100 PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY HERO OF THE YEAR
It’s been a busy year for heroes, in fact four whole pages of them; it must be a sign of the times, things are getting harder out there but it’s nice to see that our guys are responding, and responding well!!
There’s all the usual categories, tackling robbers, saving lives, delivering babies, fac- ing gun men, and coping with fire and if you noticed. There is very rarely, any help imme- diately to hand.
It’s always difficult picking winners, espe- cially in this category, but one does stick out for those of us who have had the wonderful experience of working nights in our indus- try; but going in order, as voted in this office, in third place, Darren Bennett, from Leices- ter, who escaped a vengeful bullet because the gun jammed Whew!! quite a close one.
In second place Charles Whitaker from York, who risked all to drag two elderly people from their blazing car, undoubtedly saving their lives. But in first place, in our humble opinion, has to come Derek Fletcher from Eastleigh, who having been strangled with a rope within an inch of his life and then, hav- ing petrol poured in his lap and having been set on fire, causing weeks in hospital and permanent scarring, returned to work in June just one year after his attack. That folks is bravery!!!
APRIL
PORTSMOUTH PHV DRIVER GIVES CHASE AS THIEF THREATENS HIM
A champagne thief threatened security guards and a taxi driver with a syringe as she tried to make her get- away from a high street shop.
The 22-year-old woman tried to steal two bottles of champagne from a Marks & Spencer store in Portsmouth but she was spotted on CCTV. She pulled out the syringe when two securi- ty guards confronted her in the Commercial Road store before running off with the guards giving chase.
She jumped into a taxi and held the syringe to the terrified driver’s throat shouting at him to drive.
But driver John Bradford refused and chased her after she jumped out of his eight-seater private hire vehicle. The 40-year-old caught the shoplifter and restrained her until the police arrived and arrest- ed her at the northern end of Commercial
Road at about 5.40pm on a recent Thursday. Mr Bradford, of Hender- son Road, Eastney, said it was the most extreme threat he has faced in 20 years of work. He told the Portsmouth News: “It was terrifying, one minute I was sitting there in traffic on the way to a pick-up, the next she was screaming at me to drive.
“I knew something was up because of her man- ner, but I wouldn’t have been able to drive away anyway because we only take bookings.” So instead Mr Bradford, who runs Premier Travel, locked the doors of his Mercedes van and wait- ed for the guard to arrive.
The woman then jumped up behind his seat and pressed
something
sharp into his throat while shouting at him to drive.
He said: “Part of me was really angry, so I said I had a huge knife and was going to get her.
Of course I didn’t, but it seemed to make her think and she let go.” Mr Bradford unlocked the doors and the woman ran out with Mr Bradford giving chase. As the police arrived wit- nesses at the scene saw Mr Bradford the woman.
restrain
“I held her until the police took over and that’s when I saw her drop the syringe," he said.
“It certainly shook me up, I have been working in Portsmouth for ten years and as a driver for 20 and I have never seen anyone do something like this.
“It has left me very angry and I’m just pleased the police were able to get hold of her.” The 22-year-old woman from Fratton was arrest- ed for shoplifting, a public order offence, possession of an offen- sive weapon and for going equipped.
leaped out of his cab to grapple with an armed robber who threatened a woman with a gun. The driver had just dropped off the woman outside a post office when the gunman pulled up on a motorbike. The robber threatened the 36-year-old woman
JANUARY 160-MILE TRIPS LEAD TO PARENT OF THE YEAR AWARD
A taxi driver, who became full-time carer to his baby son when his partner was danger- ously ill, has been voted Parent of the Year.
Ian Messinger, of Pine Ridge in Southfields, Northampton, was awarded the title by Practical Parenting magazine.
Its judges heard how he quit his job to look after three-month-old Jack when his partner, Lucy Fairweather, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer two years ago.
Doctors told the couple that Lucy, now 24, had choriocarcinoma, a condition caused by the pregnancy. Tests showed the new mother had around 20 golf ball-sized tumours in her lungs and the cancer was beginning
to spread to her brain. She was admitted to London’s Charing Cross Hospital, where she spent six weeks having chemotherapy. That left Ian needing to step into the parenting breach.
The first-time father, 37, who did the 160-mile round trip with his son to visit Lucy every other day throughout her treatment, said it had been a tough but rewarding time.
He told the Northamp- ton Chronicle and Echo: "Looking after Jack was really hard work, but we got through it.
"I have a very good rela- tionship with Jack and he said daddy a long time before he said mummy. Now I am back to work, it feels strange not to be with him. "Lucy didn’t tell me she
JANUARY 2009
Photograph courtesy of the Northampton Chronicle and Echo.
had entered me for the competition, so I was shocked when I found out I had won, but very pleased too."
The devoted dad was nominated for the award after Lucy, who is on the road to recovery, contacted the magazine with their story.
The couple attended an awards ceremony in
JANUARY
HAVE-A-GO HERO TACKLES ROBBER A brave taxi driver
with a handgun and demanded she hand over her bag of cash, which was being taken to the post office. The driver, who has not been named by police, then climbed out of his cab and confronted the robber.
Witnesses told the Leicester Mercury how
AUGUST
HERO LIVERPOOL CABBIE IN PUB ARSON RESCUE
A hero cabbie saved three people from a pub fire - two months after the landlady spoke of repeat arson attacks.
The mystery taxi driver kicked in the door of the Knotty Ash Hotel in East Prescot Road after spotting the blaze at 4.30am on Friday 11 July.
He hammered on the door, but when he was unable to rouse the staff he burst in and led them to safety.
Arsonists had torched a pavilion next to the pub and flames were min-
utes from spreading to the building. Smoke had already started to seep into the bedrooms where staff slept. The fire service has said the occupants were lucky to get out. In May the Liverpool Echo reported how the pub was on the brink of collapse after 12 months of attacks by gangs of yobs.
The pub was petrol- bombed after arsonists used a ladder to reach the large function room on the upper floor and hurled a flaming missile inside.
Over the past year, thugs have also smashed windows every week, poured petrol down the outside generator to try to cause an explosion, ripped down a newly- built smoking shelter, shot at each other In the pub car park and threatened to kill the landlady and her part- ner after they tried to remove an unruly gang of lads.
Anyone with informa- tion should call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
the two grappled and fought on the ground before the robber hit the taxi driver over the head with his gun, snatched up the bag of cash, and rode off on his motorbike minus a shoe that he lost in the struggle.
The taxi driver was taken to hospital for treatment for minor injuries.
London, where Ian was presented with a certifi- cate and vouchers worth £500.
Lucy said: "I think it is nice for a father to get a bit of recognition and his family are really proud of him too. "I don’t think I would have been able to cope with it all without him. He was just so good."
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