TERROR TIMES
WIGAN PH DRIVER BATTERED IN UNPROVOKED ATTACK NOW FEARS RETURNING TO WORK
An elderley Wigan private hire driver battered in an unprovoked attack just moments after picking up a passenger now fears going back to work. Wigan Today reports that Paul Mallon has not been able to return to work since the violent assault in December and admits he feels “apprehensive” about getting behind the wheel. The grandfather works for Bluestar Taxis, he collected the man from the firm’s office on Wallgate at around 6.15am on Sunday, 5th December. He drove onto the front of Wigan North Western railway station to turn the PHV around when the man sitting behind
him suddenly hit the back of his head. Mr Mallon who is in his 70s and has worked as a private hire driver for 40 years, said: “There was no argument, no confrontation, nothing. I was just turn- ing around and the next thing I felt something hit the back of my head. “I put the brakes on right away and he got out of the back of the cab.” Mr Mallon also got out of the car to find out what was happening and the man assaulted him, before running away. He was knocked to the ground and broke his collarbone, burst his nose, and suffered a black eye and bruising to his neck and chest.
He managed to drive home to Hawkley Hall to his shocked wife Sandra. Mr Mallon spent several hours at Wigan Infirmary’s A&E department and was referred to a fracture clinic at Wright- ington Hospital, where his broken collarbone was confirmed. He has been recovering at home but he does hope to eventually return to work. The attack was reported to the police on the day it happened, but Mrs Mallon says it took eight days for an officer to get back to them. It was captured on CCTV cameras in the town centre, though they have been told the footage is of poor quality.
WOMAN ASSAULTED AND RACIALLY ABUSED TAXI DRIVER ON DRUNKEN NIGHT OUT IN INVERNESS
A woman has admitted racially abusing and assaulting a taxi driver on a drunk- en night out in Inverness. The Press and Journal reports that Jes- sica Crawford and another woman climbed into the man’s vehicle as he waited at a taxi rank, but the pair began to argue. When the driver tried to talk to them she told him to “shut up” before using the N-word towards him. Then, when he threw her out of his cab, Crawford, 31, launched herself at the man, swinging her arms and striking his face. At Inverness Sheriff Court, Crawford entered guilty pleas to one charge of assault and a second of acting in a racially aggravated manner which caused or was intended to cause alarm or distress. Fiscal depute Sharon Ralph told the court that the incident happened at around 11.30pm on December 22 last year.
She said: “The witness was within his taxi in the taxi rank on Academy Street.
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He was approached by two females, one being the accused who was highly intoxicated.” The court heard that the pair then started arguing, and when the driver attempted to intervene to ascertain where he was to take them Crawford told him to “shut up” before using the racial slur towards him. “The taxi driver told her to get out of the taxi but she refused and continued shouting and swearing,” Mrs Ralph said. Crawford did eventually exit the vehicle but turned again on the taxi driver. “She launched herself towards him
swinging her arms and struck him on the face,” Mrs Ralph said, adding that the man did not suffer any injury as a result. The court heard that police were called and Crawford was apprehended in nearby Bar One. She was taken to the police station where she made no reply to a caution and charge. Sheriff Margaret Neilson called for a criminal justice social work report and deferred sentence to next month grant- ing Crawford, of Burnside, Alness, bail on the standard conditions.
CABBIE SUFFERS ‘LIFE-CHANGING INJURY’ AFTER ASSAULT IN CARDIFF
A taxi driver suffered a terrible injury during an assault in Cardiff. WalesOn- line reports that police were alerted to an assault involving a taxi driver in the early hours of Sunday, December 19, 2021 in Adamsdown.
The 58-year-old driver suffered a “life- changing head injury” following the incident. A 33-year-old man has been charged in connection with the assault and is remanded in custody pending trial.
FEBRUARY 2022
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