UNSUNG HEROES DUNDEE CABBIE’S ALERT SAVES BUILDING
A passing taxi driver alerted emergency services to a fire at a former Dundee snook- er hall in the early hours of 30 June after noticing smoke which was pouring out from one of the windows.
A taxi driver was awarded £50 from the public purse because he contacted the police when he saw a half-naked man waving a meat cleaver around. According to the Nor- wich Evening News, Mashud Chowdhury was on Drayton High Road, Norwich, when
According to the Dundee Evening Tele- graph the fire, which started shortly after midnight, is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault and police are not treating it as suspicious.
he sported a drunken Michael Hunt 24, in the early hours of March 7 this year, waving the weapon. The armed response unit dealt with the situation, Nor- wich Crown Court was told last month.
Mr Justice Saunders commended Mr Chowdhury, saying: “He
The derelict property escaped with only minor smoke damage, but a worker on the site said it would have been much worse had it not been for the quick actions of the taxi driver.
NORWICH CABBIE RECEIVES AWARD
acted in an extremely responsible way.” He said of Hunt: “It was a fearsome weapon and you were not prop- erly in charge of it.” Hunt, of Peterson Road, Norwich, admit- ted possessing the weapon and was sen- tenced to six months in prison.
BARROW CABBIE’S KIND DEED
A kind-hearted cabbie was issued with a parking ticket as he helped a frail old woman inside a chemist’s shop.
Hackney carriage driv- er Tony Bond dropped off an 88-year-old pas- senger on Dalton Road in Barrow last month. But when she got out of his car, the chemist was shut so Mr Bond offered to walk her to another one.
Mr Bond told the North West Evening Mail: “She was on two walk- ing sticks and I couldn’t let her go on her own, so I walked with her and took her inside.” But when Mr Bond
returned, he had been issued a parking ticket. He said: “When I got back there was a ticket on my windscreen. A woman from a shop nearby saw the war- den and she’d said to him that I’d gone to help the old woman but he just carried on.” But bosses at Barrow BC refused to rescind the ticket. Caren Hin- dle, head of parking services at the council, said: “I have spoken to the officer who issued the ticket, who has confirmed that nobody had still returned when he left the vehicle which was at least 12 minutes after he
arrived at the taxi bay and the vehicle was already parked with no driver present.”
Gary Ormondroyd, chief environmental health officer at Barrow BC, said:“Taxi ranks can only be used for taxis waiting to pick up customers; that means they have to have a driver with them.” Mr Bond, of Walney, who is a full-time sin- gle parent as well as a taxi driver, said he would reluctantly pay the penalty.
He said: “The lady has even offered to pay for the ticket herself but I said there’s no way I could take her money.”
GLASGOW AIRPORT HEROES LOSE HOPE
Heroes of the Glas- gow Airport terror attack have con- fessed they have all but “given up hope” of a medal to recog- nise their bravery. Alex Mcllveen, Michael Kerr and Stephen Clarkson helped to foil two would-be suicide bombers in June 2007, but they now fear they have been snubbed for a second time by the UK Government. John Smeaton, from Erskine, Renfrew- shire, was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal in the New
A cab driver foiled a plot to fleece a dis- abled gran of hundreds of pounds. Three gardeners demanded that frail Maud Miskimmin, 82, cough up almost £400 cash after they pruned one of her trees. When she said she didn’t have the cash at home they bullied her into catching a taxi to the Post Office to get the money. Fearful they would turn violent if she didn’t do what they said, Maud called her regular cab firm to pick her up. But when she explained why she needed to go to the Post Office, quick thinking driver Philip Sharpe vowed she wouldn’t have to part
Year’s list of 2008, but the other three men were overlooked. In January, following the conviction of the surviving terrorist, the Cabinet Office launched a review to look at possible gal- lantry awards for the trio.
But Mr Mcllveen, 46, told the Scottish Sun- day Express: “They said they would make a decision in May for the Birthday Honours - but they have come and gone. “We just take it for granted that they have
by-passed us. We’ve given up on it. If we were going to get an honour we would have got one by now. I think the committee who deal with it don’t think we deserve any- thing. They have shut their eyes on us.” The taxi driver, from Glasgow, added: “We have one final chance at New Year, but then that really will be it.” Officials at the Cabi- net Office have insisted a review of all the evidence sur- rounding the court case is still ongoing.
LIVERPOOL CABBIE TO RESCUE OVER BILL with a penny.
Maud, of Allerton, told the Liverpool Echo: “He was marvellous. I was telling him why I was going to the Post Office and how much - he said ‘my God, you’re not paying that much’.” Mr Sharpe called the police while Maud was getting the money out, then drove her home. Mr Sharpe, who drives for Garston Village Taxis, got out of his cab and confronted the con artists.
He said the police were on their way and demanded to see their tree surgeon creden- tials - if they had any. Mr Sharpe, 38, said: “I was furious they were trying to take advan- tage of a little old lady,
who’s a widow and dis- abled. I was just in the right place at the right time to help her out.” As soon as the police arrived they backed down and left with just over £100, which Maud had already given them.
The gang initially quot- ed Maud £168 to trim the apple tree. But they offered to do other gardening with- out telling her how much it would cost. After just two hours’ work the ring leader demanded £386 and refused to accept any- thing but cash.
Maud said: “I just thought if I don’t give him that money he’s going to beat me up. I was crying.”
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PHTM AUGUST 2009
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