JANUARY 2009


PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY HERO OF THE YEAR JUNE


BRAVE SOUTHAMPTON CABBIE BACK AT WORK


Brave cabbie Derek Fletcher is back at work a year after he was throttled and set on fire behind the wheel of his taxi - but his attacker is still at large.


The 53 year old was never expected to return to his job due to the physical injuries and the mental trauma he suffered following the brutal attack on him a year ago.


But Mr Fletcher, from Sholing in Southamp- ton, has made a good recovery and is back working for Eastleigh based Happy Cabs. In the early hours of May 21 last year a passenger used a piece of rope to attempt to strangle Mr Fletcher after he picked him up near Eastleigh town cen- tre.


The taxi driver passed out and when he came


round he


discovered that his trousers had been set


alight during the


vicious attack near Eastleigh Football Club in Stoneham Lane.


The cabbie suffered severe burns to the lower left side of his body and was treated for several weeks at the specialist burns unit at Salisbury Dis- trict Hospital.


Mr Fletcher believed the attack was pre- meditated. He told the Southern Daily Echo: "He was very, very determined to do me because he was pulling on the rope. He definitely needs to


be caught


because he is obvi- ously desperate and I am sure he will do it again."


The shocking attack, which left Mr Fletcher with permanent scar- ring, was the subject of a BBC Crimewatch reconstruction last August.


Millions of viewers tuned in to watch the


JUNE


HALIFAX CABBIE SAVES MAN IN NOOSE HORROR


A Halifax cabbie saved a man’s life after find- ing him hanging in a bus shelter from a noose made of bed- sheets.


Sajjad Majid, 43, told the Halifax Evening Courier: "I was coming back from one of my last jobs when I saw him dangling there." The father-of-five, from Queen’s Road, Halifax,


leapt from


his car and shoul- dered the weight of the 24-year-old hanging man.


He said: "He was a big lad. His neck was stretched, his eyes white


and his


tongue was lolling out. It was horrific. He looked like a corpse.


"He was very pale and looked like a ghost, lit up in the yellow street lights. I was very scared."


Sajjad, who works for A Star Taxis, added: "The road was com- pletely deserted and I knew I had to do something. Adrenalin just kicked in.


"I grabbed his waist and lifted him up. He was bigger than me, about six foot and his body was very heavy. "I held him for about five minutes before I started screaming for help at the top of my voice. I was worried I couldn’t hold him anv more and my arms and legs were like jelly."


Sajjad managed to dig a tool kit from his pocket and cut the man down.


Then he cradled him until police and the ambulance arrived at the scene in Riley Lane, Illingworth. During his seven years as a cabbie, Saj-


jad has fought off a knife attacker, saved another driver from being robbed and driven a blood-soaked man with a shattered arm to hospital. But he denies he is a hero. "I’m just a normal fam- ily man," he said. "I just do what I feel is right and never want to leave another human being behind me if they are in trou- ble."


After the man he res- cued was taken to hospital - and several hours of police inter- views - Sajjad finally made it home to his wife at 4.30am.


"I just told her I didn’t make any money that night," he said.


The man he rescued was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary where he was described as poorly.


reconstruction of the incident and detec- tives believed they were on to a strong lead when, during the television appeal, they received a text message naming the partner of a potential suspect.


But despite the appeal, the text mes- sage, sifting through hours of


CCTV


footage, and a reward of £5,000 from Crimestoppers and the community for tracking down the sadistic attacker, offi- cers


leading the


investigation, code- named Operation Seymour,


are still


hunting the culprit. The attacker was described as white, about 5ft 10in, thin, close shaven with a gaunt appearance and wearing a dark coloured hooded top. Anyone with informa- tion should call Eastleigh CID on 0845 045 4545.


JULY


HARTLEPOOL TAXI DRIVER’S ACTIONS PROVED VITAL


Police are appealing for witnesses after a clubber was assaulted in a popular night spot. The 21-year-old rev- eller was taken to hospital with head injuries after being reportedly glassed. It happened in Nexus nightclub, in Church Street, Hartlepool, at around 1.30am on Sunday, 1 June. The victim was taken to the University Hos- pital of North Tees, in Stockton, but dis- charged himself before police could interview him.


Inspector Martin Cook of Hartlepool Police told the Hartlepool Mail: "The victim lost a lot of blood and it was thought to be quite serious at the time. “The first indications were that it was a seri- ous assault; however, his injuries turned out not to be life threaten- ing. "We took every precau- tion by stopping anyone else from going inside after it happened and arranged a staged release of the premis- es to obtain people’s names and addresses in case it was serious." A 21-year-old man has been arrested on sus- picion of causing


grievous bodily harm and has been ques- tioned by Hartlepool CID. Detective Ser- geant Lee Rukin said: "Somebody may have been bottled but the injured man dis- charged himself from hospital prior to full treatment and before police could speak with him. "We are appealing for any witnesses that were in the club and observed anything inside to come for- ward."


Witnesses can contact police on 01642 302110.


The taxi driver praised by police has told how he rushed the injured man to hospital. The cabbie was driving along Milton Road, Hartlepool, in the early hours of Saturday morning when he came across the 39- year-old man who had been stabbed in the street.


The victim, who was with his wife and a friend, was covered in blood.


His frantic wife had called for an ambu- lance. But they appealed to the taxi driver to get him to hospital immediately. He drove all three peo- ple to the University


Hospital of Hartlepool and the victim was later transferred to the University Hospital North Tees, in Stock- ton.


The modest cabbie, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Mail: "It was about 1.30am when I came in to the street and the lad who was injured shouted at me to take him to hospital.


"As he came closer to me I could see he had blood all over his body and it was dripping everywhere from him. He must have been in a lot of pain.


"The girl who was with him said she had called for an ambu- lance but it was going to be about ten min- utes. "Personally, I wasn’t happy with that and because he was in such a serious condi- tion I drove him to hospital."


Detectives have praised the driver’s public spirit, saying his actions probably proved vital.


The driver added: "It is nice to be nice, we are all human beings at the end of the day and should help each other out.


"It is a sad world and it is very, very scary."


JUNE


TORQUAY TAXI DRIVER CALLED TIME ON STORE BOOZE THEFT A Dartmouth man


stole two bottles of champagne, four bot- tles of wine and a ham and pickle sandwich while on a bender, magistrates have been told.


According to the Torquay Herald Express, David Jones, 25, of Britan- nia Avenue, was pursued by a taxi driver after the bot- tles were heard clinking in his ruck- sack as he left the


Co-op in Kings- bridge.


He pleaded guilty to the offence when he appeared before Torquay Magistrates. The court heard that Jones barged into the taxi driver as he left the shop.


The taxi driver left the shop and saw the man again walking near the Quay.


He pulled up along- side him and warned him to take the goods back or the police


would be called. Jones said that he had lost a well paid job working for a special- ist joinery practice about three weeks ago.


In mitigation, solicitor Ben Darby said: “Since then he has been on a bender and that’s why he was behaving in the man- ner he did.”


Jones was given a conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £35 costs.


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