Judge calls for better protection for taxi drivers
A senior judge has warned it is vital taxi drivers are guarded at night, as pressure grows to increase the protection available to cabbies.
Detaining two defendants for a violent unprovoked attack on a taxi driver in Northampton, Judge Thomas Corrie said it was imperative employees of private hire firms were protected.
The calls come in the wake of two assaults this week in Northampton involving a gang of three girls who held terrified drivers at knifepoints, causing one of them serious slash wounds to his throat and hands as he struggled to break free.
Judge Corrie spoke out at a case which saw two Moulton College students unable to return for the start of the academic year after taking part in a drunken attack upon a taxi driver.
Haydyn Darlow and William Miller, both aged 18, had spent the evening out drinking heavily in Northampton town centre when they called for a taxi.
Michael Waterfield, prosecuting, said the taxi driver arrived to collect their group from St John's Avenue at 3.20am on February 13.
He said: "When he got there he found five people waiting for him and there was only room for four people in the taxi. He offered to call them another taxi but as he reached for his phone and put it to his ear, Darlow grabbed his hand."
The court heard the driver then went to activate the panic button alarm system but Darlow grabbed it and told him to drive. It was then that one of the gang, three of whom have never been identified, struck him in the face with a beer can. The driver got out and ran off, pursued by the five passengers, but he was cornered and repeatedly punched in the face and kicked.
When interviewed, Miller told officers he had drunk half a bottle of cheap brandy and had no recollection of what had happened while Darlow, who had a previous conviction for assault with intent to rob, said he had drunk 10 pints of Guinness and some shots.
Darlow, of Whiston Road, Kingsthorpe pleaded guilty last month to assault and actual bodily harm and was sentenced to 10 months detention.
Miller, of Dorset Road, Kingsthorpe, was sentenced to nine months at a young offenders' institution.
Judge Corrie said that although there was powerful mitigation for both defendants, it was outweighed by the public interest.
He said: "It is perfectly obvious that it is in the public interest that taxi drivers at night are protected and not attacked which is a seriously aggravating feature as is the excessive drink."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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