spring Lane Industrial Estate in Malvern Link.
He said. "They just went for me. They were like animals. I was so scared. I do not want any other taxi driver to ever have to go through what I did."
Mr Miah, a father of two, has driven a black cab for three years but has vowed never to sit behind the wheel of a taxi again.
Just before midnight he picked up two men from Worcester city centre who wanted to go to Great Malvern but when they got to Link Top, Malvern, they told him to stop.
He said: "Suddenly the doors opened and two more got in. They told me to take them to the snooker club down the Spring Lane Industrial Estate. When we got there everything was shut. It was dark. There was nobody around.
advertisement"When we got to the end of this cul-de-sac they just started kicking and punching the protection screen. I was so frightened. I had no idea what was going on."
With only the thin protective screen separating Mr Miah from the four men, he decided to drive to the main road to attract attention.
"All I could think was I needed to get to the main road where people could see me. But then the glass broke and they started to punch me on the back on the head. I knew I couldn't carry on driving."
Mr Miah reached the Worcester Road and a passing taxi driver was able to intervene.
The police were called but the four men, all believed to be in their early 20s, ran down Duke of Edinburgh Way and escaped.
Mr Miah said it was going to cost him £500 to get the car repaired.
ATTACKS ARE INCREASING
Anne Murphy, secretary of the Worcester Taxi Drivers' Association, said the attack was symptomatic of an alarming increase in the number of attacks on cabbies in recent years.
Miss Murphy knows drivers who have been beaten up, stabbed, spat at and racially abused.
She said: "I think it's so sad. No one should be assaulted when they're doing a job. A driver should not be subjected to this kind of violence.
"It is just a minority who behave in this awful way.
"I hardly do more than a couple of hours without being subjected to abuse.
"In Worcester racist comments are frequently made and sexist comments - at least 80 per cent of the people who get in my car feel it necessary to comment on the fact that I'm a woman."
March 07