..IN THE
NEWS...IN THE NEWS
BIRMINGHAM DRIVER LOSES EYE AFTER BEING HIT BY DRUNK PASSENGER’S STILETTO
A PHV driver has told how he lost an eye after being hit in the face by a drunk passenger’s stiletto in a horror attack. According to the Birmingham Mail, Afaq Iftikhar, 32, was left with life-chang- ing injuries after allegedly being set upon by the woman and her friends after asking them to leave his cab near the Bullring. The dad of three was later told by doctors that his right eye was too badly damaged to be saved following a four-hour operation. The private hire
driver told how he was attacked at 4.30am on Saturday 15 December after picking up four women and a man from the Arcadian Centre. Mr Iftikhar says the situation turned vio- lent
after one
woman began being sick and he pulled over. He said: “I got out to ask the girl vomiting to come out, and found one girl steal- ing money from the front of the cab. “I told them I would call the police, and then the guy and girls threatened me. “They were saying
Taxi driver Afaq Iftikhar, who has been blinded by a woman’s stiletto heel
‘what are you gonna do?’ “I told them to go and not pay but they attacked me. “I told them to take what they wanted
and leave me alone, one of them took my car keys.” The cabbie said the female passenger being sick then attacked him with
her stiletto shoe, rupturing his right eye. Two other pas- sengers then began punching him. Mr Iftikhar was also left with gashes to his head from the group who he says stole money from the taxi. He was left with blood gushing from his eye for six min- utes before help arrived - and now fears he may never drive again. The driver said: “I’m in really bad shape right now, my world has been turned upside down by this. “I don’t know what I am going to do or
how I am going to look after my kids. “I’m scared that I could lose my job because of this. The doctor is keeping me for observation, but he could regis- ter me as legally blind. “Because I am a pri- vate hire driver I do not get the same protections as black cab drivers,” said Mr Iftikhar. “If I had had a secu- rity panel between the driving seat and the passengers it would have been a different story.” West
Midlands
Police has been con- tacted for comment.
JANUARY 2019
49
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
